The installed programme will help tally information on timber extraction.

The Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife has been enriched with a new data collection software that has been fully integrated in its cartographic database service, authorities of the Forest Department of the ministry indicated. The programme, code name ArcGIS 10.1 Mapping software which is a gift of the World Resources Institute (WRI), has as objective to collect information on forest/timber in order to know exactly how much timber is exploited.

The overall aim is to help situate how much timber is contributing to the economy of the country and probably how much is being lost to illegal exploiters. The software, according to the National Coordinator of the World Resources Institute (WRI), Duclaire Mbouna, has been installed in computers in the forestry department as well as in the mapping units of the South and East Regional Delegations of MINFOF, host to a greater part of the country’s forest cover.

The World Resources Institute has equally been giving out technical advice and training of some staff of the ministry on the techniques of data collection and management, Mbouna reiterated. The grant falls in line with the main preoccupation of WRI, based on technology transfer to the Cameroonian government. The World Resources Institute is a Non Governmental Organisation based in Washington. It signed a collaboration agreement with the Cameroon government in 2002.