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].”
