Nimba Clan Seeks Support to Protect Community Forest

December 13, 2024

Top: Sehyi Ko-doo Community Forest’s members in Sanniquellie-Mahn District, Nimba County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

By Varney Kamara

SEHYI-GEH, Nimba County – Villagers in a northeastern clan seek support to keep their forest amid huge challenges.

On 22 February 2017, the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) and Sehyi Ko-doo Community Forest signed a community forest management agreement that authorized the community to manage its forest.

“We have planted trees and established a management body to protect the forest,” says Ericson Flomo, the leader of the Sehyi Ko-doo Community Forest as The DayLight tours one of the replanting sites.

“We have also put in place other measures to empower the people. We did this realizing that conservation is the best way to save our forest and the environment,” adds Flomo.

“We need resources, training, and capacity building to maintain and grow this initiative. Strengthening our workforce is critical to these efforts.”

The 1,538-hectare forest is next to the East Nimba Nature Reserve (ENNR), a biodiversity hotspot home to rare wildlife, including African elephants, chimpanzees, and golden cats. The FDA and its international partners see Sehyi Ko-doo and neighboring community forests as important for the ENNR’s protection.

In the past, the region hosted logging, hunting, mining and farming, activities that caused deforestation, habitat loss, and threatened species.

Thus, locals are rethinking ways they can benefit from forest resources without cutting down trees or degrading the forests. From 2002 to 2023, Liberia lost 347,000 hectares of primary forest, making up 15 percent of its total tree cover loss, according to the Global Forest Watch, which analyzes satellite images to track deforestation worldwide.

Reforestation

To help solve this problem, Sehyi Ko-doo runs a reforestation program, a community forest guard service and alternative livelihood activities.

Launched in 2019, the project has seen the replanting of 30,000 trees, including 28,000 indigenous species. It is one of the largest reforestation initiatives in the country.

The Sehyi Ko-doo Community Forest covers 1,538 hectares in the Sanniquellie-Mahn District of Nimba County. Varney Kamara/The DayLight

Moreover, Sehyi Ko-doo has put 15,000 trees in nurseries, which have produced high yields. They plan to establish a regional laboratory for plant and medical research.

But there are challenges. Locals do not have a water pump machine so, they water the nurseries manually. Furthermore, the distance between the clan and where volunteers collect seeds on the Guinea border is too far. Volunteers, including Otis Flomo, must make the sacrifice. (The Flomos of Sehyi Ko-doo are all related one way or the other, according to a local legend)

“We can go in the bush, bring the seeds before putting them on the ground nursery,” Otis Flomo tells our reporter. The nursery site is on the banks of a river on the Sehyikimpa-Karnplay highway. “We want to appeal to the people to give us one motorbike to be carrying them.”

Forest guards

For effective monitoring, Sehyi Ko-doo has a team of townsmen who regularly patrol the forest to track illegal activities. ArcelorMittal Liberia the project’s main funder, provides a monthly compensation for the guards.

The company has backed conservation projects in the region, including Sehyi Ko-doo’s neighbors: Blei, Zor and Gba Community Forests. It sees the protection of adjacent forests as an important part of managing the ENNR alongside the FDA.

But the support has proved insufficient. Sehyi Ko-doo wants that to increase the guards from 12 to 20. Volunteers lack training, and equipment and need a pay raise.

“Each patrol we make helps us to ensure our forest remains a home for wildlife,” says Emmanuel Flomo. We are also appealing so that the people can add some money to our pay because it is small.”

Emmanuel Flomo’s voice echoes in the forest as he speaks. There were no sounds or signs of logging, mining, or wildlife hunting. The noise from chainsaws and earthmovers that once vibrated in the rocky woodland has been replaced by the original cawing of birds, hooting of chimpanzees and rustling leaves from the footsteps of forest guards.

“What we earn here is nothing compared to the work we do. But we continue to work because the benefits of this project extend to the entire community,” says Charles Mele, the nursery supervisor.

Alternative livelihoods

The forest guard service aside, Sehyi Ko-doo runs an alternative livelihoods program to keep locals from the forest. It offers a variety of skills such as women’s arts and crafts, traditional tie dye, tailoring, soap-making, and computer literacy.

Also, Sehyi Ko-doo is building its headquarters in Sehyi-Geh. When completed, the structure will consist of a 250-person conference center and four offices.

It was built with US$42,000 from Solway Mining Inc., which had an iron ore exploration contract with Sehyi Ko-doo, and funds from ArcelorMittal.

Sehyi Ko-doo headquarters will host a 250-person conference center and four offices. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

“Our forefathers saw the need to protect the forest and its resources. As members of the current generation, we are under obligation to protect this heritage to save the unborn generation,” says Flomo.

“Now, we have a collective responsibility to repair the damage and ensure future generations benefit from the forest.”

Sinoe Community Forest Gets New Leadership

December 11, 2024

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Top: Tarsue Community Forest covers 9,714 hectares. Picture credit: James Harding Giahyue

By Emmanuel Sherman

MONROVIA – A community forest in Sanquin District, Sinoe County has a new leadership to steer its affairs for the next five years.

