Anger as Police Allegedly Ransack Sande Bush Looking for Stolen Palm Nuts

August 13, 2021

Banner Image: Senjeh District Head Zoe Ma Jebbeh Bigboy in an interview with the DayLight on Friday, August 6, 2021. The DayLight/Derrick Snyder

By Varney Kamara

BEHSAO, Bomi County – Traditional leaders in Bomi are threatening to take action against police and security guards of Mano Palm Oil Plantation Investment (MPOI) who allegedly ransacked a Sande shrine last week, sparking a riot in the western countryside.

The police and company guards had stormed the Sande bush in search of stolen palm nuts, according to Ma Jebbeh Bigboy, the head Zoe of the shrine. The incident occurred in Behsao in the Senjeh District. It is considered a sacrilege for men to enter a Sande school, with violators often punished harshly.

“They came and saw things they were not to see,” Bigboy told The DayLight. “The consequence of this is death. If we do not make sacrifices for this, people will die, including me.”

Bigboy demanded that Mano underwrites the expenses for the sacrifice to appease the spirits of the shrine. She listed three tins of red oil, three tins of liquor, three bags of rice, a white sheep and one roll of white cloth as items the company must provide for the sacrifice.

Upon the shrine incident, angry citizens began to riot, vandalizing one of the company’s security booths.

“The angry crowd came and put me outside of the booth. I ran in the bush for safety,” said Mano’s security guard Murphy Billy underneath the damaged cubicle with torn roof and shattered windows.

Billy said he watched the townsmen rioters chase after other security guards.

“I didn’t see any red palms with them. I only saw the crowd running behind them,” he added.

A number of townspeople were arrested and taken to custody after the riot subsided, according to people The DayLight interviewed.

Mano’s security that the rioters damaged. The DayLight/Varney Kamara

Local police authorities denied that their men entered the shrine. A police officer who only identified himself as OPS Morris at a deport in Gbah Jarkeh told this reporter he did not know of the arrests. He promised a week ago to me with details on the alleged arrest but failed to do so as of Monday. He, however, confirmed receiving a complaint about the destruction of the security booth.

Adama Seh, head of corporate communication at Mano said the company was “investigating and will find a peaceful way out” in an interview with The DayLight.

Konah Harris, clan chief of Senjeh, told The DayLight the county’s traditional leaders were also investigating the crisis.

Mano succeeded Sime Darby in a takeover in 2019. Prior to the takeover, it had been involved in the purchase of crude palm oil and exporting it to various destinations across West Africa, according to its website. The group is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mano Manufacturing Co, which is principally involved in the manufacturing of soap, bleach and detergents.

Last week’s riot in Behsao is not the first plantation-related incident in Grand Cape Mount County. In October 2011, Sime Darby destroyed crops and culturally significant sites such as graveyards and shrines. Villagers from Bomi and Grand Cape Mount County presented a formal complaint to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) on violation of their human and cultural rights. The report found Sime Darby liable for not acquiring the constant of communities before expanding on their land. The company agreed to pay the villagers US$1 million within 60 years, with 99,999.99 every six years.

Unlike Sime Darby, Mano is not a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the global watchdog of the oil palm industry. However, several national and international laws and protocols call for companies’ recognition of cultural rights, including Liberia’s Land Rights Act of 2018, the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights and the 2001 UNESCO Declaration on Cultural Diversity.

“This is a violation of the rights of communities. It violates local and international treaties which speak for the protection of people across communities where oil palm concessions are in Liberia,” said Richard Sam, a regional coordinator with the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) in an interview with the DayLight.

People gather around a police vehicle after the riot, which started after police and security guards allegedly ransacked a Sande bush in Behsao, Bomi County. The DayLight/Timby Dashboard

This story has been updated with additional paragraphs and changes to lines in the previous version.

Golden Veroleum Breaches MoUs with Communities, New Report Finds

August 13, 2021

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Banner Image: Butaw, Sinoe County. The DayLight/Harry Browne

By Varney Kamara

MONROVIA – Golden Veroleum Liberia has failed to implement more than 50 percent of the memoranda of understanding (MoUs) it signed with communities in Sinoe County, according to a new report by Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) and its Dutch partner Friends of the Earth Netherlands.

In 2014, GVL signed MoU with Tartweh-Drapoh, Numopoh, and Nitrian, promising to provide the communities jobs, education, training and social development. Despite giving out more than 15,000 hectares of their land in exchange for these social benefits, GVL has failed to fulfill its part of the agreement, the report said.

“GVL has failed to provide benefits for communities. It has structurally failed to provide benefits and live up to commitments to communities since 2014,” said James Otto, the coordinator of SDI’s community rights and corporate governance program at a news conference on Thursday in Duarzon, Margibi County. “GVL operation in Liberia has not been anything but sustainable. It has failed to comply with findings from complaints from affected communities.

“The lack of compliance has also contributed to human rights abuses in the country.”

Alphonso Kofi, GVL’s spokesman, told this reporter the company would respond to the report soon.

Out of 181 promises Golden Veroleum made to communities within the MoUs, the report said the company has only implemented 49 of those commitments. It broke 90 of them and has partially fulfilled 35. SDI and Friends of the Earth said they could not tell what happened with seven of the promises.

Some of the unfulfilled promises include jobs and communities’ out-growers programs, the most violated portion of all the MoU it signed with Tartweh-Drapoh, Numopoh and Nitrian.

“We’ll continue to press on the national government to ensure that communities get their just benefits from their natural resources but the government must do its part,” Otto said. “We are asking the government to do so because GVL is shifting the blame on the government.” He disclosed SDI is going to present the new findings to the legislature which has a constitutional obligation to approve and review concessions in the country.

SDI’s Wilfred Gray-Johnson and Program Coordinator James Otto at a news conference on Wednesday. The DayLight/Varney Kamara

Previous reports have found GVL liable for violating MoUs it reached with communities.

Between 2015 and 2017, GVL signed MoUs with Butaw, Tartweh and Tarjuowon for over 28,000 hectares of land, 2,600 hectares in Butaw, 7,000 Tartweh and 19,000 hectares in Tarjuowon. The MoUs mandate GVL to employ one person per six hectares. That has never been done. In Butaw, for instance, it has hired less than half of the number of residents it agreed to employ.

In April 2017, a report by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)—the global watchdog for the oil palm sector—found GVL violated 16 MoUs it signed with communities between 2013 and 2015.

GVL’s concession mandates it to follow the RSPO’s principles. It is a member of the global certification scheme through its parent company Golden Agri Resources (GAR), the world’s second-largest palm oil multinational. The RSPO reprimanded the company for land-grab a year after that report and ordered it to negotiate with the communities on employment opportunities and other issues. GVL would pull out of the RSPO only to reenter shortly after.

Even more recently, an investigation by the High Carbon Stock Approach (HCSA) last year found the company cleared carbon-rich forests in the Liberian southeast. In 2016, oil palm companies agreed to comply with the HCSA’s “no deforestation” standard.

Danielle van Oijen, a lead campaigner at Friends of the Earth Netherlands, called on financiers of GVL’s parent company GAR to stop their investment in the firm.

“This has to stop,” van Oijen said in a press statement. “Benefits from natural resources should go to the Liberian people, not to shareholders in faraway countries.”

GVL is currently renegotiating MoUs with communities to expand its plantation. it signed a 65-year concession agreement with the Liberian government in 2010, leasing 220,000 hectares of land in Grand Kru, Maryland, River Cess, River Gee and Sinoe, the largest palm oil concession in the country.

Foreign Banks Hear Allegations of Land-grab and Pollution Against Their Investments in Liberian Goldmine

August 10, 2021

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Banner Image: A mountain range in Foya, Lofa County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

BY James Harding Giahyue

MONROVIA – More than 10,000 villagers who allege being harmed by Bea Mountain Mining Corporation’s New Liberty Gold Mine in Kinjor, Grand Cape Mount County, have had their complaint accepted against the German and French national development banks – DEG and Proparco – for their involvement in the project.

In their complaint they filed in February and reviewed by the banks’ Independent Complaints Mechanism in July, the villagers accuse the mining company of taking their homes and farms, polluted their water, and breaking promises to provide jobs, schools and other facilities. The villagers are represented by 21 townspeople from five villages.

“The complainants allege that they have suffered substantial harm from resettlement from the area where the mine was established, from environmental impacts and impacts from river diversion,” the Independent Complaint Mechanism said. “Allegedly serious harm was caused through the release of harmful chemicals between December 2015 and June 2016.”

DEG and Proparco have direct links to the western Liberian mine through their investments FirstRand, a commercial bank in South African. The Independent Complaints Mechanism of the development banks will now seek to bring the mine’s owner, Avesoro Resources, into a formal mediation process with the complainants, who are supported by Liberian and international nongovernmental organizations, including Rights and Rights Foundation, Foundation for Community Initiatives, Society for the Conservation of Nature Liberia, Inclusive Development International, Oxfam Novib and SOMO.

“We have been neglected by the mining company,” explained a community leader, whose identity is being kept anonymous due to fear of reprisals, in a release issued on Monday by the NGOs. “We were taken from our land without any good reward, and our land and water polluted while the company refused to fully address the problems. Our livelihoods – farming and artisanal mining – have been disrupted by the company, and we are suffering from food insecurity and unattended health problems. We hope that the complaint process will help restore our livelihoods and hold the company to its promises.”

Liberia, which is rebuilding following years of civil war, has sought to attract foreign investment. But gold mining projects have been controversial. In March 2016, the New Liberty Gold Mine in Grand Cape Mount County spilled cyanide and arsenic into a river that people rely on for fish and drinking water. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank, pulled its investment in the project after the accident. Following a visit by President George Weah last year, the company has recently embarked on several long-overdue community infrastructure improvement projects. The Independent Complaints Mechanism’s mediation process offers a unique opportunity to support the Liberian government’s efforts to ensure that the project brings promised benefits to local communities.

“The admissibility decision brings hope to the people who have suffered neglect and injustice for so long,” the release quoted Liberian advisors to complainants, whose identities are being kept confidential over reprisal. “We see this process as a unique opportunity to initiate a formal mediation between the affected communities and the company, and we ask the Liberian government to support the process to ensure that it will produce a just outcome.”

Major consumer brands such as Apple, Macy’s, IBM and Canon disclose that they sourced gold from Liberia in their most recent conflict minerals reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. There are only two commercial goldmines in Liberia, and both are ultimately owned by the MNG Group of Turkey, which is controlled by the billionaire Günal family.

“This case shows once again how big brand companies and development institutions alike are failing to perform human rights due diligence on their investment and supply chains,” said David Pred, Executive Director of Inclusive Development International. “We are calling on FirstRand, the European development banks and the retail and technology companies that source gold from New Liberty to ensure that Avesoro engages in good faith mediations with the communities to resolve their long-standing grievances.”

