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Logs from Conservation Forest Illegally Exported to Europe

May 27, 2025

Top: An elevated view of a 450-acre plot in the Gba Community Forest in Nimba County being cleared for a mine waste plant. The DayLight/Derick Snyder

By Esau J. Farr

ArcelorMittal Liberia gave the Gba Community Forest US$150,000 to clear 450 acres for a waste plant, but locals misused the money

Gba and Westwood Corporation signed an MoU to clear-cut the area anyway to make up for the stolen funds

The deal includes an unspecified number of logs that a previous company had illegally harvested, costing the government revenue

FDA authorized Westwood to skip harvesting requirements, including a mapping and GPS-recording of trees, undoing the immediate past administration’s legal order

Westwood exported the timber to Italy, though the harvesting breaks Liberia’s timber trade agreement with the European Union

GBAPA, Nimba County – A cleared patch of the Gba Community Forest, a rocky conservation woodland, welcomes visitors to Sehyi Geh Town. Chainsaw-wielding loggers from a little-known company pile up logs in the clear-cut patch.

As it stands, Westwood Corporation has exported a combined 216 logs (921.124 cubic meters) from Gba, according to official records. The consignments were shipped in March to Sangiorgi Lugnami, a renowned Italian company. A third export of 142 logs has been requested for Bangladesh in the name of Leifwood APS of Denmark.

The exports, however, violate Liberia’s timber trade agreement with the European Union, known as the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA). Under the 2011 agreement, only logs from legal sources, listed and verified, can be exported.

Westwood signed an MoU to clear-cut 450 acres (about 182 hectares) of forestland in the 10,939-hectare forest in Nimba County’s Yarmein District. Westwood agreed to pay Gba US$8 per cubic meter, with the agreement ending next month. A receipt, seen by The DayLight, shows that Westwood deposited US$3,570 into a Gba account last month.

“They have proven to us that they are capable of doing the job due to the machinery they have,” said Samuel Johnson, Gba’s leader, in March. Johnson died shortly after the interview.

But the Gba-Westwood MoU does not qualify the logs as legally sourced. There are five contracts or permits in forestry where legal timber comes from. They are: a forest management contract, a timber sale contract, a community forest management agreement, a private use permit, and a forest use permit.

The GBA-Westwood deal comes close to a forest use permit but differs from it remarkably. This permit is issued through a procurement procedure, for research, tourism, or local use, according to the National Forestry Reform Law and the Regulation on Tender, Award and Administration of Contracts and Permits. The VPA is based on Liberian legal instruments.

Two experts The DayLight interviewed, who preferred not to be named, said the Gba logs were only for domestic markets. They can be converted into planks, generate additional income for locals, and provide temporary employment opportunities for chainsaw millers.

The Nimba flycatcher z

Initially, Westwood was not in the picture. ArcelorMittal Liberia had given Gba US$150,000 in 2014 to clear 450 acres for a mine waste plant. The money was also compensation for a 60-acre plot the company had earlier cleared.

Gba, however, misapplied the funds and failed to clear the area. Subsequently, Gba’s allegedly corrupt leadership was replaced in a scandal that rocked community forestry.

“[ArcelorMittal] paid US$150,000 to Gba to buy a machine or equipment to fell these trees or clear everything out of the site,” said Saye Thompson, the leader for the Blei Community Forest in the same region.

Westwood has exported 216 logs from an illegal source to Italy. Picture credit: Anonymous

Nyan Flomo, who has taken up a leadership role in the wake of Johnson’s death, corroborated that account. ArcelorMittal did not respond to queries for comment up to press time.

The US$150,000 aside, the Westwood arrangement breaks Gba’s original MoU with ArcelorMittal. The document obligates the steel giant to identify trees and guide the clear-cutting process. It nullifies any other MoU associated with the harvesting, such as the one with Westwood.

Gba and ArcelorMittal are conservation partners. Gba is one of four communities adjacent to the East Nimba Nature Reserve (ENNR). Home to the endangered Nimba toad and Nimba flycatcher, the ENNR is part of the Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage site, running through Liberia, Ivory Coast and Guinea.

Gba co-manages the 13,500-hectare forestland alongside ArcelorMittal, FDA, Blei, Sehyi Ko-doo, and Zor. This collaboration helps protect plants and animals of that region, which, experts say, renders logging harmful to that ecosystem.

And the stakes are higher for Westwood, with Gba its first official operation. The company has experience in construction, having constructed a stretch of the Gbarnga-Lofa highway in 2014. Samuel Cooper, its CEO, declined to speak on the matter.