Last month, the Tarsue Authorized Community Forest elected members of its community assembly (CA), the executive committee (EC), and the community forest management body (CFMB). In forestry, the CA is the highest decision-maker, comprising representatives of towns and villages that own the forest. The CFMB manages the forest affairs, while the EC supervises the CFMB.

Teah Tolo, a townsman, was elected chairman of the EC, and Ericson Pyne was chief officer of the CFMB.

“Today, we are happy to be one of the leaders selected or elected for Tarsue Community Forest as chief officer after five years of struggle,” said Pyne. “We have a forest to benefit from.”

The elections end a year of internal wrangling over the selection of a logging company.

The elections were held because of an April request to FDA Managing Director Rudolph Merab in which the community asked for a review of its contract with loggers.

Tarsue signed a five-year contract with West African Development Incorporated (WAFDI) in 2019. However, WAFDI did not harvest a single tree in the 9,714-hectare forest or honor other contract provisions.

The contract was part of several illegally awarded for less than the statutory 15-year period.

Tarsue now looks into the future.

Pyne added, “We anticipate any company or an NGO for conservation or commercial [logging].”

FDA Boss Brags About Denying Media Info

December 10, 2024

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Top: The FDA’s Managing Director Rudolph Merab. The DayLight/Harry Browne

By Emmanuel Sherman

MONROVIA – The Managing Director of the Forestry Development Authority Rudolph Merab has bragged about the FDA’s denial of the media access to information, guaranteed by several forestry legal instruments. Riddled with false claims and unrelated references, Merab’s speech appeared to throw hints at forestry reformers and international funders.

“I don’t run my office in the press but when there is something like I told people I would call a press conference. Merab made the statement as he presented a DayLight reporter with a forestry reporting award over the weekend in Sinkor.

“I will speak once and I will try to make myself clear. After that, I will not speak again,” added Merab.

His comments come months after the FDA’s refusal to grant The DayLight access to public information. It is the first time a head of the FDA—required proactively to disclose public information—has commented publicly on the subject.

Merab incorrectly likened his refusal to the Allied Forces withholding security information during World War II. He narrated an account involving General Dwight David Eisenhower, the American commander of the Allied Forces, and journalists.

“Every time the news comes, the… news people can patch it up…,” Merab said, wearing a wry smile. “Eisenhower called the press people, carried them into the bathroom, locked them up, and said, ‘I will tell you everything about the D-Day.’”

First, there is no record to support the story happened. Before the D-Day or Normandy Landings on June 6, 1944, which defeated the Nazi army, the Allied Forces withheld or censored media publication of certain information to protect the assault’s success.

Unlike that account, the information the media seeks from the FDA does not relate to state security or national investigations. Rather, they include contracts, payments, permits, and the agency’s response to issues.

The FDA’s refusal to share public information contrasts with the Merab administration’s prompt response to inquiries. That contrast contravenes the Freedom of Information Act, the National Forest Reform Law, and Liberia’s trade agreement with the European Union.

Increased media scrutiny and reports have coincided with the rise of forestry offenses, impunity, and the downturn of the logging sector.

Colonialism

Following his false World War II claim, Merab cautioned journalists against treating allegations as a conclusion.

He again aimed a dig at a 2006 executive order that terminated all the logging contracts, including Merab’s Liberia Wood Management Corporation (LWMC). The termination stemmed from the companies’ trade of “blood timber” during Liberia’s brutal civil conflicts (1989-2003) and non-compliance. Termination was a prerequisite for the lifting of United Nations sanctions on Liberian timber.

Rudolph Merab presides over an opaque forestry sector that coincides with widespread violations and impunity. The DayLight/Derick Snyder

Afterward, Merab, his LWMC and other companies were partially debarred through regulation from forestry activities until they atoned for their alleged offenses. There is no record that Merab atoned for his alleged offenses. He vehemently denied any wrongdoing in an Associated Press interview earlier this year, except for taxes he somehow admitted owing.

Merab replayed those accounts in thinly veiled remarks as he handed DayLight reporter Esau J. Farr, Sr. his certificate.

“Our country is not a colonial system. In the old days, you were guilty until you proved your innocence,” said Merab. “That was how most of our brothers who were powerful African leaders were killed. [Patrice] Lumumba and the other people were arrested and said they were guilty.”

Equating his situation to the Congolese hero Lumumba aside, Merab’s comments are largely misleading. Though people in colonial days were found guilty even before trial, due process for an accused can be traced back to the 13th Century, more than 700 years before Lumumba’s death. The Magna Carta of 1215 in England provided that no man was above the law and everyone was entitled to due process as a fundamental human right.

The comments only add to Merab’s colonialism playbook. In 2015 when Liberia signed a US$150 million deforestation agreement with Noway, he criticized the deal, arguing it would hurt the West African country.

“The neo-colonial issue cannot continue to affect us,” Merab said, who was president of the Liberia Timber Association. “You got to learn to stop letting people fool us. They are the ones exploiting us, especially Norway.”

This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).

