In addition to desk-reviews and email correspondences, a total of eleven (11) sites (450-850 Km from Yaounde), where Prunus africana and the African Grey parrots are exploited were visited over a period of 21 days for personal observations, the conduct of interviews and for the collection of both grey and published literature. The aim of this exercise was to update and/or complement available literature. A number of informal meetings were held with stakeholders and more than 28 resource persons were interviewed (Appendix I). These included local producers as well as experts working with local and international NGOs that are involved in the conservation and management of the resources. Interviews were conducted in an overt manner. However, the sensitive nature of some of the information provided by some of those interviewed made it mandatory not to make individual references to them in this report.
In this paper, the FAO definitions of ‘forests’ and ‘NWFPs’ have been adopted. Forest are lands of more than 0.5 ha, with a canopy cover of more than 10%, which are not primarily under agriculture or urban land use (FAO, 2002). NWFP consist of goods of biological origin other than wood, derived from forests, other wooded lands and trees outside forests (FAO, 2001). Trade-related instruments include national policies and regulations; signed regional and international treaties and conventions that affect the exploitation, management and trade in NWFP in Cameroon. For comparative estimates of resource values over the year, this paper considers the average USA Dollar exchange rate against the local currency, the Franc CFA to be 1US$=650 FCFA. This is due to fluctuations in the value of US$ over the past five years.
