Liberia SEA
Liberia SEA
Liberia SEA
Forests are one of the most important natural resources in Liberia, yet have
• Examination of current never been managed to deliver anywhere near their full potential to contribute to
responses to these issues; the long-term, sustainable economic growth of the nation, the livelihoods of local
and rural communities, or the long-term conservation of the country‟s natural
• Development of an action plan heritage.
for how the government and
stakeholders in the forest sector On September 16, 2006, the Government of Liberia approved a new Forest Law.
This law charts the ways in which forests are going to be used in Liberia – for
can meet these challenges; and
commercial, conservation and community-oriented purposes (the three Cs), and
leaves open the possibility of using forests for carbon storage via funding
• Development of monitoring and
mechanisms for avoided deforestation.
evaluation criteria for the
implementation of the action plan. The use of forest resources to achieve the three Cs implies a series of direct and
indirect positive and negative economic, social and environmental impacts.
The SEA examined strategic Recognizing this, an extensive amount of work has been done on potential
challenges posed by each of the environmental impacts of possible concession arrangements. As the process
Cs of the Liberian forest policy and advances towards implementation of the forest policy and law, there is the need
the challenges posed by the to examine potential impacts of the policy specifically with regards to commercial
use of forests more broadly, protected areas and community forestry. Moreover,
interrelationship between the forest there is the need to conduct such impact assessment in a manner that takes into
sector as a whole and other account cross-sector impacts and trade-offs.
sectors of the country.
In 2007, the World Bank provided resources for conducting an institution-
centered strategic environmental assessment (SEA) of the forest sector with the
goal of guiding implementation of the new forest law and assisting in designing
the appropriate institutional mechanisms within and across sectors to enhance
positive impacts and to mitigate negative ones.
* This SEA was financed through the Bank-Netherlands Partnership Program. IUCN, in
partnership with ProACT and the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI), implemented the SEA
with support from the Agriculture and Rural Development (ARD) and Africa Environment
(AFTEN) departments of the World Bank.
SEA OF THE FOREST SECTOR OF LIBERIA 2
MAIN FINDINGS
understanding of benefits for the local cases selected and also common point
communities from protected areas and for all three cases.
THE PROCESS RESULTED
no common understanding of benefits IN THE IDENTIFICATION
from the levels of the local communities The experience of Butter Hill, reinforced
OF THE FOLLOWING KEY
and logging concessionaires and the lack the point that sufficient time is required
ISSUES:
of harmonization of sectoral policy with for the community consultation to take
respect to the implementation of the 3Cs. place, but also that there should be more
understanding between the FDA and • Continued dialogue on
One of the key findings of the economic affected communities. The case study of forest issues: all stakeholders
situation assessment is related to the fact Kpayaquelleh provides an example of were in agreement on the need
that any economic decision-making forest community self-regulating where to establish a common platform
process will exclude potential benefits of pit-sawing is allowed under community whose main focus would be to
forest management options due to the controlled conditions for housing and create a space where the issues
lack of economic data on the community development projects. The themselves can be discussed,
“community” and “conservation” aspects, Dulay case study provides an example of as opposed to focusing on the
despite the stated policy coherence the difficulty in boundary determination positions adopted by different
between the 3Cs. One of the key that will be necessary particularly in the stakeholders on those issues.
challenges facing the forest sector is to case of expanding the proposed This would provide for a free
find a way of integrating all 3Cs into protected areas. The common points are flow of information and
economic and financial planning. During related to lack of new points brought exchange of views on forest
the SEA process and consultations the under the CRL as the communities had sector processes, as well as to
main issue noted was the under- already identified community forest the extension to the
valuation of forest economic benefits and areas, to communities in most part management of other natural
financial opportunities. This means that rejecting being “paid” not to use their resources, particularly to the
forest management decisions tend to forests, to the need for a common mining sector.
lean more toward commercial forest understanding that still needs to be • Community benefits and
logging operations and to the stakeholder developed for interaction between community involvement: the
groups who stand to benefit most from community and government structures, to need for a clear definition and
these. Under-valuation also means that the absolute rejection of all communities mechanism for the distribution
potential financial opportunities to create of the idea of mining and forestry in the of those benefits was articulated
revenue for FDA may be missed beyond same area and the need for increased not only for the forest sector but
fines, penalties, royalties, concession understanding on the part of the also for the other natural
fees, stumpage fees, land rent and communities of the 3C policy. resource sectors. This would
associated timber charges and that a require not only a determination
whole number of forest values are weakly The National SEA Workshop was held in
of the appropriate policies and
represented in the Liberian forest policy Monrovia in November 2008 comprising
administrative mechanisms but
with a whole series of financial stimuli a cross-section of stakeholders including
also a thorough dissemination of
being directed towards other sectors. To the FDA, EPA, other government
these new ideas to affected
tackle these challenges, there is a need agencies, NGOs, private sector, donor
communities.
for updated information on commercial agencies and members of the Liberia
Forest Initiative (LFI) as well as • Community Forestry
logging and to create data on the value
participants from the civil society. The Development Committees and
of NTFP and of forest ecosystem
workshop was to identify the strategic Social Agreements: There was
services.
issues and chart out an action matrix. recognition of good intentions
Further to the situation assessments, The working definition of a “strategic behind these concepts but it
three case studies have been conducted issue” that was adopted during this was noted that proper
to help inform policy discussions by process was one that would point to the implementation is challenged by
providing practical examples of how the "big picture”, future, long-term goals and a variety of factors.
3Cs are working in actual field contexts. implementation of the 3Cs of Liberia‟s • Bridging the gap between
The three study sites were chosen based forest policy, which as noted above is policy and practice: the need
on the forestry, mining and agricultural premised on an integrated approach. to „walk the talk‟ and not only
sector. These are Butter Hill, Grand Cape The priority issues were published in a „talk the talk‟, i.e., implementing
Mount Country, Kpayaquelleh, Lofa Draft Scoping Report which was the legislation and policies that
County and Dulay, Nimba County. There distributed to stakeholders in Monrovia already exist .
are particular findings on each of the for comment.
SEA OF THE FOREST SECTOR OF LIBERIA 4
NEXT STEPS
The National SEA Workshop validated the priority issues recognized during the process and it also identified the activities
necessary as next steps for completing the SEA process. These are summarized below: