Top: Participants of USFS’ timber identification workshop at CSIR-FORIG in Kumasi, Ghana. Picture credit: United States Forest Service
By James Harding Giahyue
MONROVIA – The United States Forest Service (USFS) has sponsored the training of seven Liberian foresters in identifying timber species using science-based technology through smartphones as part of the institution’s commitment to supporting Liberia in combating illegal timber harvesting and trading.
Drawn from the Forestry Development Authority (FDA), the University of Liberia and the Forestry Training Institute (FTI), participants acquired skills to identify various commercial timber species with the Agritix Xylorix mobile app. The technology is used worldwide for timber tracking and networking.
“As part of the response to address illegal timber trafficking in Liberia, the US Forest Service is providing technical and logistical support to strengthen the capacity of in-country stakeholders, including government ministries, agencies and civil society organizations to achieve Liberia’s policy objectives,” said Dr Benedictus Freeman, USFS Liberia’s Country Coordinator.
Illegal timber trafficking has been on the rise for several years in Liberia, with traffickers exploiting the industry’s capacity gaps. “Kpokolo,” the newest form, involves traffickers shaping timber into blocks and smuggling them through containers, robbing communities and the Liberian government of revenue.
Illegal logs held by the FDA at the Klay checkpoint in Bomi. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
The workshop’s participants acquired skillsets in wood anatomy, imaging, and using the Agritix Xylorix platforms to review timber’s macroscopic features.
“A lot was achieved in wood anatomy,” said Moses Wenyanpulu of the FDA’s Research and Development Department.
“Like every human, every wood species has a unique and distinct fingerprint called anatomical features found within the wood structure. Understanding these features are very critical to properly identifying timber or lumber,” Wenyanpulu added.
USFS has been active in Liberia since 2003, alongside the USAID on several projects.
Apart from its anti-timber trafficking project, it has helped develop FTI’s curriculum, provided teaching assistance to the institute, and supported students’ programs. USFS also supports the ecotourism development of the East Nimba Nature Reserve and the Lake Piso Multiple Use Reserve.
GVL has lied about its operations several times in the last five months. The DayLight/Harry Browne
By James Harding Giahyue
MONROVIA—In August, The DayLight started a series of investigations into Golden Veroleum Liberia’s (GVL) operations. The newspaper has published over a dozen stories, pinpointing GVL’s abuse of communities’ rights and degradation of the environment.
Amid overwhelming evidence, the newspaper has published—documents, pictures/videos and interviews—GVL vehemently denies any wrongdoing.
But often those denials include false claims in attempts to mislead the public, as the company defends its well-documented, tainted record.
Behold six of the lies GVL has told in the last five months as the result of The DayLight’s reporting:
Must Seek Communities’ Consent to Share MoU
GVL has a list of MoUs it signed with communities on its website but the documents are not downloadable.
Before that first story, The DayLight asked the company for copies of the MoUs. However, GVL’s spokesman Alphonso Kofi denied the newspaper’s request.
In July, Alphonso Kofi, GVL’s spokesman, said that local communities needed to consent before the company could share the documents. “It can be shared if we obtained written consent for the communities,” wrote Kofi in an email.
Kofi’s claim contradicts the Freedom of Information Act and the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil’s rules, known as principles and criteria.
Under the FOI Act, MoUs arising from concession agreements are public records.
Likewise, the first principle and criterion of the RSPO requires GVL to comply with such national law, and such documents are “made publicly available.” It even mandates GVL to keep records of requests for information and responses.
Concealing the MoU and GVL’s flawed interpretation of the document appears as a strategy to misinform the public. The DayLight obtained the documents from elsewhere, uncovering the company’s wrongdoings.
Unclear Responsibility to Maintain Hand Pumps
In response to the first part of The DayLight’s series in August—exposing GVL’s failure to build and maintain hand pumps in Tartweh-Drapoh, Sinoe County—GVL claimed that the MoU with the chiefdom was unclear as to who was responsible for maintaining the facilities.
A GVL signboard in Tartweh-Drapoh Chiefdom, Sinoe County. The DayLight/Harry Browne
“GVL acknowledges feedback from communities that some hand pumps that it has constructed are not operating properly and require maintenance,” it said in a press release. “We also recognize that more clarity is needed to define who is responsible for maintaining pumps built by GVL and other parties.”
That claim contravenes the MoU. There is no need for clarity as the document plainly obligates GVL to build and repair the pumps, and even train locals to maintain the facilities.
Environmental Audit Found No Issues
In the same August press release, GVL claim that a DayLight report that a routine, independent audit found the company’s operations of a palm oil mill in the Tarjuwon District polluted water sources.
