Prunus africana (Hook.f.) Kalkman is a species of the Rosaceae family, known under its trade/pilot name as pygeum or African cherry. It is a scattered tree species, which grows well in the sub-mountain and mountain forests at an altitude of 1500 to 3000 m. In Cameroon, the plant is largely found in five regions including Adamaoua, North West, Littoral, South west and West. P. africana is an evergreen canopy tree, 30 m tall with thick, fissured bark and straight bole that can reach a diameter of 1.5 m. It is light demanding and responds well to cultivation (Hall et al., 2000; Vivien and Faure, 2011; Fraser et al., 1996; Tchouto, 1996). The bark is the major source of an extract used to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia, an increasingly common health problem in older men in the western world. Prostate-related diseases prevalence increase as men age. And as the average age of the world’s population increases, the incidences of prostate diseases will increase as well, triggering a corresponding rise in demand for therapies. According to the World Cancer Research Fund International, prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men worldwide. Around 910,000 cases of prostate cancer were recorded in 2008, accounting for approximately 14% of all new cancer cases in men (World Agroforestry Centre, 2012). The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported as far back as 1996 that the demand for the species’ bark, which is used to produce treatments for prostate gland disorders, could lead to its over-exploitation (FAO, 1996). In 1997, the global need was about 4 000 tons of dried barks per year for a value of 220 millions of USD. Two hundred kilogram of dried bark yield 5 kilogram of extract (Cunningham et al., 1997). The trade in dried pygeum bark and bark extract is in the order of 3 000 to 5 000 tonnes a year (Alternative Medicine Review cit. Page, 2003) and the main sources are in Cameroon, Madagascar, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

 

P. africana is classified by the World Alliance for Nature (IUCN) as vulnerable species, which led to its listing in the Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1994, becoming effective in 1995. All the countries exporting P. africana bark, including Cameroon, are signatories to CITES. This should ultimately mean that the bark being exported is harvested from a sustainable source. However, the reality is somewhat different and, despite the legislation, the unsustainable exploitation of P. africana is often well-recorded.

 

Prunus harvesting and exports have hence been regulated in Cameroon as “a special forest product of a particular interest” since 1994 through a system of annual based exploitation permits for dried bark. The article no. 2 of the Decision no. 0336/D/MINFOF of the 06^thJuly 2006 giving the list of “special products of a particular interest” states that, these are products that are relatively less abundant in the forest or for which some additional measures are indispensable, due to the threatening caused by the non-sustainable harvesting methods used by people. The method of special permit attribution was realized, over the years, to have some weaknesses which largely contributed to the gradual depletion of the natural existing Prunus stock. For example, quotas and permits were issued without reference to adequate biological baseline information, the attribution of the quota of special products was not based on sound inventory of the existing stock, the harvesting was not well defined in space (specific forest area) and time, official documents settled by the forest administration were not secured, the regeneration tax set at 10 FCFA/kg(1 USD = 550 FCFA) is too small to really play its role of conservation or  sustaining  the  resource.  This  

situation, coupled with the onset of illegal Prunus bark exploitation around the country led in 2007 to the adoption of the zero quota of P. africana bark exportation from Cameroon by the CITES-MA.

 