The complaint is the first to be admitted by the Independent Complaints Mechanism involving a so-called financial intermediary. Development banks, including DEG and Proparco, are increasingly outsourcing their money to financial intermediaries such as commercial banks, which then invest it onward, often with little oversight.

DEG and Proparco have been lending money to FirstRand Bank of South Africa for years. International best practices require banks like FirstRand to apply strict social and environmental standards to all of their high-risk clients, no matter their size or location. FirstRand participated in project loans of $110 million to develop New Liberty while it was a client of DEG and Proparco, the release said. The Independent Accountability Mechanism found that FirstRand should have applied DEG’s and Proparco’s social and environmental standards, accepting the New Liberty complaint on the basis of the development banks’ portfolio-wide approach to financial intermediaries – a first in development finance accountability.

“This decision creates a vital opportunity for the Liberian communities to secure redress for the terrible impacts they have suffered as a result of the New Liberty mine,” said Sarah Singh, senior legal and policy associate at Inclusive Development International per the release. “The decision to accept the complaint on the basis of the banks’ portfolio-wide approach also establishes an important precedent that opens the door to remedy for any community that has been harmed by companies supported by the financial intermediaries of the European development banks.”

FirstRand Bank is also an ongoing financial intermediary of the Dutch development bank FMO but the Independent Complaints Mechanism dismissed the complaint against the Dutch bank on technical grounds.

Two other banks joined FirstRand in financing the New Liberty Mine. Nedbank, a South African commercial bank that is a signatory to the Equator Principles, co-financed the deal, while the South African government’s export credit agency, ECIC, guaranteed it.

Watchdog Backs Communities’ Protest for US$5.5M Land Rental Fees

August 6, 2021

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Banner Image: Residents of logging-affected communities protest before the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning on Tuesday in Monrovia. The DayLight/Harry Browne

By James Harding Giahyue

MONROVIA – The Benefit Sharing Trust Board—a multi stakeholders’ watchdog in the forestry sector—has backed communities’ protest for more than US$5.5 million in land rental fees.

Communities led by their union protested at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning for the amount but suspended their sit-in action for a week after meeting officials of the ministry.

“The National Benefit Sharing Trust (NBST) Board is joining the National Union of Community Forestry Development Committee (NUCFDC) in calling on the Government of Liberia (GoL) to pay what it owes to the affected communities of logging companies,” the watchdog said in a release on Thursday. “The non-payment of these funds shows lack of willingness to uphold its obligation required by the National Forestry Reform Law (NFRL) of 2006 and the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) signed with the European Union.”

The Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) has received US$27.7 million from large-scale logging companies such between 2017 and now but has not paid the communities hosting those concessions a cent ever since, according to a report by Forest Trends in a report last year, tracking payments in the sector between 2007 and 2019.

The protest brought it to three straight years now that the union has agitated for the payment. It petitioned the Legislature in 2019 and 2020.

Earlier this year, the union had a meeting with lawmakers, who promised to persuade the Ministry of Finance to make allotment in the special dudget for the fiscal year 2021/2022. The board calls on the government to fulfill its commitment as budget hearings are ongoing.

“We expect that while our international partners are struggling to support and strengthen governance processes, it is incumbent [upon the government to avoid any furthercommunity frustration and protest,” the board said. “We call on the Legislature to ensure that the necessary steps are taken by the requisite authorities to address the concerns of the communities.”

The board is a product of the National Forest Reform Law of 2006 and regulations, representing the interest of forest-related communities people affected by logging concessions. It receives 30 percent of land rental fees from the government, disburses them to communities and oversees their expenditure. The group comprises members of civil society, loggers and the government.

Communities have received US$2.6 million—instead of US$8.6 million—of the 27.7 million the government has received since the law came into being. That is how the US$5.5 million outstanding payment came about.

Women’s Rights CSO Condemns Government’s Failure to Pay Communities over US$5.5M

August 6, 2021

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Banner Image: women from logging-affected communities protest before the Ministry of Finance in Monrovia. The DayLight/Harry Browne

By William Q. Harmon

MONROVIA – The Foundation for Community Initiatives (FCI)—which advocates for women’s land rights—has expressed displeasure over the Liberian government’s failure to pay communities their legal share of land rental fees it received from logging companies.

The government owes communities affected by large-scale logging concessions more than US$5.5 million, according to Forest Trends in a report last year, covering logging-related payments between 2007 and 2019. That report said the government has not paid the fees since 2017.

“We want to join our voices to the [National Union of Community Forest Development Committee] in demanding the funds are paid now,” Loretta Aletha Pope Kai, FCI’s Executive Director, said in a statement on Thursday. “The government cannot continue to ignore the plight of its own people.

“Please pay the people their money.”

The union, which staged the protest early on Tuesday at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, hung the sit-in it had planned for a week following a discussion with the Comptroller and Accountant General of Liberia Janga Kowo. Kowo promised to get back the communities within a week.

The delayed payments are a violation of the 2006 National Forestry Reform Law of Liberia, which calls for the government to pay 30 percent of all logging-related land rental fees it receives to rural towns and villages, which host the forests from which the timbers are harvested.

It also breaches Liberia’s Voluntary Partnership Agreement with the European Union (EU), which mandates the west African country to harvest its logs in a sustainable manner. It also contravenes the Pro-Poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development (PAPD), mainly its pillars on economic empowerment and power to the people.

“This is a reversal of the gains we have made in the forestry sector since the end of the war,” the statement said in reference to the country’s breakaway from a civil war era where forest resources fueled the killing of an estimated 250,000 people. “We are drifting away from the lessons we learned during our civil war from denying local communities benefits of forest resources.”

