Percentage of national area covered by forest
Cameroon is a country located in the Congo Basin with an area of 475,442 km².
The forest cover in Cameroon represents approximately 40% of the national territory. Most of this forest area has been permanently allocated to long term forest production or conservation, with a smaller area intended for community forestry. In 2019, there were 93 forestry concessions in the country. In Cameroon, all the forests are owned by the state.
The FAO estimated that the net annual change in forest area in Cameroon between 2010 and 2020 was -0.27% (FAO, 2020). Most of the deforestation is attributed to conversion to agriculture, fuel-wood harvesting, mining, and infrastructures development.
According to the ITTO (2019), Cameroon produced 3,560,000 m³ of logs, 1.022 000 m³ of sawnwood, 56,000 m³ of veneer, and 18,000 m³ of plywood in 2017. Most of this volume is used for the export of products from primary processing. Cameroonian exports are sold to all regions of the world, mainly to China, Vietnam and Western Europe (ITC, 2020).
Sources:
EUFLEGT
Timber Trade Portal
Source: Hansen/UMD/Google/USGS/NASA, accessed through Global Forest Watch