In order for the exportation to be undergone after four years (2007-2010) of considerable economic hardship to both the local community and all the other stakeholders involved in the Prunus trade, several steps had to be taken by the Cameroon Government to satisfy the International Community and to meet some basic requirements such as an inventory of the existing stock, a review of the method of special permits attributions and prescribing of new sustainable methods for Prunus bark exploitation with the settlement of the minimum exploitable diameter (MED) at 30 cm and the prescription of 2x ¼ opposite sides harvesting. Given these challenges, a new system for the allocation of special permits for Prunus bark exploitation called Prunus Allocation Units (PAU) was adopted. The PAU grants long term exploitation rights for the exploitation of P. africana within a territory specified according to an inventory and subsequent Management Plan for the unit (Ingram et al., 2009). The CITES Secretariat realized the challenges that range states of the CITES listing species face implementation of CITES requirements and it has teamed up with the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) to help build capacities at the country level and promote the sustainable management of tropical forests including these species. This partnership in the frame of the so called “the ITTO-CITES program” has been strengthened considerably and is currently funding national activities to assist non-detriment findings (NDFs) by developing inventory, management and silvicultural plans, setting up tracking systems, providing training, and developing training and working material. Since 2008, under the ITTO-CITES Program, ITTO has, in consultation with the CITES Secretariat, funded 25 Activities (projects) in Africa distributed as follows: Cameroon (9 activities), Congo-Brazzaville (5), Democratic Republic of Congo (5), Ghana (2) and four at regional level. The assistance of the ITTO-CITES Program to date in Cameroon on P. africana has focused on the development of non-detriment findings, simple management plans and resource inventories for key production regions using limited funds provided by the private sector. The lack of NDFs was identified at the earliest stages (2009) of the program’s work on this species as a key factor leading to bans (in Democratic Republic of Congo and Equatorial Guinea for example) and voluntary zero quotas (in Cameroon) that gave rise to the private sector’s interest in funding this work. In 2010-2011, the program funded Prunus management inventories in two regions in Cameroon including the North West and the South West. The management inventory was conducted with a sampling intensity of 1.11% in Mount Cameroon (South West), 3% in the 17 community forests found in  the  North  West,  3%  in  the flora sanctuary found in the North West, and 0.5% in the area out of community forests in the North West. The method used was the modified “Adaptive Clusters Sampling (ACS)”. We call this method “modified ACS” since, only one circular plot was added at 100 m in each side of the rectangular plot which hosted many stems of P. africana (Betti et al., 2011). A prediction of the sustainable yield of Prunus bark was made from estimates of the natural population (number of exploitable trees), the average yield per tree (55 kg of fresh bark) and the length of time between successive debarkings (rotation) required to allow total recovery of the bark (5 to 10 years) half rotation. Those sustainable yields or annual quota were reported as follows in each regional NDF document: South West 150 tons of dried bark inside and outside the Mount Cameroon National park, North West 104 tons for community forests, 5.8 tons for Kilum-Ijim flora sanctuary, and 56.3 tons for the area out of community forests. The NDF reports also proposed specific measures to consider prior to or during harvesting of the bark which are: adoption of a rotation of 10 years or a half rotation of 5 years, dividing the useful area of each forest in five equal annual blocs (clusters) according to the rotation, conducting 100% inventory with standard methods and equation for calculating harvestable yield quotas for each cluster prior to setting annual quota and exploitation proper (this means that the real quota can differ from the estimated one), apply prescribed norms for harvesting the Prunus barks such as the MED (30 cm), the use of 2 x ¼ method of harvesting, harvesting only living trees, setting tracking systems (Betti et al., 2011).

 

This paper aims to assess the way the simple management plans developed for Prunus and guidelines contained in NDFs reports are being implemented in the field, the North West (Mount Oku) and the South West (Mount Cameroon) regions to be precise. The specific objective is to check the respect of national norms/ standards in the field.

Study sites

 

South west region

 

The south west of Cameroon is composed of six divisions including: Fako, Koupé-Manengoumba, Lebialem, Manyu, Meme and Ndian. The Mount Cameroon is located, between 3°57’ - 4°27’ latitude North and 8°58’ - 9°24’ longitude East in the bottom of the Biafra bot berry in the Guinean gulf. It is up to 4095 m and covers a total area of 25 000 km², in the divisions of Fako and Mémé.

 

The climate is a subequatorial type, on monsoon regime with two seasons: a short dried season from December to March and a long rainy season from April to November. The average temperature is 22°C in the altitude. The relative humidity remains at 75-80% due to the influence of clouds and fogs (Ewusi et al., 1996).

 

The Mount Cameroon has a high diversity of plant species. From bottom to the summit of the mount, there are four main vegetation types including: the sub-mountain forest, the mountain forest, the sub-mountain meadow and the mountain meadow.