“We also ensure that water testing is done annually by an independent party as required by EPA regulations, read the press release. “Recent assessments conducted in 2023 and 2024 did not identify any issues. The results are available to the public.”
Turns out, the audit found the exact opposite: improper management of wastewater led to pollution of watercourses in the area. It revealed that there was a high risk of runoffs from poorly managed empty palm husks empying into waterways. A University of Liberia laboratory test showed an illegal level of phosphate and other substances in water samples harmful to humans.
An elevated view of GVL’s plantation in Tarjuwon, Sinoe County, showing three wastewater ponds an environmental audit found to be mismanaged. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
Also, water quality testing is done once every two years, not once every year.
A characteristically adamant GVL repeated the false claim earlier this month. The company accused The DayLight of inaccuracies and misleading views, without providing evidence.
Environmental Audit ‘Identified Recommendations’
In a press release earlier this month, GVL made more false claims, lessening the magnitude of the report’s findings. “While positive of GVL’s overall environmental record, the Tarjuwon [audit] identified a number of recommendations for improvement…,” read the release.
On the contrary, audit exposed a long queue of violations of GVL’s environmental permit and the Environmental Protection and Management Law of Liberia. It did not merely recommend as GVL implies. GVL mentioned “recommendation” five times in publication, avoiding the report’s walloping, negative findings.
The report even found that GVL had backslide on gains in a 2019 audit, and that it had not implemented auditors’ recommendations.
Takes Community Complaints Seriously
GVL claims that it takes community grievances seriously, stating a self-styled commitment to addressing complaints. It claimed in a release last month that it welcomed and addressed complaints.
The 2019 audit report supports that claim. However, the Tarjuwon audit report shows that GVL has relapsed in that part of its operations. Auditors graded the company 50-75 percent from a perfect score.
An April 2024 environmental audit report found speedy GVL trucks leave dust, a foul odor and dead domestic animals in their wake. It said GVL did not take communities’ complaint seriously, grading the company’s redress mechanism 50 – 75 percent. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
Land Authority ‘Decided Results’ of Land Dispute
In a periodic report to the RSPO last month, GVL appeared to suggest that the Liberia Land Authority had resolved a boundary dispute between the Du-Wolee Nyennue Township and the Numopoh District.
GVL claimed that the Land Authority would communicate “the result to both communities… in [the fourth quarter] of 2024 with new government officials.”
But the Land Authority dismisses those claims. The Chairman of the Land Authority Adams Manobah told The DayLight it was far from an outcome.
“We have not done that yet. The last solution we have is to go back and do the surveying and establish the boundary between the two communities,” Manobah said. “We are still waiting for the concession to provide the support so that we can have a definitive line between the two communities.”
The Green Livelihood Alliance provided funding for this story. The DayLight maintained editorial independence over the story’s content.
Top: A GVL truck transporting palm bunches in January 2023. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
By Matenneh Keita
DU-WOLEE, Sinoe County – Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL) is progressing with a new MoU with affected communities in Sinoe’s Kpanyan District. However, that progress comes six years after the deadline given by the global oil palm industry’s regulator.
In 2018, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) ordered GVL to turn its current MoU with the Du-Wolee Nyennue Township into a permanent one within a month. The RSPO threatened to terminate GVL’s membership with the regulator, which could hurt the company’s brand.
But over six years after that order, GVL has not signed the new MoU, though it has recently relatively complied. The company presented locals with a daft MoU for the township’s input, according to several people The DayLight interviewed.
“We went to work, we finished with everything. Now we are coming to carry [the MoU] to them,” said Stephen Browne, Du-Wolee land rights committee’s chairman.
Progress followed pressure from the community. Augustine Jerbo, a member of Du-Wolee’s MoU committee, said townspeople had given GVL a year to draft the MoU. In March last year, the company presented the draft.
Liberia’s largest oil palm company, GVL signed a 65-year agreement with the country in 2010, covering 220,000 hectares of land in Sinoe, Maryland, Grand Kru, River Gee and River Cess. The deal costs US$1.6 billion.
After the agreement, GVL signed an MoU with Du-Wolee Nyennue, guaranteeing the company over 2,367 hectares in the township. However, it obligates GVL to build clinics, schools and roads, and provide water for communities affected by its operations.
In 2013, Du-Wolee Nyennue joined other communities to file a complaint against GVL with the RSPO. The township accused GVL of encroaching on their land and coercing them to sign an MoU.
In 2018, the RSPO confirmed the accusations and ordered GVL to redo the MoU. The watchdog commanded GVL to work with the Liberian government to settle boundary disputes related to lands it sought to develop.
GVL is complying with the order, based on documents and interviews with representatives of the townspeople.
The National Bureau of Concessions (NBC) is working with the communities to develop the MoU. “We are right now at the point of finalizing the type of MoU,” then-Director General Edwin Dennis told The DayLight in July.
“Either we consolidate all those MoUs into one MoU, addressing all of the issues or keeping [the MoU] community-specific,” Dennis added. He said NBC’s legal department worked with the communities but disclosed he was unaware of the RSPO’s order.
Similarly, GVL has obeyed the RSPO’s order not to develop 463 hectares between Du-Wolee Nyennue and its neighbor Numopoh. However, there is an issue regarding a claim the company made last month.
A GVL truck transports palm bunches. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
In a recent report, GVL appears to mislead the RSPO that the Liberia Land Authority had “decided” on the conflict’s “results.” The company said it would communicate the results to both communities between now and the end of the year.
But in an interview on the sidelines of the just-ended National Land Conference in Ganta, Nimba County, the Chairman of the Land Authority Adams Manobah dismissed GVL’s claim.
“We are still waiting for the concession to provide the support so that we can have a definitive line between the two communities. Until that is done, the issue is not really resolved yet,” Manobah told The DayLight.
Proforest, a UK nonprofit, worked with the Land Authority, the NBC and other government institutions over the dispute.
Earlier in May this year, Proforest presented its findings, according to an RSPO document. The document said the RSPO would determine the findings.
Also, GVL has been late with reports on its compliance with the RSPO’s order. late. The company only filed the April-June report earlier last month, over 60 days after the quarter ended. It did the same for the January-March report. Typically, quarterly reports are made up to two weeks after the end of each quarter.
In all, GVL celebrates the progress. “We have actively reviewed all of our MOUs and are working directly with communities to provide clarity and resolution in cases where commitments are disputed or have not been fulfilled,” it stated in an August email.
The MoU is currently with the Du-Wolee MoU committee, according to Daddy Nyenswah, its chairman. Nyenswah said Du-Wolee Nyennue’s residents had made input in the document and next was the Monrovia-based citizens of the township.
“When this MoU is signed…, we hope that all that has been placed in the MoU should come to pass,” said Jerboe, Nyenswah’s colleague.
“It should not be like the first one that GVL is not complying with most of the things that were placed there.”
Green Livelihoods Alliance provided funding for this story. The DayLight maintained editorial independence over the story’s content.
Top: The Chairman of the Liberia Land Authority Adams Manobah speaks at the Second Land Conference in Ganta, Nimba County. The DayLight/Harry Browne
By James Harding Giahyue
GANTA, Nimba County – The Liberia Land Authority has refuted a claim by Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL), suggesting the government had settled a boundary dispute between two communities in Sinoe County.
In a recent report to Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which regulates the oil palm industry worldwide, GVL claimed the Land Authority had “decided” on the conflict between the Du-Wolee Nyennue Township and the Numopoh District.
“The communication session on the result to both communities will be [carried] out in [the fourth quarter] of 2024 with new government officials,” GVL said in the report.
But in an interview with The DayLight on the margins of the just-ended Land Conference in Ganta, Nimba County, the Chairman of the Land Authority Adams Manobah rejected GVL’s assertions. Manobah said the Land Authority had conducted meetings with the two communities but was far from an outcome.
“We have not done that yet,” said Manobah.
“The last solution we have is to go back and do the surveying and establish the boundary between the two communities,” Manobah added.
“We are still waiting for the concession to provide the support so that we can have a definitive line between the two communities.”
GVL’s palm plantation covers thousands of hectares in Sinoe, Maryland, Grand Kru, River Gee and River Cess. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
Manobah’s comments confirmed those of representatives of one of the communities. Augustine Jerbo and Daddy Nyenswah, two community leaders in Du-Wolee Nyennue, want the Land Authority to conduct the survey and end the impasse.
“This thing needs to come to an end,” said Nyenswah.
The RSPO had ordered GVL not to develop the 463-hectare land and to work with the Liberian government to resolve the issue in 2018. The order was part of the watchdog’s decision against the company for developing farmlands without locals’ consent.
GVL reports quarterly to the RSPO on the status of its implementation of the decision, over six years after the deadline.
[Additional reporting by Esau J. Farr, Derick Snyder and Matenneh Keita]
The Green Livelihoods Alliance provided funding for this story. The DayLight maintained editorial independence over the story’s content.