Women’s rights

Mrs. Kai said the communities’ land rental fee crisis will have an impact on women’s participation in the upcoming elections for new corps of officers on local forestry governance structures, known across the forestry sector as community forestry development committee (CFDC). Out of 23 of those bodies, only one woman occupies a chairperson position, Ruth Gibson of Grand Gedeh County.

“It has the propensity to cause apathy among women who want to take up leadership responsibilities on these governance bodies,” the statement said. “Already facing diehard, decade-long patriarchy, gender stereotype and societal marginalization, the government protracted indebtedness to communities will only exacerbate the challenges women face in terms of land rights and equal participation in forest governance across the country.”

The statement also said the government’s indebtedness to the communities will compound poverty in the rural areas.

“This further means, women in those communities will not have access to paved farm-to-market roads, clinics, schools for their children and other things logging money should provide for them.”

Logging Communities Suspend Protest for US$5.5M Land Rental Fees

August 3, 2021

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Banner Image: Protesters from logging-affected communities hold placards at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning in Monrovia on Tuesday. The DayLight/Harry Browne

By Ojuku S. Kangar, Jr.

MONROVIA – Communities affected by logging concession have suspended their planned weeklong protest for over US$5.5 million land rental fees the Liberian government owes them after reaching a rough agreement with the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning.

The protesters from the 23 large-scale logging concession areas gathered earlier on Tuesday morning in front of the Ministry of Finance with placards, demanding the government to settle the arrear. They had announced on Sunday in a press release that their sit-in would last for a week unless the government pays them at least US$2.2 millions of the total debt.

Andrew Zelemen, the head of secretariat of the National Union of Community Forest Development Committee (NUCFDC), which led the protest, said the protesters agreed to give the government a week to address their plight.

“Today’s action was meant to draw the attention of the ministry,” Zelemen said shortly after meeting officials of the ministry just barely one hour into the protest. “They are our leaders and we trust what they tell us. But if they fail, we will continue our [protest] action.”

The Comptroller General and Accountant of the Republic of Liberia Janga Kowo pleaded with the protesters to give the government time to begin readying the payment.

“We will approach the Minister of Finance [Samuel Tweah] and the National Legislature to make sure the amount be placed in the national budget,” he told reporters outside the ministry’s headquarters in Monrovia. “Settlement arrangement will be made. I will be doing a comprehensive briefing with the Minister of Finance and he will brief the President for lasting solution.”

The 2006 National Forestry Law of Liberia mandates 30 percent shares of all land rental fees large-scale logging companies pay. The last time those fees were paid was in fiscal year 2015/2016, according to NUCFDC. The government has paid only US$2.6 million (instead of US$8.6 million) from US$27.7 million it has collected from loggers ever since the law came into force.

‘We need our benefits’

Prior to the truce, protesters held placards brandishing inscriptions such as: “Government of Liberia, pay our share of land rental fees,” “Our forest, we need the benefits,” “Logging communities deserve benefits,” and “The government and logging companies owe us plenty money.”

Standing second from the left, Andrew Zelemen, headed the protest at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning on Tuesday. The DayLight/Harry Browne

The Tuesday protest made it the third year in succession that rural communities have taken action over forestland rental fees. It has petitioned the Legislature in the last two years. The NUCFDC said in the release it had contacted the Ministry of Finance and the Forestry Development Authority (FDA)—the government office responsible for the logging sector—but got no redress. The FDA did not respond to queries for comments on the matter.

The communities appear firmer this year, demanding the payment was made. “It is still regrettable that the government is yet to do anything in addressing this issue of communities receiving their share of land rental fees as required by law,” the NUCFDC had said in the release Sunday.

The government’s failure to pay communities their share of land rental fees is a violation of the National Forestry Reform Law of Liberia. It undermines Liberia’s Volunteer Partnership Agreement (VPA) with the European Union—the biggest purchaser of Liberian timbers—which calls for fair sharing of forest resources. It also contravenes the community pillar of the country’s forestry reform, which ended decades in which rural areas did not benefit from timber resources and had no say in forest governance.

Logging Communities To Protest Over US$5.5M Government Owes Them

August 2, 2021

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Banner Image: Elders of Gbi-Doru District, Nimba County, stage a sleep-in protest at the headquarters of the Forestry Development Authority in Paynesville in 2019. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

By James Harding Giahyue

MONROVIA – Rural communities in Liberia affected by large-scale logging concession will on Tuesday begin a weeklong sit-in protest at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning for more than US$5.5 million the government owes them in land rental fees, their union said on Sunday.

“We are calling on the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning to ensure that communities affected by logging operations in Liberia get their just benefits, especially the 30 percent shares of land rental fees paid by logging companies to the government of Liberia,” the National Union of Community Forestry Development Committee (NUCFDC) said.

The union called on the Ministry of Finance to make sure it apportions at least US$2 million into the next national budget whose hearings are ongoing at the Legislature.

The government’s failure to pay communities their share of land rental fees is a violation of the National Forestry Reform Law of 2006. The law mandates the government to transfer 30 percent of land rental fees logging companies pay to communities for development purposes.

But the NUCFDC said that has not happened since the fiscal year 2015/2016. The government has paid only US$2.6 million since the law came into being and still owes communities over US$5.5 million from the US$27.7 million it has collected from loggers ever since.