 

The North West region

 

The North West region of Cameroon is located between 5°4’ and 7°15’ latitude North and 9°30 and 11°15 longitude East. It covers a total area of 17 910 km². The North west region is composed of 7 divisions including: Mezam (Bamenda being the capital), Boyo (Fundong), Bui (Kumbo), Ngoketunjia (Ndop), Donga Mantung (Nkambé), Menchum (Wum) and Momo (Mbengwi). The natural Prunus inventory was conducted in the Mount Oku. The mount Oku covers two divisions in the North West region: the Boyo and the Bui divisions to be precise. The side located in the Boyo division is called “mount Ijim” and the one located in the Bui division is called “mount Kilum”.

 

Mount Oku is up to 3011 m and belongs to the Cameroonian mountains group (White, 1983). The area is composed of a variety of landscapes including small and high mountains with high slopes and valleys. The lowest altitude is about 1169 m towards Babungo. The position of the region in the tropical area implies a humid and warm climate, which is however transformed to a temperate and warm climate on the mountains. The Oku region is characterized by two distinctive seasons including the dried season with humid and dried wins which lends from mid-November to mid-march, and the rainy season going from mid-March to mid-November. The annual rain is about 2000 mm, July and August being the most rainy months. In low levels, the highest temperature is 23°C. The water network is less dense, composed mainly of small rivers which bear in rocks in mountains and which become bigger in valleys. This gives priority to the protection of those mountains for the regulation of the water regime. There also exists a volcanic lack on the summit of the mount Oku.

 

The Oku vegetation is a direct consequence of the climate, topography and human activities. Following vegetation types can be found: the humid and arbustive savannahs in high altitudes, the Pennisetum purpurum vegetation in valleys of low drainage, and the mountain forests which cover the mounts of Nkom, Wum, Kilum and Ijim

 

The summit of the mount Oku is subjected to bush fires, used by “Bororos” or Foulani farmers for grazing. The Foulanic farmers are nomadic. There exists many conflicts for lands between farmers. Bush fires constitute one of the main threats for P. africana in the Northwest region.

 

The Mount Oku hosts the unique natural forest which surrounds the volcanic lack of Oku or the “Oku lack”. To protect this forest which constitutes the scarce habitat of the two endemic and endangered bird species, Tauraco bannermani and Platysteira laticincta, one project entitled “the Kilum-Ijim project” was launched with the financial support of the BirdLife International in 1993. To involve local people in the conservation of the forest resources and for the maintenance of the water regime which bears from the mountains, the “Kilum-Ijim project” assisted local populations in the acquisition of community forests and planting Prunus trees in their farms. The project also proposed the erection of one important part of the forest in a protected area, the flora sanctuary of Kilum-Ijim to be precise. A total number of seventeen (17) community forests were created with the Prunus exploitation being the main goal. The simple management plans of all the 17 forests were developed. The problem is that, those simple management plans were developed without suitable Prunus inventories and sustainable yield set.

 

Methods

 

Data were collected from November to December 2015. Before going to the field (forest), the team of the study held several meetings with different stakeholders including the forest administration officers in the external services (regional and divisional delegates of forestry and wildlife), the representatives of Prunus production sites including the Mount Cameroon National park service and the MUTEF Community forest manager (CFM), the private sector. The team also discussed with the Program for the sustainable management of natural resources in the South West region of Cameroon (PSMNR-SWR). The PSMNR-SWR is a development program of the Government of Cameroon, co-financed by the Federal Republic of Germany through the KFW, in cooperation with GIZ. The PSMNR assisted the Mount Cameroon national park authorities to implement the management plan of the Park in collaboration with local populations.

 

The benefit sharing mechanisms settled in each production site, reports and official documents including field logging book and way bills were analyzed. The existence of monitoring system and the control missions to be executed by the local forest administration were also checked.

 

In the field, the way simple management plans dressed in 2010 - 2011 are being implemented in terms of annual plots delimitation, systematic inventories of exploitable trees in annual plots, the respect of national standards in terms of the minimum exploitable diameter and the techniques of harvesting were examined. To do this, the authors went to the first annual plot of each selected production site to collect data on diameter at breast high and to describe the techniques of harvesting of the bark used. Quantitative data were analyzed with the Microsoft EXCEL 2010 computer package. 