DayLight Wins Two Forest Media Awards

December 10, 2024

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Top: The DayLight’s Esau J. Farr receives 1^st place certificate from FDA Managing Director, J. Rudolph Merab, Sr. The DayLight/ Rebazar Forte

By Rebazar Forte

Monrovia – The DayLight has won two forest media awards for the best impactful stories reported this year.

Esau J. Farr, a senior reporter of the environmental online newspaper, The DayLight took first place in the competition, taking home a motorbike.

“This is the certificate of achievement and we hope you will do much better,” said Rudolph Merab, FDA Managing Director while presenting the first-place award to Farr. “After that, is a motorbike to help you travel the country to find the news.”

Aaron Geezay, a freelance writer with The DayLight, clinched second place and received a laptop computer.

Samuel Borlay of the Liberia Forest Media Watch and Radio Lofa completed the three places with a smartphone.

The DayLight’s two awards bring to four the newspaper has won from the last two editions. In 2022, it finished first and second places.

The Forest Media Awards is an annual event organized by the Liberia Media Center (LMC) that focuses on transparency and capacity building. It showcases the works of journalists reporting on the forestry sector of Liberia.

LMC is funded by the Multi-stakeholders Forest Governance and Accountability Project (MFGAP), which also funds The DayLight.

Farr is a Liberian journalist with at least 15 years of practical experience and has worked with several media institutions, including the New Republic.

Illegal mining

The winning story was captioned, “Illegal Miners Invade Community Forest.” It exposed the illegal mining activities of a company, which encroached on the Bondi Mandingo Authorized Community Forest. Less than three weeks after the publication, the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) fined JM Mining Company US$95,000 for illegal activities in the area.

The vetting committee chose “Loggers Illegally Cut Logs for Unlawful Bridge,” as the second-best story of the year. The story uncovered a company’s unlawful bridge project between River Cess and Sinoe Counties.

Making a brief remark on behalf of his colleagues, Farr celebrated his first major media award.

“I take this award as a challenge and dedicate it to The DayLight and my dear wife, Oretha Bindah-Farr, who is not here with me due to family reasons,” Farr said.

(L-R) Aaron Geezay of Voice of Cestos, Esau J. Farr of The DayLight and Samuel Borlay of Liberia Forest Media Watch. The DayLight/Rebazar Forte

Locals Demand Contract Review After 5 Years of Problems

December 9, 2024

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Top: Korninga wants the FDA to supervise the review of a logging contract between it and Coveiyala Investment Enterprise. The DayLight/James Giahyue

By Emmanuel Sherman

KORNINGA CHIEFDOM – A Community forest in Gbarpolu County is demanding a review of its contract with a logging company, following five years of stalemate, contrasting with the celebrations that greeted the deal.

Korninga ‘A’ Community Forest and Coveiyala Investment Enterprise signed the 15-year contract in 2019 after the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) certified the community. Korninga leased 48,296 hectares of forest land to Coveiyala for logging purposes. However, the parties have not reviewed the contract as required by law.

“We are seeking renegotiation,” says Emery Ciapha, Korninga’s chief officer. “Up to the present, Coveiyala has failed to come and sit with the people of Korninga Community for the review.”

Legal battle

Coveiyala has had an internal conflict for over three years and counting, which has stalled the Korninga contract. In 2022, Lu Li, a Chinese national with 90 percent shares, and Anthony Urey, his Liberian partner and the company’s president, with the remaining shares, got into a fierce legal battle. It led the Commercial Court in Monrovia to halt the company’s operations.

The court lifted the injunction following an agreement between Messrs. Lu and Urey earlier this year. After that, Coveiyala began to focus on the contract’s renewal, with a series of communication exchanges with locals in May.

In an October letter, Urey suggested that the review be done in early November and the signing on the 15^th of that month.

But Ciapha rejected his suggestion because Urey had allegedly singlehandedly made the decision. “It was not signed or attested. It is not an individual that the Korninga Authorized Community Forest is working with. We are working with an entity called Coveiyala, [not with Mr. Urey as an individual],” Ciapha tells The DayLight in a phone interview.

Urey refutes Ciapha’s comments, saying he often writes on behalf of Coveiyala. He also argues that Korninga did not raise any contention with him when he sent the letter.

“If it were so, they should have written me back and informed me and say, ‘Mr. Urey, it should be this way or that way,’” says Urey via phone. “If there was any document, definitely, I was going respond to it. I was going to say, “Ok, I accept it,’ and the three parties could sign it.”

Amid the disagreement, Korninga has asked the FDA to review the contract, Coveiyala’s debts, and the company’s failure to implement contractual projects.

Coveiyala owed the community US$102,304.75 in land rental, US$30,000 in scholarship fees, and unspecified harvesting and other fees, based on the contract, the community and documents.

Regarding projects, Coveiyala did not build health facilities and a wood science college as promised. It built two latrines but Korninga rejected them based on the construction materials.

“None of the promises made were actualized by the company during the five years the company has operated in the community. Based on this, we are calling for an immediate review of the agreement,” Korninga’s letter to the FDA read.

Emery Ciapha, the leader of Korninga A Community Forest. The DayLight/James Giahyue

It is unclear how much the Coveiyala owes locals for harvesting. However, before the lawsuit, the company left many logs in the forest and a log yard at Po River outside Monrovia.

Also, in August, Coveiyala sold over 237 cubic meters of logs to Kris Veneer Industries of Buchanan, Grand Bassa County, FDA records show.

Saye Messah, the FDA’s media and communication consultant, did not respond to queries for over a month. However, in a June letter, the FDA urged Korninga to work with the company to find a suitable time to conduct the review.

“Management highly considers your concerns regarding the company’s alleged failure to abide by terms in the contract…. calling for review is by law as stipulated,” the FDA letter reads.

Internal conflicts

Besides the debt and abandoned logs, Korninga’s contract with Coveiyala has been marred by community-based corruption. In early 2022, three members of the community leadership were jailed for allegedly misusing US$76,000. The three men included Johnson Flomo, Austin Kamara, and Dennis Flomo, chief officer, Korninga’s executive committee’s chairman and co-chairman, respectively.

They were immediately suspended after an FDA inquest and the community’s account was frozen. As a result, an interim body was set up to manage the community forest for over two years.

The head of the interim body, Cephas says Coveiyala has to account for the three years it operated the forest.

“Failure to implement those plights would mean termination or cancellation of the agreement.”

This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).

Women Enjoying Ancestral Land Rights

December 9, 2024

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Women are harnessing their right to customary landownership, guaranteed in the Land Rights Act. The DayLight/Harry Browne

By Matenneh Keita

JORPOLU, Bong County – In the 1980s and 90s, Annie Wehyee’s relatives did not allow her to make a farm on a plot of land in their father’s hometown of Dehyipa in the Sanniquellie-Mahn District of Nimba County. Her brothers would root up her crops and say she had a land right.

Fast-forward to 2018, the Land Rights Act was established, granting women equal access to customary land with men. Then Everything changed for the better.

“The part [of the law] that makes me happy is that we have the right to own our property, especially land,” says Wehyee, now the Chief of Sehyi, one of the district’s clans.

“Before then, women used to be men’s property but right now we are not men’s property. We can own our own properties,” Wehyee adds. She is from attending this year’s climate change summit in Azerbaijan, representing rural people.

Like Wehyee, rural women are enjoying their right to customary landownership following generations of deprivation. Moreover, they are making decisions for their communities.

Annie Wehyee, the Clan Chief of Sehyi Clan in the Sanniequellie-Mahn District of Nimba County. The DayLight/Harry Browne

The Liberia Land Authority’s records show over 282,300 women and 269,400 men in rural communities countrywide, a difference of 12,900. One hundred and sixty of these communities are seeking customary deeds.

Cornerstone

The Land Rights Act is famed internationally for granting women’s rights to ancestral land. The law made history by recognizing local people’s land ownership, based on their customs, traditions and histories.

Loretta Pope-Kai, the executive director of the Foundation for Community Initiatives (FCI), which campaigns for women’s rights in the land and forestry sectors, says, “Land is more than just a resource. It is the cornerstone of our identity, culture and livelihood.”

Under the law, a community seeking a customary deed must form a governance body. That body, a community land development and management committee (CLDMC) must consist of women.

Wehyee is not a member of Seyhi’s CLDMC but Eva Kpandah is the chairperson of Palama Clan’s in Salayea District, Lofa County. Kpandah is one of many rural women who hold such positions countrywide. Palama has a boundary with Valvala and Gbarlain Clans.

A woman and her son weeding their farm in Jorpolu Clan, Bong County. The DayLight/Harry Browne

Kpandah recalls as a young woman, she was excluded from land matters in the very clan she would one day lead. She says she has the support of all the men in Palama and beyond.

“Before then, when men used to be discussing land matters, women were not allowed to be around. We just to bend down (greet) and pass,” she tells The DayLight in an interview in Ganglota, where she lives.

“I can feel proud because if today I can see myself sitting among a group of men and women leading them, I feel happy,” she adds.

‘I am happy’

The land benefits women economically, according to Daniel Wehyee (no relations to Annie Wehyee), a campaigner with the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI), which works with 46 communities.

The Land Rights Act helps communities fight land grabs by giving them ownership of ancestral territory.

Rural communities are endowed with resources: iron ore and forest in the Sehyi Clan, gold and one of Liberia’s largest woodlands in Palama. With a deed, they can enter concession agreements as a party, not just mere custodians of the land.

“As long as I have my deed and you are coming on my land, there will be an agreement between us,” says Theresa Wleh of Lower Bokon Clan. Lower Bokon clan is located in the Jaedae District, Sinoe County, on the border with Grand Kru.

Wleh recalls during her ancestors’ time, they did not know the system. She felt bad when companies came to use the land. Whatever the users of the land would love to do was what they did with the land.

Her collective experience aside, Wleh has also benefited from the new law as a person. Her husband died years ago, leaving her with three children. Her in-laws did not repossess the land as in many cases in the past.

