POLLUTION PROBLEMS, DOUALA METROPOLIS, CAMEROON

 POLLUTION PROBLEMS, A CONSEQUENCE OF COLONIAL INFLENCED AND GOVERNMENT POLICY. (CASE STUDY OF DOUALA, CAMEROON.)

Abstract                                                                                                                             

Environmental pollution continues to be one of the world’s most serious ecological problems. In Cameroon, land protection from industrial pollution remains the Government and society concern in the Urban Metropolis of Douala.  This is as a result of the high concentration of industrial plants in urban areas without existing adequate and efficient monitoring of their activities.

In this research, I intend to bring out the influence of colonization which through time has saved as pull factor creating a path-dependency for industrial location and population movements in Cameroon.  Also I will be examining some Government policies and it consequential environmental impact using the Government Decree on Industrial Zones Legislation.  Douala happens to be the Economic Powerhouse of Cameroon with almost 80% of the country’s industrial production. As a result, demographic explosion without adequate policy of industrial zones location, poor waste management and ever shrinking border between industrial zones and inhabited areas has made environmental pollution to be a major issue in this region. It is commonly said breathable air is a rarity in Douala. In this study, I intend to bring out the pollution problems faced by this city  today due to it past colonial attraction in serving as a  sea port for European transaction around the Central African Regions in disfavor of other parts of the country and later Government policies with recommended suggestions that can ameliorate the situation.

Key Words: Cameroon, Douala, Colonization, Pollution, Industrial Location, Government Policy, Legislation, Decentralization.

I.SCIENTIFIC BACKGROUND:

The Republic of Cameroon commonly referred to as Africa in miniature is a Sub-Saharan West-Central African nation conspicuously situated at the hinge of Africa, surreptitiously termed as the armpit of Africa. It is bordered to the west by Nigeria, to the Northeast, east, and Southeast by Chad, the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo respectively.  On it Southern borders is situated the Republic of Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.  The map 1 below shows the geographical location of Cameroon within the African Continent.  Cameroon enviously exhibits an amazing reserve of fauna and flora, one of the most spectacular in the whole World.

                              The country boasts of a population of about 18 million, annual growth rate of 2.2% according to the World Bank Environmental Department annual report.  While 55% of the country’s population remains rural average population density is 34 people per square kilometer, with uneven human population density as some areas may exceed more than 100 persons per square kilometer.  Cameroon has a total surface area of 475,440 square kilometer with about 6,000 square kilometer occupied by water, giving a global ratio of 1:100.  The terrain displays diversity with coastal plains in the South- West, mountains in the West, and plains in the North, all surrounding plateau regions. The country displayed a tropical climate along the coast and semiarid and hot in the north.  Cameroon has abundance natural resources in crude oil, hydro power, cocoa, coffee, rubber, cotton, timber and minerals such as iron ore, nickel, cobalt and bauxite.  The country spectacularly possessed active volcanoes, among which is the Mount Cameroon, the highest peak in Western Sub-Saharan Africa.

 Agriculture is the main economic driving force of the country, constituting about 46%, followed by industry 21%, and 17% in other sectors and services, with a UNDP Human Poverty Index of 35.9 and Human Development Index of 0.499, ranked 142 of 175 countries.(UNDP 2003ab)

 The Environmental Sustainability Index for Cameroon was 45.9(Yale University & Columbia University 2002). Meanwhile the per capita emission of green house gases in Cameroon from 1998 measurement records, culminated to 0.112 tons of Co2 per person (GEO3, 1998). This stunningly rich and biodiversity country with about 409 mammalian and 165 bird species, experiences health damages which are estimated for about 0.7% of its G.N.I (Gross National Income) arising from particulate emission (PM10).   Access to sanitation facilities is 79%, which is well above the regional and low income group levels (Environment at a Glance 2004, Cameroon)

From the above, you can get a view on some important key aspects as environmental, political and socio economic indicators of Cameroon. This will later be interrelated to  colonial influence, Government policy,  demographic response to areas were colonial interest and activities are concentrated and subsequent environmental impacts. It is very certain that today’s environment problems cannot be understood without looking at how human history has reshaped the earth landscapes.

                                                                                                                                  

Map1: Map of Cameroon within the African Continent. Source; Adopted from Lonely Planet Publication; May 2008.

