Environmental Considerations in the Extractive Sector Laws in Cameroon

INTRODUCTION

Integrating environmental considerations within the laws relating to the activities of the extractive industry is no longer a choice. It is a necessity and one that is increasingly mandated by law. In the new competitive landscape of waning supply and increasing demand for mineral resources, companies in the extractive industries face rising expectations to do more than simply mitigate negative impacts, serve as sources of tax/royalty revenue, and act as good neighbours. Although increasingly required by law in the mining, oil and gas industries, environmental considerations represent the most strategic contribution a company can make to securing its social license to operate and leaving a positive legacy in countries.
If designed and implemented effectively, environmental considerations offers an opportunity for extractive companies and governments to better protect the environment for the benefits of all and sundry. Further, the raison d’étre of this study lies in the fact that the extractive sector in Cameroon is inextricably connected with issues ranging from political choices, international influences, economic imperatives, social and environmental concerns. Underlying these linkages is an apparent conflict between pursing the activities of the extractive industry, so as to foster economic growth in the country, to afford protection of the environment in which the activities of the extractive sector takes place. Environmental considerations in the extractive industry or sector are often predicated on international standards, international benchmarks and international policies and all of these regulatory influences are themselves conditioned by often contending social, political, economic and philosophical ideas. The general pattern of addressing environmental considerations in the extractive industry entails resolving the apparent conflict which has been created by an economic bias in favour of the pursuit of uncontrolled and broadly exploitative solid, liquid and gaseous mineral development ventures, at the detriment of the natural and community environment” Cameroon had for a couple of years now developed pieces of legislation geared at protecting its natural, social and cultural environment throughout decades of its extractive industry activities.