‘Inability to perform’

Permitting Westwood to export, the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) undid what its past administration had done to enforce the law. In a February letter, Managing Director Rudolph Merab excluded Westwood from cutting blocks—regulated forest portions where harvesting occurs. Merab, who did not return emailed questions, has spoken before about deregulation and a drive to increase timber exports.

“Following a desk review of your acquisition of the Gba Community Forest…, you are hereby approved to commence operations,” read the letter.

Merab’s action is the complete opposite of how the FDA handled the Gba case nearly 10 years ago. In 2016, Gba signed a similar MoU with the Liberia Tree Trading Company Thanry. However, the FDA administration then ensured that LTTC Thanry had an annual plan that contained blocks and a map to regulate the harvesting, at least consistent with the law.

Later, Gba terminated LTTC Thanry’s contract due to its “inability to perform,” bringing in Six S (6S) International Trading Limited.

Screenshot of a 2016 FDA report that validated 450 acres in the Gba Community Forest to be clear-cut. However, the current FDA administration deviated from this standard to allow Westwood Corporation to clear-cut the forest.

Though Six S had the capacity, the FDA disapproved of the new company’s harvest because it deviated from the approved plan, several past and present FDA officials familiar with the matter said.

“I [confirm] that during my time at the [legality verification department], 6S did not receive any export permit in LiberTrace,” said Deputy FDA Managing Director Gertrude Nyaley. At the time, Mrs. Nyaley headed the department, which co-manages LiberTrace, the computer system that tracks Liberian timber. She said the company had a tax issue, but, like the anonymous sources, presented no evidence. Six S’s official number did not ring, and it did not answer emailed queries.

Whether unauthorized harvesting or taxes, the Gba-Westwood MoU included an unspecified number of the problematic logs that Six S cut. This violates the Regulation on Confiscated Logs, Timber and Timber Products.

Per the regulation, the FDA is required to investigate, seek a warrant to auction the logs, and fine Six S. Instead, Merab permitted Six S to sell the logs in question to Westwood for US$34 and US$55, losing that revenue.

‘Behind the Curtain’

Gba locals The DayLight interviewed said they were unaware of the Westwood agreement. They had only heard it through the sound of earthmovers and loggers in the forest.

“First, when they came, they just went into the forest and we said, ‘No, you don’t do things like that,’” recalled Aaron Lah, the town chief of Sehyi Geh Town. ‘“This is a town and people are here. Why did you people just come and not reach the townspeople before going into the forest?’”

The Social Entrepreneurs for Sustainable Development (SESDev), a Paynesville-based NGO training Gba’s leaders in forest governance since 2023, said it was not informed about the deal.

Thompson, the Community Forests Union’s head, said there were missteps.

“If you don’t share information on what you are doing, it becomes corruption,” said Thompson. “Everything is behind the curtain.”

Liberia Forest Media Watch provided funding for this story. The DayLight maintained editorial independence over the story’s content.

Nimba Locals Embark on Ecotourism, Commit to Conservation

March 5, 2025

Top: The Zor Community Forest covers 1,140 hectares. The DayLight/Franklin K. Nehyalor

By Franklin K. Nehyalor

ZOR, Nimba County – Local leaders in a northeastern community seek more support to conserve their forest.

The Zor Community Forest in Zor Chiefdom in the Gbehlay-Geh District of Nimba County has support from ArcelorMittal Liberia and NGOs. With the support, Zor, a conservation forest, has established cocoa and oil palm farms, recruited forest guards, and conducted training for community members. The community has also provided loans locals have invested to purchase a rice mill and cassava-processing machines.

However, Zor needs more to develop its ecotourism to continue to protect its forest resources.

“We need technical and financial incentives to better preserve our forest and make our community a place of attraction for investors and businesses,” says Robert Mahn, Zor’s executive committee chairman. “But for this to happen, we need constant monthly salary for forest guards, declaration of ecotourism site, and reclamation of our forestland from foreigners.”

“To reduce deforestation, poaching and other illegal activities, we need the necessary support for the community to realize its ecotourism dream,” says Grace Yeeplah, Treasurer of the Executive Committee of the Zor Community Forest. “These efforts have helped us to improve conservation in the last 10 years. We need help to continue with them.”

Cocoa being sunbaked in Zor, Nimba County. File picture: Zor Community Forest

Zor’s push for ecotourism is a significant step in line with the government’s pledge to conserve 30 percent of Liberia’s forest, which forms the largest portion of West Africa’s remaining rainforests. The Community Rights Law…, which created community forestry, allows locals to co-manage forests alongside the government.