Since 2011, private/trade companies in Cameroon have access to the resource (Prunus) in three ways including: (1) a competing process call of the PAUs, (2) community forests with approved simple management plans and quota and (3) tripartite conventions between the trade company, the State (Government), and local communities.

 

Respect of regional quota and benefit sharing mechanisms

 

North West region

 

In 2011, the Cameroon CITES management authority for flora (Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife/Directorate of Forests) was authorized to harvest a total of 280 tons of dried bark of Prunus in the North West (150 tons) and the South West (130) regions. The 150 tons of the North West region were approved for 12 community forests, the Kilum-Ijim flora sanctuary and the area out of the community forests. Community forests are those forests that the Government allows local communities to harvest and yield revenues. These revenues are used for implementing development projects such as building schools, dams and health structures. In the dense forest regions of Cameroon such as East, Centre, Littoral and South, community forests are often requested for timber logging. The exploitation of non-timber forest products is considered as a minor activity. But in the North West and South  West   regions,   community   forests   are   largely requested for the harvesting of special products mostly composed of Prunus barks. The activities of the 12 community forests (CFs) identified in the North West region were focused on the harvesting of Prunus barks. Seventh out of these CFs are found in the Bui division and 5 are found in the Boyo division. For the seventh CFs of the Bui division, local traditional authorities (rulers) together with their communities refuse to authorize the harvesting of Prunus bark in their forests. This was decided because of some misunderstandings that occurred on the benefit sharing mechanisms between the traditional rulers and the mayor of the city of Kumbo. In fact, the mayor of the city of Kumbo, the capital city of the Bui division, wanted to have a total control of the management of the Prunus barks revenues yielded from surrounding CFs. The forest administration respected that decision and has never issued the official documents including field log books and way bills to traders for the exploitation of Prunus barks in the Bui division. But, the study noted that, the decision was not effectively respected by some trade companies. In fact, some trade companies succeed to convince some villagers and farmers to harvest Prunus found in both natural forests and plantations in the Bui division. They buy some sheets of the way bills documents from the community forests of the Boyo division, to convey their products till the factory and exit port (Douala).

 

The only community forests authorized therefore to harvest Prunus in the North West are those located in the Boyo division including ANYANJUA, LAIKOM, MOULOIN, MUTEF and YANG TINIFOINBIMULO. The 2010-2011 Prunus management inventories conducted by the National Forest Development Agency (ANAFOR), the Cameroon CITES Scientific authority for flora, within the ITTO-CITES program was conducted in the North West region with an average sampling rate of 2.72% for the four community forests ranging from 1.85% at MUTEF to 3.25% at YANG. A total annual quota of 14 411.31 tons of dried bark/year was proposed for the four out the five community forests identified in the Boyo (Table 1).

 

For the two first harvesting years (2011 and 2012), the forest service of the Regional Delegation of Forestry and Wildlife and the Divisional Delegation of Forestry and Wildlife of the Boyo assisted local communities in managing their forests as prescribed in NDFs reports and SMPs. This assistance included: (1) training of harvesters on the national standards of harvesting, (2) the distribution of seedlings to farmers, (3) the sensitization of local people on the importance of Prunus africana, and (4) the delimitation of annual plots (blocs). The SMP proposes that, once the annual plot is delimitated, the CFM has to conduct the 100% inventory of exploitable trees inside the plot. During the exploitation inventory, all health Prunus trees with diameter at breast high ≥ 30 cm are measured, geo-referenced, tagged and recorded for exploitation. The exploitation inventory has never been conducted in any community forest  of  the  Boyo  division or in the North West region before harvesting. Since 2013, the assistance of the local forest administration has been limited to the distribution of seedlings to farmers and the sensitization of those farmers on the importance of P. africana. Specific activities such as the control of harvesting in the field have no longer been conducted.

