The Ups and Downs of Development

Pallisco, like other companies committed to FSC, is perfectly aware that exploitation activities - and particularly the movement of timber trucks on the tracks that cross the villages - are not always appreciated by local communities.  It is not enough to give work to a few logging workers to gain the appreciation of all village communities. Nor is it enough make a real contribution to their development in terms of water, food, education, health care and so on. Yet this is what the FSC requires through its 'social' principles and recommendations.


This is why, aside from creating an infirmary of five people within the company itself (with a medical analysis laboratory, delivery room, 24-hour warden and free access to medication: a luxury that is quite unheard of in theforest), a few years ago Pallisco introduced a mediation policy aimed directly at the surrounding Bantou and Pygmy villages. 'We try to defuse conflicts, for example when our activities run the risk of threatening sacred sites, explains Laure Mbadi, mediator at Pallisco. Along with my two colleagues, we are also helping local communities to express their needs and requests in terms of development: drinking water, classrooms, health centres, agricultural equipment and so on.  We are trying to instil a participative dynamic, based on collective needs and not those of the head of the village or a specific group of individuals', explains the young woman, trained at the Université de Yaoundé. In 2011, Pallisco will have spent almost 25 million CFA francs - that is almost 40 000 Euros - on this type of action which, far from benefiting workers and their families alone, extends to thousands of families spread throughout the forest.

Effective? 'If they are related to health or education, most projects achieve good results', explains Laure Mbadi. But, whatever it takes, we must make sure they last. Indeed, there is no point building a classroom or a health centre if, two years later, the teacher or nurse can no longer be paid. The most difficult thing is when projects generate income, for example the cultivation of cocoa or oil palms. Often tensions appear at the sharing stage and the projects run the risk of exploding'. Our team of mediators is looking into the deep-seated reasons behind such difficulties. The historic burden of hand-outs (are there many NGOs in the region)? The lack of experience of the Pygmy and Bantou communities in the collective management of income? The remote influence of 'elites' from these villages who have often moved to the city or the capital? 'Simultaneous development and exploitation is very difficult', says the Observatoire Indépendant des Forêts, in Yaoundé. ‘These are two different jobs'.

It is a harsh observation. But what are the alternatives for the 'sustainable' forest operator, torn between the very strict social demands of the FSC certifiers and the difficulty of the State in fulfilling its duties to combat poverty? 'At least, as a certified company, we cannot solve all problems with bank notes', welcomes Laure Mbadi. We are not buying elites or people's silence... '. Despite the difficulties encountered, the efforts of mediators have proved fruitful. So, the time when tracks were blocked by unhappy villagers seems to be far behind us. Thanks to this presence in the field, conflicts can be defused before they break out into the open. 'In the last three years we have only seen one blockade of trucks. Something has changed'. A few weeks ago, a new mediator was recruited by the company:  a Pygmy to further improve relations with the inhabitants of the forest...