Lower Bokon Clan in Sinoe County’s Jaedae District. The DayLight/Derick Snyder

“The reason that I am happy is since [my husband died], I am still sitting down here. When you want to move me, my kids are here,’’ Wleh says.

Gormah Johnson, a widow in Jorpolu Clan, Bong County, enjoys the same rights as Wleh. After the death of Johnson’s husband, his family left the land for her and her children. A rubber plantation her late husband planted is what they are surviving on.

“They make it alright for us that women [have] rights over the land,” John tells The DayLight. “The way it looks like that, I get that land with small rubber on it, I can look for somebody to tap it for me. Then I can [get something to eat].”

More women are getting involved in land matters, says Roseline Mulbah, a campaigner with Parley Liberia, a Gbarnga-based NGO. Mulbah leads Parley’s work in Quikon, a waterfall-hosting clan in Bong’s Kokoyah District. The 18-town clan embarked upon a quest for a customary land deed process last year.

Over 80 women attend a monthly awareness meeting on women’s land rights in the clan. This has allowed them to know their rights to land that have been hidden from them for generations. There is at least one female representation for every town in Quikon on the CLDMC, with some heading the body.

“Women are now seeing themselves as stakeholders in the land sector, especially customary land,” Mulbah notes.

Challenges and awareness

But all is not roses. There is a need for more awareness as many women are still being denied ownership of ancestral and familial lands.

Some women in Jorpolu Clan have that experience. Mamie Gbarpue fears being bewitched and would not demand the right to land in her husband’s hometown. Quita Leayne’s brother is stuck on the land that their father left for them. Mamie Dolo’s cousin deprives her of her share of a family plot.

Theresa Wleh of Lower Bokon Clan, Sinoe County. The DayLight/Matenneh Keita

Asa Chon, the Country Manager of ForumCiv, a Gbarnga-based NGO working with five communities, is aware of such cases. Chon, however, urges them not to be discouraged despite religious and cultural obstacles.

“Change is not an event. Change is a process,” says Chon.

“We still have some pockets of resistance in terms of those who still believe should not have equal rights to land ownership as men because of religious or traditional beliefs.

“But they are not as common as they were in the past,” Chon adds.

Wehyee, the Clan Chief of Seyhi, agrees with Chon but advises women to participate in land businesses. They should appeal to their husbands to let them participate.

“Some women don’t even attend called meetings and because of this, more awareness is needed. Some women are very hard to come among people because of fear,” she adds.

“We still need to share awareness in our communities with women.”

A Liberia Land Authority staff taking points during a survey in River Cess County. The DayLight/Harry Browne

FDA Rehires Ex-Manager Disgraced for Alleged Corruption

November 26, 2024

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Top: Mr. Augustine B.M. Johnson on the Liberian delegation at the just-ended climate change conference in Baku, Azerbaijan. Facebook/Augustine B.M. Johnson

By Emmanuel Sherman

WHEIN TOWN—The Forestry Development Authority (FDA) has rehired a former manager who was disgraced on multiple occasions for alleged corruption and involved with companies punished for logging offenses.

The FDA hired Augustine B.M. Johnson as a consultant in June. He gets US$2,500 as a service fee, US$300 for fuel, and US$100 for communication, according to a document obtained by The Daylight. Johnson’s duties include assisting with forest management planning, supporting compliance, and advising on forest mapping. He represented Liberia at the United Nations climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan.

But, Johnson’s roles starkly contradict his reputation at the FDA, where he served as the geoinformation system manager in the 2000s and 2010s. Johnson was found liable in the Carbon Harvesting Corporation (CHC) and Private Use Permit Scandals, forestry’s biggest postwar controversies. Later, he managed West African Forestry Development Inc. (WAFDI) and Mandra Forestry Liberia Limited, two of forestry’s dirtiest.

Before his rehiring, Johnson was touted as the FDA’s Deputy Managing Director for Technical Affairs but eventually lost the position to Gertrude Nyaley, a former director of the agency’s legality verification department.

Criminal carbon contract

In 2010, Johnson and other officials fraudulently attempted to award a carbon contract to the London-based CHC for 400,000 hectares in River Cess County. Had it gone through, experts said Liberia would have a US$2 billion loss.

A national inquiry found that Augustine B.M. Johnson, was a mastermind of the infamous Carbon Harvesting Corporation Scandal in 2010, in which Johnson and other officials illegally attempted to lease 400,000 hectares of forest to a British man. The DayLight/Carlucci Cooper

An official inquest found that Johnson introduced himself as a “resident expert,” allegedly receiving a bribe and computer from CHC. He then conducted a so-called biomass study on four plots of land in the southcentral county and tried to deceive the Office of the Prince of Wales about the “groundbreaking” deal.

“Johnson and colleague provided confidential information about the FDA to CHC and allowed CHC to draft the FDA document that they would have [then-Managing Director John Woods] and other FDA officials sign,” investigators said.

Investigators recommended Johnson’s dismissal and subsequent prosecution, which President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf—his relative—accepted but later rescinded.

Forgery

In 2012, two years after CHC, Johnson participated in the infamous PUP Scandal in which the FDA illegally awarded about 2.5 million hectares of forests to logging companies. It remains the biggest postwar logging scandal.