Vincent Doe, the president of the National Union of Community Forest Development Committee, reads the group’s petition at the Legislature on September 3, 2020. The DayLight/Harry Browne

The outstanding amount also undermines Liberia’s Volunteer Partnership Agreement (VPA) with the European Union, which calls for fair sharing of timber resources. It also contravenes the community pillar of the country’s forestry reform, which ended decades in which rural areas did not benefit from forest resources and had no say in forest governance. The peak of that marginalization happened during Liberia’s bloody 14-year civil war, which saw warring factions use logging proceeds to fund their wars.

The planned protest this week would make it the third year in a row that the union has taken action for the payment. It has petitioned the Legislature in the last two years but to no avail. The union said in the release it had contacted the Ministry of Finance and the Forestry Development Authority but got no redress.

“It is still regrettable that the government is yet to do anything in addressing this issue of communities receiving their share of land rental fees as required by law,” the union said.

The Ministry of Finance did not respond to queries for comment on the matter.

It represents 23 community forestry development committees (CFDCs) within seven forest management contract (FMC) and nine timber sale contract (TSC) areas in Lofa, Gbarpolu, River Cess, Nimba, Grand Gedeh, Sinoe, River Gee, Grand Kru, Maryland, Grand Bassa and Grand Cape Mount. FMC covers forests between 50,000 and 400,000 hectares; while TSC falls within forestlands of not more than 5,000 hectares.

Forestry is one the biggest contributors to the Liberian budget, with the sector generating US$8,148,559 10.23% of total revenue in the 2018/2019 period, according to the Liberia Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (LEITI).

Opinion: Scale-up Seaweed into The Global Food System to Address Nutrition Challenges, Improve Livelihood, and Reduce Greenhouse Gases Emission

August 1, 2021

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Banner Image: An infographic depicting the multiple contributions of seaweed to human nutrition and health. The DayLight/Ambulah Mamey

By Ambulah Mamey

We are for more years left to meet the 2025 global nutrition targets: 40% reduction in the number of stunted under-5 children, 50% reduction of anemia in women of reproductive age, 30% reduction in low birth weight, zero increase in child overweight, 50% increase in the rate of exclusive breastfeeding, reduce and keep child wasting below 5%, but progress remains unimpressive. There are spots of progress but in many countries, we are seeing high undernourishment, obesity, and other diet-related non-communicable diseases overlapping each other. As of 2020, stunting- which is one of the most dangerous threats to human development- was affecting 149 million children while over 500 million adults suffering from obesity. As the COVID-19 disrupts access to food, slashes income, and pushes families to consume unhealthy food, the malnutrition trend may get worst especially for people in poor and conflict-affected countries and for women and children.

The state of nutrition is worrisome because of the number of lives involved, but also because the impact of malnutrition transcends the number of people it affects. Nutrition deficiencies can overburden health systems and disrupt economic transformation. We have seen this spillover effect in Africa, where under and over-nutrition is respectively costing 3 and 16 percent of annual GDP, and treating child undernutrition is costing up to 11 percent of the continent’s already inadequate public health budget. Reversing this trend- especially reducing chronic malnutrition by just 40%- could help Africa save up to US$ 83 billion. This same cost saving can be said for other parts of the world and in both cases, Seaweed can play unique complementary roles.

Diversified Food Systems, Not Only Health Systems, Will Address Global Nutrition Deficiencies

Health systems- all by themselves- will not address the corrosive global nutrition problem, including child stunting, iodine deficiency in pregnant and lactating women, and heart disease, etc. We need to focus on diet, and this will require an urgent transformation of the food system. Such transformation demands- among other things- that the crop agricultural production system is diversified enough to produce the right quantity and quality of calorie-rich food and the right quantity and quality of micronutrients and mineral-rich food. Already, a lot of work has been done to diversify the food system but to date the system and the financing mechanisms (subsidy, grants, loans, private capital, blended finance) and institutions that drive them to remain focused largely on producing staples and less on producing food rich in micronutrients and minerals. Efforts to integrate nutrition into the food systems by increasing the production of micronutrient dense crops, including fruits, vegetables and nuts have left much more to desire. Production of fruits, vegetables, and nuts remains low, resulting in a high unaffordable price of a healthy diet. In the US for example, a healthy diet, rich in fruits and vegetables, could be at least US$ 1.50 more than a diet rich in calories; according to a Harvard study. In parts of Africa, a healthy diet can cost up to 69% more than the price of unhealthy food choices.; revealing that even those living above the World Bank poverty line (1.90 a day) cannot afford a healthy diet.

Use Seaweed to Fill the Micronutrient and Mineral- Rich Food Gap

The challenges being faced by the crop agricultural production system to produce the needed quantity of food rich in micronutrients and minerals, the current state of malnutrition, the slow paste of progress in addressing malnutrition, and the adverse impact of COVID-19 on nutrition, demand we prioritize other complementary sources of micronutrient and mineral-rich food. It is at this point we call for the insertion and scaling up of Seaweed into the food system. Seaweeds are a good source of B1, B2 B12, C, fat-soluble vitamins, and a good source of iodine, protein, and dietary fiber. The protein concentration in Seaweed- especially red seaweed- can be up to 47% and the vitamins in seaweed can provide health benefits including decreasing blood pressure, preventing cardiovascular diseases, or reducing the risk of cancer. Japanese frequently eat Seaweeds- something that is likely contributing to their relatively longer lifespan since Seaweed can prevent lifestyle-related diseases. Seaweed is the best source of iodine– a mineral that plays a very critical role in the physical growth and cognitive development of young children. For obesity, we have seen evidence of how seaweed- especially brown seaweed- could inhibit weight gain, prevent obesity, and save people battling obesity from the high costs and hazardous side effects of anti-obesity drugs. Nutrition deficiencies can also be addressed through the income pathway- where households use their income to purchase nutritious food. On this pathway, seaweeds can also play a meaningful role. The rapid growth rate and short farming cycles of Seaweed enable farmers to generate income fast enough to meet food and households need once markets are functional. In some communities, seaweed farming has been the major income-generating activity- next to artisanal farming only.