 

 

The MUTEF community forest was selected in the North West for the monitoring study due to its important contribution to the divisional quota: 5 948.8 kg of dried bark/year or 12 000 kg of fresh bark/year, representing 41.3% of the total quota. This quota should be harvested in annual plots of 119 ha each for a half rotation period of 5 years. The harvesting of Prunus bark started in MUTEF forest in 2011 as scheduled. Once the annual plot is delimitated by the local forest services, the CFM of MUTEF engages peoples for harvesting the 12 000 kg of fresh barks attributed. The CFM said, the community does not have enough funds to support the exploitation inventories as requested. To ease the control and tracking system in the field, the forest administration reduced the number of private companies authorized to buy Prunus barks. For the MUTEF community forest, only one company was authorized to buy barks. The company pays one kilogram of the fresh bark of Prunus at 130 FCFA (or 0.24 USD). The benefice sharing mechanism was set as indicated in Table 2. For the period 2011-2013, the harvesters (46.2%) perceive about the average of the total revenues yielded from the selling of barks. The facilitation of the community participation or the community forest manager (CFM) has the smallest part, only 15.4% of the total revenues.

 

 

In 2013, two years after the implementation of this agreement, the harvesters complained about their salary. They said, the salary was too small as compared to the hard and dangerous work of the harvesting of Prunus. They requested to be paid 80.0 FCFA/kg and the CFM at 50 FCFA/kg. The reason of this was that, the authorized annual plots (bloc 3 – 5) were being located far from the village (houses). But the CFM refused to obey. Harvesters then started debarking Prunus trees using un-sustainable methods. These harvesters can be distinguished in five groups according to their practices (behavior). The first group of harvesters returned in the first annual plots harvested in 2011 and 2012 to debark non-mature/exploitable trees (these are trees with diameters <30 cm). The second group of harvesters also returned back to the same previous plots and started removing one of the remaining portions of the bark (the third quarter) that was left to be harvested after five years according to the guidelines; finally, the 3 x ¼ of the tree was harvested, what is not normal. The third group of harvesters removed all the remaining bark, which are the third and the fourth quarters; they practiced a total debarking = 4 x ¼ of the tree, which is prohibited. The fourth group of harvesters started harvesting the bark of Prunus found in private farms, close to the village. Other harvesters (the last group) resigned, abandoned the job because of the low buying price and the hard work. In 2014, the CFM of MUTEFF wrote a letter to the Minister of Forestry and Wildlife, asking the authorization of harvesting Prunus barks from private farms and plantations. The reason presented in the letter was that, there was no enough Prunus in the blocks 4 and 5. At the same time, there were many Prunus found in private farms and plantations surrounding the community forest. The Minister accepted the request and authorized the MUTEFF community to start harvesting Prunus from private farms and plantations. The CFM of MUTEFF then decided to revise the benefit sharing mechanism for the period of 2014-2015 (Table 2). The farm owners (46.5%) and harvesters (30.8%) are in this order the stake holders who perceive the high amount of the funds generated by the community forest.

 

This new arrangement was agreed on by all parties and is the one which is working now in the MUTEFF community forest since 2014. If the buying price of Prunus was quite high, at least 500 FCFA/kg for example, the CFM should be able to conduct the 100% exploitation inventory in each annual plot and harvesters should continue to harvest inside the community forest without problem. In spite of the low price of the bark, the funds generated by the selling of Prunus have been effectively used by the CFM who contributed to the building of the MUTEFF secondary school, and to the buying of tables and chairs for the local nursery school.

 

Mount Cameroon

 

The Mt Cameroon Prunus Allocation Unit (PAU) includes the Mont Cameroon national park and the surrounding community forests. The 2010 Prunus management inventories conducted by ANAFOR in the Mt Cameroon PAU proposed an annual quota of 178 tons of dried bark inside (158 tons) and outside (20 tons) the park, for a total useful area of 22 844 ha. As a conservative measure and conscious of the status (national park) of the Mt Cameroon, the conservation service of the park together with the Regional Delegation of Forestry and Wildlife of the South West, decided to reduce that quota to 130 tons/year for the first rotation of 5 years exploitation.