However, unfriendly environmental practices like logging, mining, bad farming methods and other forms of deforestation often undermine these efforts, according to a World Bank report. Between 2002 and 2022, Liberia lost 23 percent of its primary forest due to rampant deforestation, according to the World Resources Institute (WRI), which tracks global deforestation.

“More needs to be done,” says James Otto, a lead campaigner at the Sustainable Development Institute. “The community must set up governance systems and structures that will pay attention to issues like benefits for those who have and those who don’t. They must consider seeking partnerships outside, and external support from other entities who have an interest in ecotourism,” adds Otto.

Zor Community Forest lies adjacent to the East Nimba Nature Reserve (ENNR), home to nearly 3,000 different species. Zor is a buffer between the reserve and forests on Liberia’s border with Guinea and Ivory Coast. Covering 1,140 hectares, Zor has faced significant threats from illegal mining, poaching, and commercial agriculture in the past, with hunters from Ivory Coast and Guinea.

So, for over a decade, community leaders in Zor constantly employ conservation and sustainable livelihood initiatives to address these challenges.

Currently, the community has recruited and trained 22 forest guards, who regularly patrol the forest. In October last year, the FDA conducted a joint forest guard training with community rangers with the ENNR. In November 2023, an MoU agreement reached between AML and the Zor community turned former bushmeat sellers and hunters into forest protectors in local communities such as Zolowee, Gbapa, Suakasue and Zortapa.

“We have mobilized the community, created awareness on the need to save the forest and the environment,” explains Mahn. “These efforts are meant to empower our people in ways that will discourage them from harming the forest and its species.”

New development

Zor maintains a host of community livelihood programs through which it protects its forest.

With support from ArcelorMittal Liberia and the NGO, the Multi-stakeholder Forest Governance and Accountability Project (MFGAP), the community processes rice, cocoa, and cassava. ArcelorMittal provides US$160 for community forest guards on a quarterly basis. On the other hand, MFGAP provided US$112,971 to strengthen Zor’s governance system, develop its business model and provide other needs.

Also, Zor has set up 40 acres of oil palm farms in 20 towns adjacent to the rocky forest, with two acres established in each of the beneficiary communities. Zor has a rice mill that helps to increase farmers’ productivity and reduce their high cost of labor, while at the same time generating proceeds from minimal fees charged.

Zor Community Forest’s leaders inspecting a cassava processing machine. File picture: Zor Community Forest

Depending on the size, each farmer is charged LD130 or LD150 to mill a bucket full of rice. Zor’s leadership retains 70 percent of the proceeds into a community account, distributing 30 percent to the rice milling machine maintenance team. Of the 70 percent, 40 percent goes to the landowning communities, while the remaining portion is used for administrative purposes.

Despite the prevailing challenges, Zor remains hopeful of achieving their ecotourism desire provided they receive the necessary support.

“We will get many benefits with the ecotourism project,” says Mahn. “With the right support, we expect the community to come alive with hospitality. We also expect business investment, jobs, economic growth and new community development.”

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.”

Communities Desire Direct Benefits to Conserve Forests

October 26, 2024

Top: A view of the Sehyi Ko-doo Community Forest in Nimba County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

By Varney Kamara

GANTA, Nimba County – Local communities are firm on conserving their forests but they want direct benefits from doing so.

“We’ve noticed that not giving funds directly to communities led to too many bureaucracies with limited social and economic impacts on the communities,” said Anthony Sumo, a community leader in the Proposed Wologizi and Wonegizi Protected Areas in Lofa County. The areas are part of the Wologizi-Wonegizi-Ziama belt, extending Guinea and connecting to Sierra Leone, and home to the critically endangered pigmy hippopotamus.

“Every day we hear about the money coming, but not much of how much development it brought to the community. There is a need to change things around.”

Sumo is one of 41 people from northern and northeastern Liberia who attended a recent meeting in Ganta, Nimba County to identify new ways local people could benefit from keeping their forests standing.

Their views and an emerging report on options Liberia could pursue to generate revenue will be developed into a proposal and turned over to the government and international partners for possible action.

The Community Rights Law… and Land Rights Act grant locals ownership of ancestral territories. Up to 75 percent of Liberia’s land is under customary control, including 1.3 million hectares of community forests and 1 million large-scale logging concessions.

Locals also support Liberia’s commitments to combat climate change, including halving deforestation, restoring a quarter of its degraded forests and reducing gases from forest use. A host of communities run conservation programs and support protected and proposed protected areas, covering 1.14 million hectares.

