CIFOR Paper Calls for Sustainable Palm Oil Dev't in Cameroon

The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), together with the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) have prepared a briefing paper to stimulate debate regarding the palm oil industry's growing demand for large tracts of land in Cameroon, notably in forest areas and to support the government with constructive ideas on how palm oil expansion can be achieved sustainably in order to support the country's economic growth strategy.

Palm oil industry is undeniably beneficial to Cameroon's economy, having generated a sharp rise in the number of investors seeking to start palm oil plantations in the country. With industrial palm oil production being a key element of the Cameroonian government's poverty reduction strategy, it is willing to offer concessions to companies demanding large acreages of land in forested zones for oil palm production.

But Patrice Levang, scientist at the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) and Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and co-author with David Hoyle (WWF) of a new study entitled Oil Palm Development in Cameroon, explained that the potential of Palm Oil Industry in the country cannot be taken advantage of unless the government works with all relevant stakeholders to develop a national palm oil strategy that will guide the rapid expansion of the sector.

The working paper of CIFOR and WWF thus includes strategies to create a sustainable palm oil industry in the country.

For more information, visit http://www.cifor.org/online-library/browse/view-publication/publication/3793.html and http://blog.cifor.org/10285/palm-oil-development-in-cameroon-an-urgent-need-for-a-national-strategy/#.UBFQX2Fvnzs.