 

The 100% Prunus exploitation inventories are carried out in each bloc prior for exploitation as scheduled. During the inventory, all health Prunus trees with diameter ≥ 30 cm are measured, geo-referenced, tagged and recorded for exploitation. Till date, the exploitation inventories are supported by the PSMNR-SW program. A total amount of 80 000 000.0 FCFA was estimated to cover the exploitation inventories on the five blocs, totalizing 32 000 ha. This gives an average cost of 2 434.0 FCFA/ha (Table 3).

 

 

Although, the authorized quota based on the previsions of the management plan was set at 1 260 tons of fresh bark/year for a 5 year rotation period, so far only about 510 tons of fresh bark of healthy exploitable was recorded in the half area of the Mount Cameroon PAU. Prunus regeneration is promoted through enrichment in Community Forests and Communal land, and trees planting in farms and plantations.

 

The participation of local communities constitutes an integral aspect of the management. A fair and equitable benefit sharing mechanism was developed and is being implemented to assist in poverty alleviation in the surrounding village communities. Exploitation inventories, harvesting, weighing and payment are done under the supervision of the Park Service and the Regional Delegation of Forestry and Wildlife with the assistance of the PSMNR-SW program. The Mont Cameroon communities association (MOCAP), a locally organized Community initiative Group (CIG) was created for the organization and monitoring of sustainable exploitation and management of Prunus at village level on Mount Cameroon. MOCAP regroups all villages surrounding the Mount Cameroon National Park. The trade company buys the fresh bark to MOCAP at 550 FCFA/kg, and this payment is distributed to different stakeholders/activities as illustrated in Table 4. Harvesters, field equipment and medication, appears to be the post which has the highest cost (43%). It is followed by the park management activities (20%).

 

The monitoring and controls are strengthened to ensure traceability and sustainability. Better coordination between central, regional and divisional Forestry Administration is ensured.

 

 

 

 

Harvesters shall only debark trees that have been tagged and geo-referenced. Harvesting shall be done along ¼ strips on opposite sides of the stem up to the first big branch for trees between 30 and 50 cm DBH. The 4/8 quarters or the 3/6 quarters shall be used for all trees above 50 cm DBH. Felling of trees is prohibited. During harvesting, the order number, size and health of every tree exploited as well as the wet weight of the harvested bark shall be registered daily in a field logbook.

 

Boyo division

 

A total of 63 exploited trees were sampled in Bloc 1 of the MUTEF community forest (Table 5). Fifty six trees were found in the community forest and 7 were found in adjacent private farms. Figure 1 illustrates the distribution of the trees harvested in different diameter classes. The average diameter of trees exploited is 27.2 cm, which is less than the minimum exploitable diameter (MED) fixed by the forest administration (30 cm). A total of 46 trees, representing 73% of the total number of the trees sampled were harvested below the MED. Seventh trees were harvested below 10 cm, most of them coming from adjacent private plantations. Only 17 trees, representing 27% have attended the MED.

 

Harvesters in the MUTEF use two techniques of harvesting: the 2/4 opposite sides technique and the ¾ technique. The 2/4 technique was observed on 63.7% of trees while the ¾ technique was observed on 33.3% of trees. The ¾ technique may be detrimental to the survival of the resource and therefore it is not recommended according to the national standards. 

 

 

Bui division

 

The respect of norms was examined on 38 trees sampled in one private farm of 0.25 ha in Kumbo subdivision (Table 6). The farm was set in 2002 and the first harvesting occurred in 2012, which is ten (10) years after. The distribution of trees harvested in different diameter classes is illustrated in Figure 2. The average diameter of trees exploited is 22.0 cm, which is less than the minimum exploitable diameter (MED) fixed by the forest administration (30 cm). A total of 36 trees, representing 94.7% of the total number of the trees sampled were harvested below the MED.

 

Only two trees were harvested using the 3 x ¼ technique. Almost all trees were harvested using the 2x1/4 opposite sides technique.

