The Camvert Project and Its Threat To the Congo Basin Forest

The Camvert project is still making headlines. The project to develop the largest palm grove in Central Africa, covering 60,000 hectares in southern Cameroon, is provoking outrage among environmental NGOs and Indigenous peoples.

Despite the social guarantees promised by those in charge of this project — including the construction of schools and health centers, as well as the creation of 8,000 direct jobs and nearly 10,000 indirect jobs — the Camvert project remains in the eyes of NGOs and Indigenous populations a prime exemple of the myth of sustainable forest development. These groups believe the project should be halted, not only because it was conceived and carried out in violation of Cameroon's forestry regulations, but also because it represents a climate disaster due to the 60,000 hectares of the forest it would require clearing.