A road project is underway in the middle of this forest which covers nearly 1500 km2 and where 40 local communities live in harmony with rich biodiversity.
Eight environmental protection organizations, including Greenpeace, are alerting the international community to the dangers of a road project underway in the Ebo forest massif in Cameroon.
In a joint letter addressed to several chancelleries represented in Cameroon, these organizations denounce a road project, “which destroys biodiversity, threatens the existence of local communities and promotes the illegal exploitation of the Ebo forest”.
The NGOs are asking the various recipients of their mail to discuss concerns about the Ebo forest with the Cameroonian government and to demand an independent investigation into the legality of the disputed road project.
“Communities want to grow and roads are meant to provide access to markets, education, and health care. But in this case, the road is not connected to any existing village. Proof that this is a road to be used to raze the forest. And communities, therefore risk losing a precious natural resource that sustains them,”, reads the correspondence.
This is the second time in the space of two years that the Ebo forest massif has been threatened with destruction. In August 2020, Cameroon’s Prime Minister canceled a government decision of July 14, 2020, allocating more than 68,000 hectares of the Ebo forest massif to timber production.