Seaweed is not a “civil bullet” for addressing nutrition deficiencies. However, Seaweed can complement and do so like no other. Unlike the crop agriculture production system that provides food, vitamins, and mineral but at a high cost to the environment, seaweed can provide important vitamins, and minerals while protecting the environment. For example, Seaweed can reduce ocean acidification and when used in animal feed, reduce methane emission from cattle by 82%.

As we head to the 2021 Global Food Summit this September, stakeholders must make and uphold bold and timebound financial and other commitments to supporting establishments like the Safe Seaweed Coalition that are leading the seaweed revolution. When fulfilled, such commitments could be used to address issues on both the supply and demand side of the seesawed subsector. On the supply side, resources could be sued to improve farming techniques to increase production but importantly reduce any potential adverse effect of farmers (especially women) staying longer time farming in water. On the demand side, the resources could be used to conduct an extensive country-specific randomized controlled trial to build and lift evidence on the bioavailability of nutrients in specific species of seaweed, their degree of efficacy in addressing nutrition deficiencies, and the most appropriate culinary methods that can ensure the bioavailability. Resources could also be used to build regulatory systems to address food safety concerns and increase consumers’ confidence in consuming seaweed.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the author’s and do not represent the opinion of The DayLight.

Ambulah Mamey is Agricultural Development Practitioner, based in the United States. He is skilled and experienced in the design and management of agricultural development projects.

Civil Society Actors Learn New Tool for Concession Campaign

July 30, 2021

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Banner Image: Ariel view of a portion of the Palm Bay Estate of Equatorial Palm Oil’s (EPO) covering 6,400 hectares of land in Jogbahn Clan in District No.4, Grand Bassa County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

By James Harding Giahyue

MONROVIA – Campaigners from civil society organizations in Liberia on Thursday received training on the Accountability Framework initiative (AFi), a new tool for advocacy in the agriculture and forestry sectors.

AFi was introduced in 2019 by a host of international nongovernmental organizations, including Proforest, Rainforest Alliance and the Meridian Institute. Combining international and local laws, policies, principles and best practices, it provides a standard for civil society’s advocacy for agriculture and forest-related companies to produce sustainably. It aims to reduce private sector-related deforestation and foster strict adherence to respect for human rights and secure benefit for local communities where these firms operate.

Campaigners at the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI)—which organized the one-day training workshop alongside Proforest Ghana—said it will help land and forest rights groups monitor companies and ensure they comply with social, environmental and economic standards.

“This is very important to us as civil society organizations,” said James Otto, who heads SDI’s community rights and corporate governance program, told participants at the opening of the daylong event. “This is going to be a build-on training so that the framework is actually implemented in Liberia.”

“This is our opportunity in Liberia to understand what [AFi] is and see the linkages with our own efforts that we are making already, and see who we are going to take it and apply it in Liberia,” said Silas Siakor, one of the facilitators of the event

Siakor said coronavirus posed some challenges to the new initiative as it was established in the same year of the pandemic but momentum for the tool has started to take off. “The idea is really to drive stakeholders to take the concept and work with it,” he added.

The DayLight

“The challenges in community forestry are self-explanatory. The companies will not perform. There will be some breaches by the community for tempering with the forest.”

Jefferson Zoegbeh, the secretary general of Gheegbarn #2 Community Forest’s executive committee in Grand Bassa County, speaks at a recent meeting in Buchanan. Over 50 community land and forest leaders brainstormed conservation possibilities. Gathering from the southcentral county and River Cess next door, they discussed ways rural people could benefit from their forests rather than logging.

It has been some 15 years since logging was reintroduced in community forests following the end of over a decade of Liberia’s bloody civil wars. Though postwar forestry guarantees communities’ benefits, locals have gained little from dozens of logging contracts countrywide, covering 2.3 million hectares.

Official records show that of the 186 logging companies that have existed since 2009, just four or five are active. According to a recent report, they owe communities affected by large-scale concessions over US$21 million.

The meeting was the second of a series of community-based consultations, the the previous held in Ganta, Nimba County. The events’ organizers intend to incorporate communities’ views—and a report—into a proposal to the Liberian government early next year.

“The best way for communities to get their benefits is to reserve their forest,” says Piyigar Gaybeon, Zuzohn Community Forest's chief officer in the same region as Gheegbarn #2. Zuzohn signed a contract with the Chinese-owned Booming Green, which was terminated by mutual consent. However, the company did not settle its debt to locals, including contractual projects before pulling out.

“If we can get anything from any company to reserve the forest, we will agree. We need the generation to come and meet the forest there.”

Organizers seek locals’ views on three ways they can benefit from conservation. The first is performance-based, where they get paid for a specific forest area that is easily measurable. The second is direct funding, which empowers communities without a third party and is less bureaucratic. And the third is enterprise development, where communities’ alternative livelihood programs are funded to keep locals away from the forests.

SALAYEA TOWN, Lofa County – In 2019, the Sehyi Clan in Sanniquellie-Mahn District, Nimba County began the legal process of acquiring a customary land deed. Sehyi’s community land development and management committee spearheads that process.

