A/HRC/22/50/Add.2
V. Using the “maximum available resources”
55.
According to article 2, paragraph 1, of the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights, every State should take steps towards the progressive realization
of the right to food “to the maximum of its available resources”. Cameroon has abundant
natural resources, including minerals (gold, diamonds, bauxite, copper, tin, and uranium),
oil, fisheries, fertile agricultural land in accessible locations, and a large forested area rich
in high-value species.
56.
The following data illustrate the importance for Cameroon of exploiting its natural
resources. In 2008, oil exploitation accounted for 38 per cent of the national budget.23 In
2011, the national oil and gas company, Société nationale des hydrocarbures (SNH), paid
572 billion CFA francs (CFAF) to the Treasury (872 million euros (€)).24 In 2008, the
annual forest tax on 6 million hectares of land (forest management units and timber sales)
brought in CFAF 12.8 billion (€19.5 million)25 for the State, accounting for 36 per cent of
taxes from forestry activities (estimated at CFAF 35.5 billion or €541 million). Lastly, it is
estimated that the Chad-Cameroon pipeline generated 118 million United States dollars
(US$) in transit rights (US$ 0.41 per barrel)26 between 2003 and 2008. Figures on revenue
from mining earned by the Programme to Secure Mining, Water and Energy Revenues
(PSRMEE) have not been published, and some estimates — CFAF 675,076,301 (€1
million) in 2010 — are not necessarily reliable. The revenue from fishing licence fees and
agricultural concessions is also difficult to verify.
57.
Among other things, Cameroon has set up the first official system for the
distribution of forestry revenue to local communities. In 1998, following the adoption of
Act No. 94-01 of 20 January 1994, on forests, wildlife and fishing, an order was issued
providing for the payment of 50 per cent of royalties to the Treasury, 40 per cent to
municipal councils and 10 per cent to village committees that manage forest royalties. In
the interests of fairness, under Act No. 2009/019 of 15 December 2009, on local tax
systems, a share of revenue can now be allocated to non-forest communities. Under this
new system of equalization payments, 50 per cent goes to the Treasury, 20 per cent to
FEICOM — the community mutual assistance fund — 20 per cent to municipal councils
and 10 per cent to local committees. According to a publication issued by the Programme
for Securing Property Tax Revenue and the Community Forest Technical Centre, a total of
CFAF 63,729 billion was redistributed to local communities between 2000 and 2011.
58.
This redistribution mechanism is to be welcomed, even though the impact on
development has been modest or marginal to date27 and even though the contribution that
harvesting of forests, and other natural resources, makes to poverty reduction and food
security is still too small.
23
24
25
26
27
14
V. Nodem, J.N. Bamenjo and B. Schwartz, Subnational Natural Resource Revenue Management in
Cameroon: Forest and Mining Royalties in Yokadouma, East Cameroon, RELUFA, May 2012, p. 8.
Statistiques de la Société nationale des hydrocarbures (2004–2012), disponible à l’adresse suivante:
http://www.snh.cm.
P.O. Cerutti et al., “The challenges of redistributing forest-related monetary benefits to local
governments: a decade of logging area fees in Cameroon”, International Forestry Review, vol. 12 (2),
2010, p. 132. Other taxes have to be added to this sum, but the annual forest tax is the largest
contributor to the national forest exploitation budget.
International Advisory Group, Chad-Cameroon Petroleum Development and Pipeline Project, Final
Report, September 2009, p. 20. This sum is not converted into other currencies given the fluctuations
in the dollar exchange rate during this period.
See Cerutti et al., 2010, op. cit., p. 131.
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