An official investigation found Johnson illegally received money for boundary line demarcations and verification fieldworks. Investigators established his report for those events was falsified in “many cases” and inconsistent with a private use permit, awarded solely for private land. A Liberia Land Authority review showed 57 of 59 permits unlawfully involved community lands, supported by fraudulent documentation.

It turns out, that most of the forestlands Johnson and other FDA technical staff had issued had overlapped proposed protected and logging concession areas.

Unlike the CHC scandal, this time around, Johnson, then-FDA Managing Director Moses Wogbeh, and several officials were prosecuted. Wogbeh and others were found guilty of economic sabotage, criminal conspiracy, and other crimes but filed an appeal with the Supreme Court. The case still lingers at the high court. Criminal Court ‘C’ had granted Johnson’s petition for a separate trial, which never happened.

Johnson denied any wrongdoing regarding the CHC and PUP scandals but declined an interview with The DayLight for this story.

Illegal Logging

Illegalities followed Johnson from the FDA to WAFDI. A 2021 Ministry of Justice investigation found that West African Forest Development Incorporated (WAFDI) illegally harvested logs in Grand Bassa County’s Compound Number Two. The FDA had incorrectly awarded the company 14,460 hectares of extra woodland in the Gheegbarn #1 Community Forest. WAFDI exploited the error for three years, exporting a huge volume of logs at the hand of the process.

Following the investigation, the Ministry of Justice reprimanded the FDA and WAFDI for the irregularities. Accordingly, WAFDI’s operations were suspended for nearly a year. “WAFDI is an operator in the forestry sector, they are also obligated to know and comply with all forestry laws and procedures…,” wrote then-Minister Musa Dean.

Augustine Johnson was one of the alleged masterminds of Liberia’s largest postwar logging scandal for which he and several officials were prosecuted a decade ago. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

Abandoned logs

Amid WAFDI’s rebuke, Mandra—Johnson’s other company—was being punished. The FDA suspended Mandra’s harvesting certificates and two other companies for not enrolling their logs into the FDA log-tracking system and abandoning logs in Sinoe County. A DayLight investigation found the company abandoned some 7,000 logs from the Sewacajua Community Forest, the single-most ever reported.

In a phone interview last year, Johnson appeared unfamiliar with the Regulation on Abandoned Logs…, one of the instruments he has been consulted to enforce.

He claimed that paying the fees on a log prevented its abandonment. “Before you talk about abandonment, I am expecting a ship to come to Greenville by the second week of next month to get the logs out,” Johnson said in the interview.

His comments contradicted the 2017 regulation, which defines abandonment as logs left unattended between three weeks and six months, depending on their location.

Conflict of Interest

Johnson’s well-documented activities and his current role at the FDA are a conflict of interest. Apart from WAFDI and Mandra, he has been linked to joint ventures with the Liberia Tree and Timber Company and the EJ&J Logging involving two large-scale forest concessions.

Under Augustine B.M. Johnson’s watch, the Forestry Development Authority punished Mandra Forestry Liberia Limited for abandoning thousands of logs in Sinoe County. The DayLight/Derick Snyder

In June, Johnson represented logging companies at an annual meeting on a timber trade agreement between Liberia and the European Union. He even made remarks on behalf of commercial loggers, the third week into his second spell at the FDA.

In a letter last week, the NGO Coalition of Liberia urged President Joseph Boakai to address Johnson’s conflict of interest.

“Allowing individuals with such vested interests to influence forest governance undermines the integrity of the FDA and Liberia’s commitment to transparency and good governance,” the NGOs wrote. The Executive Mansion did not immediately respond to The DayLight queries.

Similarly, the FDA’s Managing Director Rudolph Merab did not return questions for comments on Johnson and the other issues. However, Merab’s appointment to the FDA follows the same pattern as Johnson’s return to the regulator. Like Johnson, Merab is a serial illegal logger, having himself participated in the PUP Scandal and wartime logging operations.

This story was a production of the Community of Forests and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).

Calls for EU not to End Timber Treaty with Liberia

November 25, 2024

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Top: A drone picture of logs on a field outside Greenville, Sinoe County. The DayLight/Derick Snyder

By Esau J. Farr

MONROVIA – Calls are mounting for the European Union (EU) to reconsider its decision to terminate a timber trade agreement with Liberia. The issue is high on the agenda as the bloc and the West African country discuss the deal this week.

In 2011, the EU and Liberia signed the voluntary partnership agreement, known as the VPA, enabling the West African country to trade legally sourced timber on European markets. The deal was hailed globally for breaking away from Liberia’s civil war era, where illegal Liberian timber flooded international markets.

But last month, the Head of the EU Delegation to Liberia Nona Deprez disclosed that Brussels had notified Monrovia about its decision to terminate the deal. “A formal notification to the [Liberian] government is in process,” Deprez said in a letter to NGOs.

Now national and international forest campaigners and experts say canceling the VPA would tarnish Liberia’s reputation, exacerbate illegal logging and undermine the country’s combat against climate change.

