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.”
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).