Another clan group has exercised similar functions over Sehyi’s forest since 2017. The Sehyi Ko-doo Community Forest’s community forest management body comanages the 1,538-hectare forest alongside the Forestry Development Authority (FDA).

There is a problem, though. The forest leadership does not have a good relationship with its land counterpart. Like several communities, they are at loggerheads, with mounting calls for a national conversation to resolve these disputes.

But things are different in the Salayea District of Lofa County over 200 miles away. There, three—not two—community land and forest bodies, peacefully coexist and solve some of the district’s problems.

Since 2009, the district has had a community forest development committee, representing locals’ interests in a large-scale logging concession.

In 2016, the Salayea Community Forest was established, with a community leadership to co-manage the forest.

Then in 2019, Palama, a clan that hosts a portion of the Salayea Community Forest, established a governance structure to help develop and manage its land.

“If we don’t merge and work together, things will not work well for us,” says Yassah Mulbah, the chief officer of the Salayea Community Forest.

“We are working together as a team for a goal to protect the forest, to take it from illegal activities for the community’s development,” adds Eva Kpandah, the chairperson of Palama Clan’s land committee.

All three of the district’s bodies combat community challenges, including land conflicts and illegal mining activities.

MONROVIA – In the rainy season 2020, the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) investigated the scale of abandoned logs in Grand Bassa, River Cess, and Nimba Counties.

Investigators were stunned by what they discovered: several companies had left thousands of logs in the bush, on open fields, at sawmills, and other locations for long periods.

“Valuable species are continuously being harvested by logging companies without first securing sales contracts,” the investigators said in a report, “only to leave those logs unattended.”

A signboard at a log yard used by Coveiyalah on the Bomi highway supported the investigator’s findings. It read: “Timber sale.” Investigators recommended that the FDA curtail the situation. The signboard came down not long after.

Four years after the report—spanning two administrations—the FDA has yet to take any concrete action despite officially vowing on various occasions, to tackle the problem. Abandoned logs are symbols of the meltdown of the forestry sector, with companies deserting contracts, leaving debts and logs in their wake.

Abu Musa Kamara, a campaigner at the National Union of Community Forestry Development Committee, calls on the FDA to verify companies’ capacity before approving contracts. He also urges constant monitoring and enforcement of forestry’s legal laws and regulations.

“If these things happen, there will be no abandoned logs in concession areas,” Kamara tells The DayLight in an email.

Logs are abandoned when left unattended at a location for a certain period. The Regulation on Abandoned Logs, Timber, and Timber Products imposes fines, a prison term, and contract termination.

The regulation replaced a previous one that had proven ineffective seven years ago and undermined the regulator’s mandate to avoid waste of forest resources. Under the current regulation, the FDA must investigate and petition a court to auction abandoned logs.

‘Learning curve’

In 2022, the FDA ordered all companies to declare their production in LiberTrace, Liberia’s log-tracking system. It was a bid to tackle the situation albeit two years after the investigators’ report.

Later that year, then-Managing Director Mike Doryen said in a DayLight interview the regulator would begin auctioning logs that month. “We… will continue in the northern region and then go down south and [the] western part,” Doryen said.

In the end, nothing happened, as more evidence emerged of companies leaving logs. The Italian-registered African Wood and Lumber left logs on a field in Grand Bassa, with some burned. The Lebanese-owned Masayaha abandoned some 600 nearby. At least 500 Sing Africa logs rotted outside of Buchanan alongside hundreds of logs other companies dashed. Elsewhere, a DayLight investigation uncovered about 5,000 logs abandoned by the International Consultant Capital in the Gbi-Doru District, Nimba County.

Doryen’s timeframe was legally impossible, and his comments were dishonest—or at least ignorant. Per the regulation, auctioning timber takes months. Moreover, there is no record that the FDA filed a required petition at any circuit court countrywide to seize abandoned logs.

Doryen would tell the Associated Press a year later that the FDA had approved exports of abandoned logs outside of the legal process as “part of the learning curve.”

In early 2023, the FDA announced it had suspended several companies’ harvesting certificates in Sinoe. The list included Malaysian-listed Mandra, which had abandoned about 7,000 logs, likely the largest The DayLight recorded.

“This decision is prompted by the failure of these companies to honor the mandate from the FDA to enrol all logs harvested in LiberTrace,” read an FDA statement. “Companies in both categories, suspended certificates and otherwise, may be subject to further [penalties]…”

Again, no public records that show the FDA punished the companies.

Unlawful

The FDA’s biggest-known abandoned logs lie occurred during last year’s presidential elections. On October 31, it published a notice on suspicion of abandoned logs on its website and ELBC.

A week later, the FDA petitioned the Zorzor, Magisterial Court in Lofa County to begin the process. “We hereby request Your Honor and this honorable court for a search and seizure warrant,” read the petition.

But that petition was unlawful and may have exposed the FDA’s dishonesty. The abandoned logs regulation requires the FDA to file a seizure application at a circuit court, not a magisterial court.

Also, the time interval between the announcement and the petition was short. Per the regulation, the petition should have been filed over a month after several notices.

Deputy Managing Director Gertrude Nyaley was one of two attorneys who signed the petition. She was the technical manager of the FDA’s legality verification department (LVD) then.

The DayLight conducts an exclusive interview with Mrs. Loretta Pope-Kai, the Chairperson of the National Civil Society Council of Liberia and Executive Director of the Foundation for Community Initiatives (FCI).