II.DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT:

My project will be focusing on the main industrial hub of Cameroon, the largest metropolis of the country, Douala. It host the country biggest sea and air ports, with 80%  of the country industrial activities with a population of about 3.5 million  people representing the largest city in Cameroon. In all these particularities of Douala, colonization had a played a great role on the concentration of the country’s economic activities which is today refer to as one of the most polluted city of the Central Africa region.  Before giving you a brief history of this colonization process, will like to draw your attention to the fact that, before colonial influenced in Douala, Tiko, a town southwest of the country used to host the country most important sea port and represented the economic heartbeat of this part of Cameroon. In later years, around the 18th century, the European colonialists concentrated their activities in Douala because of it location at the Bank of the Wouri River with an entry to the Atlantic Ocean, hence easy accessible to the Central African Region.  Around this period (18thC) Douala was the centre of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

The Portuguese explorers were the first Europeans to come to the Port of Douala in the late 15th Century. By the middle 17th Century, immigrants from Africa’s interior had created a town there. It got its name from Duala, the name of the ethic group that settled the area. In the 18th Century, it became a focal point for the slave trade known as Cameroons Town. The Port of Douala came under the rule of Germany in 1884 when it was made capital of the German protectorate of Cameroon. In 1907, it was renamed Douala, and it became part of the French colony in 1919. The Port of Douala was capital of Cameroon from 1940 to 1946.

Modern Douala is a mix of modern, colonial, and traditional architecture. The city grew quickly after World War II, becoming the country’s most populous city today. It is a patch-work of western-style residential neighborhoods sprinkled with poorer areas where unskilled workers who have migrated from Cameroon and other countries in Africa.  Colonial interests and controlled of Douala did not allow for economic development decentralization in Cameroon thus creating a path-dependency situation. Colonial interest was concentrated in Douala as it was easy for them to export and handled trading activities between Europe and the Central African Region. This in later years greatly influenced the location of economic and especially industrial activities in this part of Cameroon with demographic explosion, people moving from the countryside into Douala looking for jobs.  Douala sea port handles export and imports to countries like Chad with  the town being home of the Eko Market, not only the largest in the country, but also the largest in the whole C.E.M.A.C region (Economic Community of Central African States). This dominance of colonial interest and activities in Douala in later years put Douala at the focal point for economic and industrial location in Cameroon. This has continued in subsequent years with increasing presence of industrial plants such as hydro power, metal, chemical, plastic, cement, and gas installations without adequate stakeholders competent in wastes management policy.  Inadequate monitoring and control of industrial activities by the Government in Douala is clear in the city’s poor scenery. Uncontrolled discharge of effluents from chemical plants, presence of fume from industrial emission, plastics and household dumping is the order of the day around the city. 

   In 1971, a presidential decree created MAGZI (Mission d,Amenagement et du Gestion des Zones Industrielle), a public company in charge of decentralizing and controlling industrial activities in the country, a type of “watch dog” organization of industrial activities. This company became operational in 1976 and instead of decentralizing industrial activities around the country, created the Bonaberi and Bassa industrial zones in Douala with increasing concentration and rapid demographic increase without implementing an adequate waste management system. The result is uncontrolled waste discharge by industries and population pressure leading to household waste dumping. The Government continue with it bonanza policy to encouraged industrial location without adequate decentralization policy by enacting in 1990 the Free Trade Zones Legislation conceding fiscal, regulatory and customs incentives to industries exporting at least 80% of their products. This legislation only came to confirm the path-dependency situation created by colonial economic dominance of Douala and encourage more industrial siting with corresponding demographic increased.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency(1998), Environmental Pollution is any discharge of materials, energy into water, land, or air that causes or may acute(short-term) or chronic(long-term) detriment to the Earth’s ecological balance or that lowers the quality of life.

Environmental experts at BOCOM International (a Douala based company specialized in environmental protection) have raised an alarm about increasing rate of industrial pollution in Douala. The experts says this is due to the increasing concentration of industrial plant and poor handling of industrial wastes especially by companies that deal in petroleum, plastic, metal and chemical products. Boasting as the country economic power house, demographic explosion, poor wastes management and the ever shrinking border between industrial zones and inhabited areas are all consequences of colonial interest and dominance. Also recent Government policy on industrial location without corresponding decentralization policy is held to blame for today’s condition of Douala. It is not uncommon to find factories belching foul smells and wastes dumped in the surrounding with scant respect for environmental laws.  Although according to United Nation Report, household waste plays an important role in pollution, there is ample indication that industrial waste alone is estimated at about 2187 metric tons per year in biochemical oxygen demand with a corresponding 48,000 metric tons per year in suspended solids in the Cameroon’s coastal city of Douala alone(UNEP,1982). Hence, it is fair to say this figure might have doubled or triple over the last decades. Effects of industrial effluents had been noticed around the aquatic ecosystem from fish capture along the coast of Cameroon’s large marine ecosystem of the Gulf of Guinea. (Van den Bossche and Bernacsek, 1990) From an increase of 20,800 tons in 1970 to 73, 2214 tons in 1979 to a succeeded and steady declined to 62,529 tons in 1987.  The photos below show some polluted sites in Douala.

  Photo1: Dumping on the Bessengue Valley

Photo2: An overview of the Douala seaport.

Photo 3: The SCDP Hydro carbon plant

Photo4: poor drainage system around the Bonaberi Industrial Zone neighborhood.

Photo5: Chemical and solid wastes at the Bepanda neighborhood Douala, Cameroon.

