Governments discuss forest and bush meat actions for sustainable management in London.

The government of Cameroon has been praised for playing a key role in wildlife and forestry law enforcement initiatives in the Central African sub-region. The congratulatory message was made at a conference held in London recently under the theme "Bushmeat and Forest Actions for Sustainable Management".

Attended by high level African and European representatives including Cameroon's Minister of the Environment and Forestry, Chief Tanyi Mbianyor Clarkson, the conference sought to examine the best practice for managing bushmeat/wildlife in the forest zone of West and Central Africa and to make recommendations for implementing the Yaounde 2003 international Ministerial Conference on Africa Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (AFLEG). The AFLEG implementation was considered by the conference within the context of other international processes such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) and the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP).

While deliberations at the London Conference were on, the Yaounde Court of First Instance slammed a one-month prison sentence and a fine of 300.000 Frs CFA on two illegal dealers in elephant products, bringing the number of wildlife criminal jailed since July 2003 to four. This is part of an operation being undertaken by the Ministry of the Environment and Forestry in collaboration with the forces of law and order and the Last Great Apes Organisation (LAGA).

According to the Cameroon law, any person found in possession of live or part of protected animal species is liable to a fine of 3 to 10 million Frs CFA and imprisonment of one to three years. The law targets only protected wildlife species (gorillas, chimpanzees, crocodiles, elephants, drills, etc). It attacks the trade chain of protected species in different places. Anyone breaking the new law in Cameroon where bushmeat is a prized delicacy for rich city-dwellers, faces three years in jail and a 10 million Frs CFA fine. The authorities of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry have been calling on restaurant dealers to help save protected wildlife by taking gorillas, chimpanzees and elephant meat off their menus.

About a hundred years ago, more than a million chimpanzees lived in 25 African countries. Today, fewer than 150,000 are remaining with healthy reproduction populations found only in six African countries.

Also present at the London conference were representatives of important international conservation and development Non-governmental Organisations.