The interview happened on the sidelines of Liberia's Second National Land Conference in Ganta, Nimba County from September 23-27, 2024.

DIYANKPO, Sinoe County – An unsolved boundary issue between two towns in Sinoe and Grand Kru Counties is stalling a clan’s pursuit of a customary land deed.

Diyankpo, a town in the Lower Bokon Clan in Jaedae District, Sinoe County, has a boundary dispute with Neeklakpo in Grand Kru County. Lower Bokon is pursuing a customary land deed but has seen its efforts stall due to the disputed area, approximately 8,000 hectares.

The Second Liberian Land Conference has opened in Ganta, Nimba County.

Delegates review the legal steps for the acquisition of customary land deeds, which is the main highlight of the Land Rights Act of 2018. The event aims to minimize the cost associated with the deeding process, enhancing communities' participation and ownership, and defining a realistic timeframe for awarding a customary land deed.

Delegates also focus on the land rights of women, the youth, people with disabilities, and other marginalized groups.

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Liberia has made significant strides to ensure its natural resources are managed in a sustainable manner since the end of a brutal 14-year civil war, which ended in 2003. It began with the reform of the country’s forestry sector a year later. The country created a new land law in 2018 that recognizes customary land ownership, has national policies on free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), and the principles and criteria of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). It has its own oil palm strategy

On top of that, the country has already signed onto a horde of international principles. They include the United Nations Principles on Business and Human Rights, efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and foster conservation, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+), and the Tropical Forest Alliance (TFA).

Nana Darko Cobbina, the training facilitator from Proforest, said AFi does not duplicate those efforts. It complements them and links the forestry and agriculture sectors.

“The framework aims to bring greater clarity, consistency, effectiveness, and accountability for supply chain commitments and their implementation and monitoring,” Cobbina told participants. “It embeds common approaches and good practices in standards, tools, policies, and initiatives for responsible production and trade.”

Dismissed GVL Workers’ Case Transferred to Monrovia

July 29, 2021

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Banner Image: A GVL Signboard in Sinoe County. The DayLight/Harry Browne

By Varney Kamara

MONROVIA – A case involving 14 dismissed workers of Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL) and the company has been transferred to Monrovia from Sinoe County, an important stage in the parties’ efforts to reach an out-of-court settlement.

GVL had requested the transfer of the case. It said that the Elwood Monger, who was hearing the matter, recused himself as he had already been retired as labor officials of the county.

“I therefore advise that based on their request and attached documents, the case be [transferred to] Monrovia with all relevant documents for adjudication,” a communication to Sinoe County’s Labor Office from the office of the regional labor affairs in Monrovia read.

In February last year, 14 former workers of GVL filed a complaint at the Labor office in Sinoe County. In their grievance, the workers accused GVL of constructive dismissal and unfair labor practice.

Butaw, Sinoe County, the setting of a 2015 riot in which at least one person died. The DayLight/Harry Browne

The former employees, mainly fieldworkers, were accused by the Indonesian company of participating in the infamous May 25, 2015 riot in Butaw, according to documents from the Labor Office. The riot left one dead and over US$7,000 of the company’s properties destroyed. The former workers were all jailed without trial and released a year later. One inmate died in prison and another shortly after their release in 2016.

The workers allege in their complaint they were verbally told of their dismissals and denied access to their workplaces, the case documents show.

“GVL has not only refused to permit us to return to work but refused to pay us our salaries and other benefits we are entitled to by virtue of the contracts of employment,” they say in the complaint.

“Allow us to resume work in our respective positions and places of assignment, pay us our salaries and other benefits for the period of our detention up to and including the date and time we are recalled,” they say in the complaint, adding they would accept a payoff.

Employees affected by the sacking include Sunday Okusu Sackor, Vincent Koon, Adolphus Tarpeh, Otis Chea, Franklin Duaryenneh, Luton Snohtee, Edwin Palay, Obie Karbah, Josephus Weagbah, Rufus Tiawroh, Titus Teah, Fred Henry and Samuel Yabbah and Erick Dayklee.

They all worked in GVL’s palm plantation in Butaw. They are being represented by Atty. Sagie Kamara of the Heritage Partners and Associates Inc. (HPA).

The dismissals have also triggered angry reaction from human rights and civil society groups. Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) and Friends of the Earth Netherlands accuses GVL of “trying to deny the dismissed workers justice”. Golden Agri Resources (GAR), GVL’s investors, denies the accusation.

GVL, Liberia’s largest oil palm company, holds 220,000 hectares of land in Sinoe, Maryland and Grand Kru for 65 years in a 2010 deal worth US$1.6 billion. The latest dispute is just one of several bad labor cases that have engulfed the company’s 11-yearf operation in Liberia. In 2018, GVL was reprimanded by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)—the certification body for oil palm companies across the world—for land-grab and labor breaches.

Transferring the case to Monrovia, one of three regions in Liberia’s southeast where GVL operates its oil palm concession, is a major twist in attempts aimed at amicably resolving the matter.

The company’s legal team headed by Jones and Jones law firm and the company’s in house lawyer, Atty. Garpeh Wilson, has attended only three of 10 pre-investigation hearings, according to minutes of the proceedings The DayLight analyzed. Between October 22 last year—when the first hearing took place—to April 29—the last one—GVL has given an excuse for bad roads, asked for the recusal of the hearing officer Elwoods Monger, and denied it received the former workers’ complaint.

The matter, which is at the conference stage could result to an amicable resolution or lead to a lawsuit , depending on the outcome of the labor officials’ investigation.

Yearly Archives: 2021

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