The NGO Coalition said the development was “deeply concerning, as the VPA has been instrumental in improving forest governance, curbing illegal logging and enhancing transparency in Liberia’s forestry sector.”

In a letter last week, the group called on President Joseph Boakai to use this week’s meeting to engage the EU to keep the agreement. The government has not spoken about the planned termination.

“The EU may cite slow progress, corruption, and illegal logging as reasons for termination, tarnishing Liberia’s international image. Neighboring countries retaining their VPAs will cast Liberia in a poor light,” the letter noted.

The EU has not cited any reasons for intending to terminate the 11-year agreement. However, recently, it blamed the failure to qualify for FLEGT licensing—which allows countries to export timber to EU markets—for terminating the VPA with Cameroon.

Cameroon’s scenario resembles Liberia’s. Liberia has not qualified for forest law enforcement, governance and trade. Though Liberia has made some gains since the end of its bloody civil wars, it has witnessed a string of logging scandals. Last year, the Associated Press reported that Liberia may have a “parallel system” to export illegal timber, citing diplomatic sources. A recent review paints the picture of a sector marred by noncompliance and impunity.

Apart from the tarnishing of Liberia’s reputation, experts say termination could dry out millions of much-needed funding the EU provides Liberia.

“Ideally, development partners would continue with support to communities,” said a forest governance expert who preferred anonymity, “but the question is whether such support would be as impactful without the structures and processes of the VPA in place.”

Liberia has some 43 percent of the Upper Guinea rainforests, the largest in West Africa. Picture credit: James Harding Giahyue

Dr. Arthur Blundell, an international forestry expert on Liberia, said losing the VPA would erode anti-deforestation efforts. Liberia has the largest portion of West Africa’s remaining rainforests, with its protection crucial to global climate targets. “Losing the EU’s financial and technical assistance must make it harder to fight climate change and protect biodiversity,” added Blundell.

‘Civil unrest’

This week’s meeting, which begins Tuesday and ends Thursday, is one of three events held at least once a year under the VPA. At those meetings, the Liberian government, the EU, international partners, civil society and communities discuss governance and transparency. Campaigners and experts say that civil space would be lost with the VPA.

“If this happens, so many of the gains that have been made over the years, in terms of strengthened government accountability for better forest management and distribution of benefits, will be undermined,” said the forest governance expert.

“It will become less representative,” added Blundell. “These groups suffer the most if the fight is lost. The loss of the VPA process will make their representation more difficult.”

The NGO Coalition believes the VPA’s absence could also undermine Liberian laws that guarantee communities’ rights and increase illegal logging. Warned the group: “Without it, enforcement could weaken, leading to social unrest.”

News of the termination comes as the EU published its Strategic Framework for International Cooperation Engagement on Deforestation, as it delayed the implementation of a new deforestation regulation. The Framework paves the way for the regulation’s implementation, proposing stricter requirements for countries to export to the EU.

Indra Van Gisbergen, a campaigner with the Netherlands-registered NGO Fern criticized the Framework for not being comprehensive and lacking of stakeholders’ participation. She wrote in October that the Framework had scrapped such participation for technical and development cooperation.

Gisbergen said it was “striking” that the publication coincided with the EU’s announcement of its unilateral termination of the Cameroon VPA. Similarly, Liberian civil society actors and community representatives were not informed of the EU’s decision beforehand.

“Ghosting the VPAs and unilaterally terminating them without any public assessment, does not set a good example for future partnerships,” she said.

In her letter, Deprez said Liberia was crucial for the region and the EU would continue its support. “We will continue to support and invest in the sector to strengthen it,” Deprez’s letter read, “to make it more sustainable and to fight illegality.”

The EU is expected to outline reasons for the planned termination at the City Hall of Monrovia. The bloc and the Liberian government are expected to discuss its implications.

This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).

Disappointed in Logging, Communities Look to Conservation

November 21, 2024

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A signboard at the Gheegbarn #1 Community Forest in Compound Number Two, Grand Bassa County, the setting for perhaps forestry’s largest scandal in the last decade. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

By James Harding Giahyue

BUCHANAN, Grand Bassa County – “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 west-central 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 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.

Silas Siakor, the country manager of Dutch NGO IDH and one of the organizers, explains that the idea is to enhance communities’ sense of forest ownership and management.

“By protecting their resources, they can access funds tied to conservation ownership,” said Siakor. “For example, payments linked to forest management should be transparently managed within community bank accounts, fostering a sense of collective responsibility and preventing misuse.

The idea is to balance conservation with community needs.”

Community forest leaders at a conservation workshop in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

Locals did not dwell on REDD+ or reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries, which activists have warned against. They also avoided carbon credits, trading and markets for which Liberia is still developing policies and legal frameworks.

Ziadue, a landowning River Cess clan, has its own experience with carbon. Last year, the Environmental Protection Agency shut a deal between the clan and a company over alleged bribery.

