Government has been urged to consider indigenous peoples concerns in forest reforms.

A 26-page report on the contribution of indigenous people to the revision of the forestry law in the country was handed over to officials of the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, MINFOF in Yaounde on Tuesday February 14, 2012.

Presented by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, IUCN, the report lists 12 points which various pygmy groups believe will adequately protect their interests. The pygmy people from three ethnic groups (Baka, the Bakola/Bagyeli and the Bedzang) requested to be allowed ritual hunting rights in protected areas.

The inhabitants of the forest zone also requested that government should distinguish between user and customary rights, authorise and guide the sale of products from user’s rights. They urged government to stop the restriction of local people from their ancestral land in protected areas. The pygmies added that the type of traditional hunting equipment they use be revised by government, while asking for royalties from the exploitation of forest resources in their communities.

According to George Akwah of IUCN, the pygmies need help to adapt to the economic, social and environmental changes caused by logging and work to achieve sustainability and not be made victims of forest management. Reacting to the report, the Secretary General of MINFOF, Denis Koulagna Koutou, said the ministry is in the process of reviewing the 1994 forestry law and will address some of the concerns of indigenous forest people.