No abstract

No abstract

Increasingly, poor people in sub-Saharan Africa are affected by three dimensions of poverty, these being hunger, thirst and living without a decent shelter. This study focused on the latter dimension of poverty and examined the use of housing materials in villages surrounding the Lobeke National Park (LNP) in the Eastern Region of Cameroon. In total 1980 houses were surveyed, of which 1343, 602, 19, 14 and 2 were built with planks, saplings and poles, tree bark and thatch, respectively. The houses were roofed with thatch (1715), aluminum sheets (225) or leaves (40). Variations were observed among ethnic groups regarding their preferences for housing materials. Further analysis concentrated on houses built with poles harvested from indigenous forests. There were six categories of houses built with varying quantities of poles and thatch. Villagers used between 370 000 and 614 000 poles (58-97 times more than the number of trees cut for timber in 2006) to build houses in 14 villages surrounding the LNP. This is particularly destructive because such houses are short-lived, requiring a repetitive harvesting of poles for renovations every 5-15 years. With the removal of poles by adjoining villagers, the structure of indigenous forests and composition can be seriously changed, thus, compromising the possibility of supply future forest goods and services. Therefore, following a rapidly increasing population, there is an urgent need to empower local communities to improve their housing habits by promoting building materials alternative to poles harvested from indigenous forests.

Table des matières Abréviations v Remerciements vi Résumé analytique vii Abréviations ACIDH Association contre l'impunité pour les droits humains (RDC) ANAPI Agence nationale pour la promotion des investissements (RDC) APIP Agence de promotion des investissements privés (Gabon) BC bassin du Congo CAF Coût, assurance et fret CdC Cahier des charges CFA Franc CFA CFAD Concession forestière sous aménagement durable CICMH Compagnie industrielle et commerciale des mines de Huazhou CIFOR Centre de recherche forestière internationale CITIC China International Trust and Investment Corporation CNUCED Conférence des Nations Unies sur le commerce et le développement CNY Yuan chinois CPAET Convention provisoire d'aménagement-exploitation-transformation (Gabon) CSC Convention sino-congolaise DGF Direction générale des forêts du ministère de l'Environnement (RDC) DIMA Concession minière de Dikulwe-Mashamba, à Kolwezi, RDC FAB Franco à bord FAO Organisation des Nations Unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture FC Franc congolais FSC Forest Stewardship Council Gécamines Générale des carrières et des mines (RDC) GEEC Groupe d'études environnementales du Congo ICRAF Centre international pour la recherche en agroforesterie IDE Investissement direct étranger IDES Investissement direct à l'étranger sortant MOFCOM Ministère du commerce chinois MoU Protocole d'accord PFA Permis forestier associé PGG Permis de gré à gré PIB Produit intérieur brut PME Petites et moyennes entreprises PMURR Programme multisectoriel d'urgence pour la réhabilitation et la reconstruction (RDC) PNUD Programme des Nations Unies pour le développement RAID Rights and Accountability in Development (ONG britannique) RC République du Congo RCA République centrafricaine RDC ou RD Congo République démocratique du Congo SOE Entreprise d'État TTRECED Technical Training Centre for Development (Cameroun) TVA Taxe sur la valeur ajoutée UFA Unité forestière d'aménagement ZES Zone économique spéciale Nous sommes également reconnaissants envers Richelieu Zue Obame et Johanna Janssen, du Centre d'études chinoises de l'université de Stellenbosch, pour leurs contributions aux recherches menées par Brainforest. Nos collègues Rubeta Andriani,