Cameroon law enforcement guide

The Congo Basin constitutes after the Amazon, the largest expanse of tropical forest in the world. Indeed, wildlife crime—a term generally used to refer to poaching and illegal wildlife trade (IWT)— is increasingly one of the major threats to biodiversity due to the increasing demand for wildlife products such as elephant ivory, both nationally and internationally. Wildlife resources are thus plundered by people in search of quick financial gains, acting mostly in well organised criminal networks in contravention of existing legislation.

Several initiatives have been undertaken and considerable efforts have been deployed in recent years at the sub-regional level, notably the adoption of the Central African Wildlife Trade Law Enforcement Action Plan (CAWTLEAP), commonly called PAPECALF by COMIFAC countries; and at the national level, by enacting several laws governing the wildlife sector and measures put in place for effective implementation of the legislative and regulatory arsenal.

These various legislative and regulatory instruments are all tools available to the various agencies charged with wildlife law enforcement including Wildlife Authorities, the Police, the Gendarmerie and Customs, as well as the Judiciary, to enable them to combat wildlife crime effectively. However, these legislative tools need to be known and understood by those charged with their implementation before they can have any effect.

But, due to the existence of a multitude of bodies implementing these laws, issues of contradictions and overlap are often noticed emanating from a loose interpretation of the legislation, which among other issues causes conflicts of competence. Other causes of these conflicts include lack of knowledge or poor interpretation of the texts establishing the competences, attributions, duties and responsibilities, as well as judicial loopholes leading to arbitrary interpretations of the texts.

To remedy this situation and, therefore, contribute to effective wildlife law enforcement, TRAFFIC, supported by the German government through the Bengo-facilitated Project of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through WWF Germany and USAID through the Wildlife-TRAPS Project Officer for Central Africa, has undertaken to develop this TRAFFIC report: Guide to Wildlife Law Enforcement, Cameroon xi13 guide that specifies and clarifies the duties, attributions and responsibilities of the various bodies intervening in wildlife law enforcement (Wildlife Agents, Customs, Police and Gendarmerie).