But that glitch is nothing compared to the logging nightmares Ziadue and its neighbors—Teekpeh, Gbarsaw and Dorbor—have experienced. Ziadue seeks termination of a logging contract for a forest it shares with Teekpeh, while loggers fled Gbarsaw and Dorbor after illegally harvesting 550 logs in 2020. These experiences have inspired locals here to look to conservation.

“We the leaders of Ziadue, Teekpeh, Gbarsaw and Dorbor, have decided to get into conservation and are united. This way, we can get benefits and develop our communities,” says Emmanuel Marcus Roberts, CLDMC Chairman of Ziadue Clan’s community land development and management committee.

Caution

The community leaders at the event, including Kennedy Kaiuway of Gheegbarn #2, are convinced that his community should run one of the three workable conservation programs.

“That will be better for us than for one man to come to our forest, ship his US$10 million [worth of] logs, and we are left destitute,” says Kaiuway. A company called L&S Resources Inc. deserted the 12,000-hectare Gheegbarn #1, leaving behind debts, abandoned logs and unfulfilled projects.

Zoegbeh shares Kaiuway’s views but urges rural people to tread with caution. “This is a new approach. For us to know it, we have to investigate and do due diligence on it,” says Zoegbeh.

Like Zoegbeh, Paul Kahn Jr., the chief officer for Gheegbarn #1 Community Forest, has doubts in conversation and believes logging can still work.

Bordering Gheegbarn #2, Gheegbarn #1 has seen perhaps the worst forestry scandal in the last decade. A Ministry of Justice Investigation found that the FDA had awarded the West African Forest Development Incorporated (WAFDI) 14,000 hectares, exporting thousands of the illegal logs.

Amid the illegal activities, WAFDI did not pay locals their fair share of logging resources. Paul Kahn Jr., Gheegbarn #1’s chief officer, puts the debt at US$193,000 in project fees, US$3,125 in land rental and, an unspecified amount in harvesting. Kahn’s predecessors are accused of mismanaging US$200,000. There has been no work there since a community protest last December.

“I think it can change [a lot] of things in the communities,” says Kahn. He had been elected to his post last month after leading the protest.

“Train officials of the community forest. Raise more awareness in communities, making them understand how to manage their funds. The responsibilities of [members of the community forest leadership]. The responsibilities of the company.”

Waterfall Clan in Court for Nearly 9K Acres of Land

November 14, 2024

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Top: The Whorn Waterfall sits in Ceeyugar Town in the Quikon Clan of Kokoyah District, Bong County. The DayLight/Derick Snyder

By Esau J. Farr

KPELLETAY TOWN – A man has sued seven townsmen for dismantling his cornerstones and signboards in a conflict involving a large parcel of land in a Bong County clan.

The items represented Ceeyugar’s self-proclaimed 8,866 acres of land in the Quikon Clan, near the famous Whorn Waterfall on the St. John River.

The men were charged with criminal trespass, criminal mischief, menacing and disorderly conduct, court documents show.

“On May 3, 2024…you Samuel Monway (and others) unlawfully, intentionally and purposefully went on the land of David Ceeyugar in group and without his permission, damaged his cornerstones with four signboards,” their arrest warrant read.

Ceeyugar seeks US$1,900 in damages. However, he failed to present documents to support his claim in a July hearing. Former Sub-Kokoyah District Commissioner, Mary Queminee, had also rejected the letter of administration.

The accused deny any wrongdoing, saying the land in question is part of the Quikon Clan’s estimated 25,000 acres.

“We will make sure that our land is not taken away by anybody, including David Ceeyugar because the land is not for him,” said Tripple Zisus, one of the suspects and Secretary General of Quikon’s community land development and management committee (CLDMC). A CLDMC manages customary lands for a community and represents its interest in concessions, based on the Land Rights Act. Zisus spoke to The DayLight in Kpelletay, one of Quikon’s 18 towns.

Quikon Clan started the process of getting a deed last year. It is being guided by a Bong County-based NGO, Parley Liberia, and is currently harmonizing the boundaries with neighboring clans.

The suspects said Ceeyugar’s survey of the land was dubious. They said there were no survey notices and no participation from nearby neighborhoods.

Isaac Gbenyan, the Commissioner of Kokoyah Sub-District told The DayLight the clan only heard about the land when it was already surveyed. The chiefs of Kpelletay Town and Rock Crusher corroborated Gbenyan’s account.

One of the signboards townsmen dismantled. File Picture/Quikon Community Land Development and Management Committee

Asked what he made of the case, David Kangar, Quikon’s CLDMC chairman, backed the suspects’ actions.

“That is not a case. It is a carton. [Ceeyugar] does not have grounds, stance and witnesses. He just wanted to take it falsely,” Kangar said at his home in Kpelletay Town.

The story comes nearly a year after The DayLight exposed an illegal transaction involving some 300 acres of the clan’s land between a former lawmaker and a now-deceased elder.

Last year, deceased elder John Loway admitted to entering an illegal deal with former Representative of Bong County District Number One Albert Hills, Jr. The transaction took place in 2019, months after the passage of the law, which Hills signed. Family and other sources said the deal was valued at about L$400,000, something The DayLight could not independently verify.

Yearly Archives: 2024

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