 

Mount Cameroon

 

The bloc 1 of the Mount Cameroon PAU, harvested in 2011 was chosen for this study. A total of 126 trees were sampled (Table 7). 

 

 

 

 

Figure 3 illustrates the distribution of trees harvested in different diameter classes. The average diameter of trees exploited is 73.3 cm, which is higher than the 30 cm settled as the minimum limit. A total of 119 trees representing 94% were exploited with respect to the MED. Only a total of 5 harvested trees sampled representing 4% has diameter below 30 cm. 

 

 

Two broad techniques of harvesting are used in the Mount Cameroon including the harvesting of the half part of the bark and the harvesting of the full bark. The harvesting of the total (full) was observed only on 1.7% of the trees sampled, while the harvesting of the half part was observed on 98.3% of trees. The technique of harvesting the half part of the bark can further be distinguished in two components including the technique of harvesting the 2 x ¼ opposite sides and the technique of harvesting the 3 x 1/6 opposite sides. The 2x1/4 opposite side appears to be the most used with 70.2%.

 

 

 

An assumption tends to justify the use of Prunus from farms by the lack of sufficient stock in the natural forest, community forests, which may itself be caused by the limit method used for the estimation/calculation of the quota (Ingram et al., 2015). In theory, the possible absence or low density of Prunus in some annual plots (blocks 4 and 5 of MUTEF for example) of inventoried production sites is acceptable, due to the clustering feature of the species, and the type of inventories used to define the quota (estimation). P. africana is a scattered tree species (Ndam, 1996; Fraser et al., 1996), this means that there will be some areas of the forest where the species will be absent or less abundant. The second reason that  can  explain  the  lack  of  enough  Prunus  insome plots is the type of the inventory used to define the quota. In fact, the Prunus quota was calculated based on management inventories. These are inventories conducted with low sampling rates (1 to 3%). The results cannot be similar to those obtained with the systematic or exploitation inventories which are conducted at 100% of exploitable trees. The big difference observed between the estimated quota and the real quota harvested in the four first years in the Mount Cameroon PAU is due, not only to the scattering feature of Prunus or the sampling method used (management inventory), but mostly to the unequal delimitation of the annual plots by the local forest officers. The national standards suggest dividing the total useful area of the production site by the rotation to obtain the surface area of a single annual plot (bloc). In the case of the Mount Cameroon national park, the useful area defined during the 2010 management inventories was 22 000 ha. On this basis, a single annual plot was supposed to have about 4 400 ha. The park service decided an arbitrary delimitation of annual plots (blocs), independent of the useful area and quotas. The total surface area delimitated for the five plots is 32 800 ha, which is 1.5 times high as compared to the useful area estimated by the 2010 inventories (Betti et al., 2011). In the arbitrary delimitation, the blocs 3 and 5 are twice larger than the blocs 1 and 2. The bloc 4 is thrice higher than the blocs 1 and 2. In this context, one cannot expect an equal annual quota of 130 tons for all blocs in the Mount Cameroon. If the park service officers wanted to be rational, they should reconsider the 2010 management inventory data per delimitated blocs, limiting the quota in the lines identified in each bloc, instead of mixing all. Anyway, based on the results obtained in real Prunus production in different regions, it is essential that the annual quota be calculated based on the exploitation inventories which are done at 100% of exploitable trees. Data from management inventories are still important since they guide the decision of harvesting in a given production site based on the population structure and density of trees.

 

Some 73% of the total number of the trees sampled in the MUTEF community forest in the Boyo division and 94.7% of those sampled in the plantation surveyed in the Bui division (Kumbo) were harvested below the MED (30 cm). In Mount Cameroon, only 4% of trees sampled were harvested below the MED. If we consider an annual growth rate in diameter of 0.7 cm, it can be said that most of the trees were harvested at diameter of 23.5 cm in the Boyo and 18.5 cm in the Bui division. These results (diameter) are 1.3 times less than the authorized MED in the Boyo and the half (1/2) of the required MED in the Bui division. These findings corroborate with what was explained by the Manager of the MUTEF community forest (CFM) concerning the behavior of harvesters in reaction to the low buying price practiced in the North West region. The buyer (local trade company) in the North West buys the bark of Prunus at very low price, which discourage the harvesters.  The buying price used by the trade company in the North West is 130 FCFA/kg of fresh bark, which is 4.23 times less than the 550 FCFA/kg practiced in the Mount Cameroon National park.