III.OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT:

 Recent attempts by Government in enacting legislative regulations like the Law No. 96/12 of 5th August 1996 relating to the management of the National environment and the overdue Decree No 2005/0577/PM of 23 February 2005 on the procedural framework governing Environment Impact assessment (EIA) in Cameroon had all proved futile.  Even industrial decentralization program meant to balance colonial path-dependency on Douala, including stakeholder’s participation on waste management program had not been able to achieve the goals for which they were created. Still Douala continues to represent the most attractive area for industrial sitting with correlated demographic explosion, poor waste control and hence continuous environmental pollution, problems.

    My main objective  is to demonstrate to an extend how the first colonial settlement and concentration of it activities like the Centre For Transatlantic Slave Trade  around the 18th century had created a path- dependency situation in making Douala the most attractive site for industrial location in Cameroon. This in return left the rural population around the countryside with no option rather than the massive movements into Douala.

 Secondly to explore ways in which the Government can fully implement the industrial zones decentralization policy, that is understanding the colonial role of the dominance of Douala in terms of industrial location, thus limiting the path dependency condition created by colonial influence upon Douala with complete stakeholder’s participation on the control and management of pollution problems. In all this, I intend to investigate on the willingness of the  industrial sectors and  population to accept relocation possibilities if the Government decentralization program are to be enforce in the near future which will also affects the direction of the demographic flow. 

IV.METHODOLOGIES OF STUDY

In other to come up with this research project, I intend to study the colonial history of Cameroon around 18th and 19th century with emphasis on colonial activities, influence and interests. I will also be checking on historical documents on why Douala became the most favorable area for colonial concentration, settlements and activities among the Sub- Central African Region.  I will be reviewing Government legislative documents on industrial decentralization policy and Environmental Assessment Programs in Cameroon.

Also I will be conducting random interviews on the population and industrial actors on what influence their location in Douala and their reactions if the Government Decentralization is to be enforced. Will have formal talks with Local Government Administrative Head in Douala on pollution  problems in the city, with special interest on the reasons of the failure of the decentralization policy and stakeholders involvements in Environmental Control Programs.

Finally I will be seeking samples opinions of residents on how they feel and hope in future in relation to the environmental pollution problems in Douala.

V. EXPECTED RESULTS

It is my wish to use the information collected from this study to come up with an independent research report title “Pollution Problems, A Consequence of Colonial Influenced And Government Policy” (Case Study of Douala, Cameroon) I hope this research will contribute in looking for another way in which environmental pollution problems in Douala can be understand and perceive if real decisions are to be taken.            

   ANTICIPATED OUTLINE OF CHAPTERS

Chapter 1: A Brief Colonial History of Cameroon.

Chapter 2: Why Douala?

Chapter 3: Industrial Location, Demographic Response and Government Policy.

Chapter 4: Pollution Problems and Outcomes.

VI. BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Harry, R Rudin (1982) Germans in the Cameroons. 1884-1914, A Case Study of Modern Imperialism.

Victor Julius Ngoh (1992) Cameroon 1884-1985, Emphasizing French and British Colonial Rule and Changes since Independence.

The Herald Editorial: Cameroon Timeline 1989.

Alemagi, D, Oben, M.P., Ertel. J. (2006) Mitigating Industrial Pollution along the Atlantic Coast of Cameroon; An overview of Governments Efforts. The Environmentalist 2006.

Asaah et al (2006) Heavy Metal Concentration and Distribution in the Surface Soils of the Bassa Industrial Zone 1, Douala, Cameroon. The Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering, Vol.31,nº 2 A.

Chebo, K. Asangwe (2006) The Douala Coastal Lagoon Complex, Cameroon; Environmental Issues. Barcelona Field Studies Centre, Industrial Location Factors, 2008.

Bogdan, R. and Taylor, S. J; (1975) Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods. A Phenomenological Approach to the Social Science Sciences. Wiley, New York.

Daly, Herman and John Cobb, Jr; (1989) For the common Good: Redirecting the Economy towards Community, the Environment, and a Sustainable Future. Boston, Beacon Press.

Fombad, C. M (1997) The Effectiveness of Environmental Protection Measures in Cameroon’s 1999 Law laying down Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries Regulation; Journal of Environmental Law, Oxford University Press.

French Development Agency (AFD) 2003: Support Programmed for the Urban Development of Douala and Yaoundé.

IPS, (2004) Politics-Cameroon: Democracy Does Not Come Easily. Inter Press Service.

Luken. R.J.Alvarez and P, Hesp ;( 2002) Developing Countries Industrial Source Book, First Edition, Vol.01-89605, UNIDO, Vienna, Austria.

Manga et al ;( 2008) Waste Management in Cameroon. A New policy perspective? Resources, Conservation and Recycling.

United Nation Development Program (2003) Monitoring Human Development.

United Nation Development Program (2004) Need Assessment for Capacity Building at the National Level.

UNIDO (2002) Cameroon Rio+10 Assessments, UNIDO, Vienna.

Submitted by;

Fomukong Julius Ntonibe,  Master Program (2010-2011) ICTA. Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona.