A bird’s-eye view of a forest in Sinoe County in 2018. Picture credit: James Harding Giahyue
ByEsau J. Farr
CONGO TOWN – A local NGO, Integrated Development and Learning (IDL), has launched a roadmap that proposes payment for communities that keep their forests.
The “Roadmap for Pursuing Alternative Options for Liberia’s Forest Benefits” is a partnership among IDL, the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) and communities. It offers to pay locals who do not farm, build houses, mine, and log in forests for commercial purposes. Organizers call it payment for stewardship.
“Today, there is emphasis on conservation because we realized that the misuse of forests [negatively] affects the lives of people,” said FDA Managing Director Rudolph Merab at the roadmap’s launch recently in Congo Town. “We are committed to managing forests sustainably so that the forest canopy will not be depleted.”
Leaders of Wedjah and the Jaedae Districts, Sinoe County, where the strategy is being tested, said they were committed to it. Last and earlier this month, the communities signed agreements for a two-year trial with 50,000 hectares in exchange for US$152,022. Customary communities own most of the forests in Liberia, which hosts 43 percent of West Africa’s largest rainforests.
“We want to encourage our people in our forest communities to ensure that we play our role well in managing our forests for us to get money and develop our communities,” said Lasting Kadee, a Wedjah community forest leader.
IDL intends to scale up to 202,342 hectares by 2027, setting the stage for international financing in line with the Paris Agreement. This will lead to forest communities being merged to meet the minimum standard for climate finance, according to IDL’s Executive Director, Silas Siakor.
“IDL wants the pilot communities to begin climate mitigation and anti-deforestation activities by properly managing their forest and get paid for keeping their forests standing,” said Siakor at the launch of the roadmap recently.
The Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr. Emmanuel Urey Yarkpawolo, urged the communities to obtain environmental permits to allow the EPA to help protect their forests. “From the EPA’s point of view, I think the whole idea is good,” Yarkpawolo said. “It seems that the process will be smooth.”
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