In 2010, a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) was signed between the European Union (EU) and the Republic of Cameroon to regulate timber harvesting and trade between the two parties, in the framework of the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan of the EU.

According to the VPA, the EU and Cameroon have agreed to ensure that the terms of the Agreement and the FLEGT licensing scheme under it are well understood by all stakeholders. Access to information on the objectives, the implementation, monitoring and control will enable a thorough understanding of the process and an involvement of all stakeholders to achieve the objectives of the Agreement. To meet this demand for transparency, Annex VII of the VPA, titled "Published information", was developed.

As part of the implementation of Annex VII, Cameroon has established a website (www.apvcameroun.cm), which records the information made public by the Ministry of Forests and Wildlife (MINFOF). Since the information available are many and presented in several formats, the MINFOF, with the support of FAO FLEGT Programme, wanted to propose this "State of the timber sector in Cameroon (2015)," which is intended as a synthesis, a compendium and a graphical interface accompanying some raw data presented on the website.