The Place of Cameroon in US Policy toward Central Africa after the Events of September 11 2001

ii. Environmental interest

Cameroon is also a major battleground of environmental resistance against rainforest loss, with much of its pristine rainforest having been sold off to Western industries. The process of industrialization in world economies have not only resulted in economic interdependence, but has also intensified international interdependence through its impact on the world's natural environment. An American environmental interest in Cameroon is based on the need to protect the `world collective good' of the Congo Basin forest with all its effects on the ecosystem. Since there is no world government to decide on how states have to exploit their natural resources, «states must enter into multilateral negotiations, agreements, and regimes».^142(*) The environment has gradually taken on the dilemma of a tragedy of the commons, as is the case with fisheries, expressing the danger of environmental depletion on the globe, especially in managing the oceans.^143(*)

After different Earth Summits have instituted the notion of sustainable development to protect endangered species, and guard the earth against global warming, western powers have been putting pressure on poor countries, especially in Africa to respect international environmental conventions. This promotion is done by rewarding conformist states and sanctioning recalcitrant ones. The Commission on Sustainable Development, largely funded by the US, monitors states' compliance with the promises they made at Earth Summits, hearing reports from UN environment agencies and environmental NGOs such Greenpeace.

While the oceans constitute the `global commons' with a high risk of over-fishing, dumping of toxic waste, oil shipments and recurrent spills, the rain forests harbors half of the world's species. Although the US has a larger forest than Cameroon, the Amazon and the Congo Basin constitute the richest and more vulnerable of collective goods. The `debt-for-nature swaps' have been worked out by western banks and environmentalists in which debts are cancelled in exchange for state's agreement to preserve forest.

Several meetings have been held in Yaoundé on forest conservation, the most recent of which is the conference of parliamentarians of Central African countries principally sponsored by the World Bank and the US. The choice of Yaoundé to host most of these conferences reflects the environmental location of the country and the risk it represents as a beacon. Cameroon is located midway between the northern tropical savannahs that need reforestation and the southern (Congo Basin) equatorial rain forest that requires conservation. The country could therefore serve as a testing ground for experiments on managing both issues. In the same way, because Cameroon is the gateway into the region, Yaoundé has a better position to be a good crossroad for environmental issues. This must be associated to the fact that Cameroon has the most dynamic economy in the region and would be likely to exploit resources unsustainably.

Assessing the importance of US implications in environmental issues in Central Africa, US Undersecretary for African Affairs, Frazer, declared that «We are actively engaged on the environment front through a variety of local organizations that help countries protect native flora and fauna».^144(*) Cameroon's role in forest conservation is linked to its position as an out-let for countries such as the CAR and northern part of DR Congo, whose timbers are exported through the Cameroonian port of Douala. In this sense, it is America's preoccupation to «ensure that commercial use of forests, particularly in the Congo River Basin, is sustainable and environmentally responsible», Frazer concluded.

Visiting the US on 28 July 2006, Cameroon's then Minister of forestry and wildlife, Egbe Achuo, told the press that "Washington -- Cameroon's environmental future depends on creating new economic opportunities and a new, cooperative mindset in the communities surrounding protected areas».^145(*) The appellation of `Africa in miniature' referring to Cameroon also owes to the country's biodiversity potentials with more than 9,000 varieties of plants while 18 percent of the nation's territories are protected areas, somewhat above the global average of 12 percent. But how does Cameroon create "the right of use, without abuse" when 70 percent of Cameroon's citizens depend on natural resources for their livelihoods?

The US, with interest in the global good and wielding enough political power could rally for and provide funding and expertise in developing a sentiment of global belonging. With $150 million to conserve tropical forests worldwide, the State Department funding goes through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which channels funds through some of its conservation partners.  The Central African Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE), a long-term USAID initiative, helps combat deforestation and ensures biodiversity. Cameroon seems to be responding to these efforts especially because of the cash involved. Apart from extending 825,377 hectares of national parks, as a Central African giant, Cameroon has build trans-boundary conservation programs with CAR, Congo Brazzaville, DR Congo and Gabon. Elisa Walton, Washington File staff writer calls Cameroon «one of the leaders of environmental conservation in the region» by "making history as a reference in Africa." ^146(*)

The US and British sponsored Global Forest and Trade Network, a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) initiative to improve forest management, has also engaged the Cameroonian government.  About 25 percent of Cameroon's forest is included in this program, which helps train forest administrators and local populations in conservation techniques while supporting community forest management. It is equally a center of interest how to help industries (mostly American, but also French) interested in decreasing their environmental impact obtain international funds to do so.

Third world countries constantly question US sincerity in pressurizing for environmental pollution when America remains one of the highest polluters of the global environment. American refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol has considerably affected Central African image of US sincerity, especially when this is associated with the fact that environmental depletion through wars is far greater than unsustainable exploitation. The Exxon Mobil World Bank sponsored Chad Cameroon pipeline and the environmental consequences, and especially the recent (January 2007) oil spill at the Kribi terminal has exacerbated these fears both with the Cameroonian government and local NGOs such as the Centre pour l'Environnement et le Developpement (CED).

* ¹⁴² Goldstein, op, cit. p413

* ¹⁴³ On the notion of tragedy of the commons as related to the environment, see Garerett Hardin, «The Tragedy of the Commons. Science 162, December 16, 1968: 1243-48.

* ¹⁴⁴ Jendayi E. Frazer was speaking during the Central African tour of February 2006, the Yaoundé stop-over.

* ¹⁴⁵See Washington File July 27.

* ¹⁴⁶ Washington File July 27