 

As results, the local CFM do not have enough funds to support the exploitation inventories; and we assist in the overharvesting of Prunus trees in first blocs. In mount Cameroon, the average cost of exploitation inventories is 2 434.0 FCFA/ha. If the trade company practiced the same buying price (550 FCFA/kg) used in the Mount Cameroon in the North West (Boyo division), the CFM could use 1/3 of its part (15.4% of the total revenue yield by the bark) to support exploitation inventories without any problem and keeps the remaining funds for development projects. Also, due to the low buying price practiced in the North West, harvesters prefer over-harvesting trees harvested in the first annual plots (blocs) or in the adjacent private farms using bad techniques, than taking the risk to go far in the forest to harvest in authorized plots. Harvesters in the MUTEFF community forest do not respect national norms for the harvesting of P. africana in terms of the diameter and the techniques of harvesting. This problem is more crucial in the private farms where harvesters do not hesitate to debark totally some trees. These findings tend to show that the current harvesting scheme of P. africana in the North West region is detrimental to the survival of the resource and then to the survival of the Prunus trade in Cameroon.

 

The Cameroon CITES MA continues to grant the annual quota of 150 tons from community forest of North West in spite of the ban of harvesting in the Bui division. Finally, trade companies obtained their products from un-authorized forests (plantation/farms). This problem, coupled with the usage of false documents to convey Prunus barks by some traders, outlines the urgent need to settle a fair tracking system which will be able to really fix the harvesting of Prunus in the space. The ongoing ITTO-CITES program activities on the settlement of a tracking system using DNA to better control the origin of the barks is therefore welcome and should be extended to all PAUs in Cameroon. In general, the study noted that, it is in the North West region where harvesters do not really respect the norms of harvesting in terms of harvesting techniques and exploitable diameter. This situation is more observed in private farms/plantations where there is no control. The sustainable management of Prunus requires a lot of financial and technical inputs. The relatively good results recorded in the Mount Cameroon may be attributed to the financial and technical support of the Programme for the sustainable management of natural resources in the South West region of Cameroon (PSMNR-SWR).

Cameroon Government has made many efforts to promote the sustainable harvesting of P. africana in the country, but many problems still remain in the implementation of the guidelines prescribed in the NDF or SMP. The forest administration should fix the minimum buying price of Prunus as to avoid the destruction of the resource in the forest. This study did not cover the Adamawa region considered as the most important in terms of the contribution in national quota (more than the half: 600 tons of dried bark). It is assumed that the same problems observed in non-control areas such as in the North West region can be observed here, and may be with very bad situation. In this region, peoples are not organized in community forests as in the North West nor in a kind of association as in Mount Cameroon with MOCAP. Villagers directly faced local trade companies who may decide to pay what they want. It is recommended that the study be extended to that region to better have a global idea of the Cameroon situation. There is an urgent need for the ITTO-CITES program to extend its activities to the implementation of the simple management plans developed. This includes: delimitation of annual plots on useful forests, conduction of exploitation inventories, setting fair tracking system, sylviculture (nurseries and plantations), training harvesters on the use of good techniques, conducting research to better refine management parameters.

ACS, Adaptive cluster sampling; ANAFOR, National Forestry development Agency; CF, community forest; CFM, community forest manager; CIG, community initiative group; CITES-MA, CITES management authority; CITES-SA, CITES scientific authority; DBH, diameter at breast high; MED, minimum exploitable diameter; MINFOF, Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife; MOCAP, Mont Cameroon Communities Association; NDF, non-detriment findings; NTFP, non-timber forest products; PAU, Prunus Allocation Unit; PSMNR-SWR, program for the sustainable management of natural resources in the south west region of Cameroon; SMP, simple management plan; USD, United States Dollar.