Yet those communities have not significantly gained from forest resources over the last one and a half decades. Failed logging contracts have left debts, abandoned logs and anger countrywide, while communities have struggled to profit from local conservation efforts.

“Any benefits that come from preserving the forests should go directly to the people, instead of passing through multiple organizations or international people,” said Sumo in an interview with The DayLight. “That’s what we have been asking for.”

Those views were echoed by other community leaders in Salayea, Blei, Sehyi Ko-doo and Zor and Gba.

Robert Mahn, a leader of the Zor Community Forest in the Sanniquellie-Mahn District of Nimba, said direct benefits were necessary for residents to manage and maintain ownership. The mountainous Zor, Gba and Blei are conservation community forests adjacent to the East Nimba Nature Reserve, an 11,538-hectare forest that is home to chimpanzees and the Nimba toad.

Over 40 people and rangers from communities and the East Nimba Nature Reserve discussed local people’s benefits from keeping their forest standing. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

“I feel that direct funding will boost our CLDMC’s involvement in decision-making, helping us use our benefits more effectively,” said Mahn.

“The people depended on these forests from our ancestral days. Now that you want them to manage and protect it in other ways, you need to provide benefits like soap-making, women’s arts, tailoring, village saving loans, animal raring, and more,” said Yassah Mulbah, the chief officer of the Salayea Authorized Forest Community.

Eight thousand two hundred and seventy hectares Lofa County, Salayea, runs a conservation program, focusing on livelihood projects Mulbah mentioned.

But other attendees, including Grace Kotee, a ranger with the East Nimba Nature Reserve, caution against mismanagement. They referenced an instance in the Korninga A Community Forest in Gbarpolu, where townsmen were tried for allegedly misusing US$76,000.

“We think that providing direct benefits to communities is a good idea but we have a little bit of concern about this. There should be a process or system put in place that will make them to be accountable,” said Kotee.

All parties agreed NGOs were crucial to communities’ conservation efforts. However, most frowned on NGOs implementing projects for communities.

Ericson Flomo, the chief officer of Sehyi Ko-doo Authorized Community Forest, called on conservation donors and the government to empower communities.

The community has planted 30,000 indigenous and fruit trees, one of the highest totals in the country. Sehyi Ko-doo has an MoU with ArcelorMittal Liberia in which the company pays a dozen local forest guards a monthly stipend.

“We want to get things done,” Flomo told The DayLight at Sehyi Ko-doo’s border with Gba amid the hooting of chimpanzees. “We just need the right training and resources to succeed.”

Silas Siakor, the Country Manager of Dutch NGO IDH, who was one of the workshop’s facilitators, welcomed the participants’ views.

“By protecting their resources, they can access funds tied to conservation ownership,” said Siakor. “The objective is to identify other sources of economic benefits and revenue that you can use for your own development as a community, as an incentive for you to better manage your forest.

“The idea is to balance conservation with community needs.”

The next discussions will be held in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County. After that, Inclusive Development Consultancy will draft the proposal on how communities can benefit from sustainably managing their forest.

Actors Trained to Restore Lost Forests

October 23, 2024

Top: Participants of a five-day training exercise in Yekepa prepare a site for planting. Picture credit: USFS

By James Harding Giahyue

YEKEPA – Twenty-four forestry actors have been trained to combat deforestation and degraded forestlands in and around the East Nimba Nature Reserve, a conservation hub in the northeast county.

The exercise was part of the United States Forest Service’s support of Liberia’s AFR100 pledge to restore a million hectares of forests by 2030. (AFR100 seeks to reforest 100 million hectares in Africa) It seeks to restore wildlife—plants and animal species—in one of Liberia’s important landscapes.

“The workshop contributes significantly to enhancing forest restoration efforts in Liberia,” said Benedictus Freeman, USFS Liberia’s country coordinator. USFS has worked alongside USAID in Liberia since 2003. The training is the collaboration’s latest effort.

“By providing participants with the necessary knowledge and skills, the workshop has empowered them to play a vital role in restoring degraded lands in Liberia and promoting sustainable forest management,” Freeman added.

Deforestation, forest degradation and wildfire are some of Liberia’s biggest environmental challenges. Between 2001 and 2023, Liberia lost 2.36 million hectares of tree cover— 17 hectares from fire—according to the Global Forest Watch.

Experts say harmful farming methods, logging, and mining are the key drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in Liberia.

So, for five days last week at the Nimba Ecolodge in Yekepa, the forestry actors learned different techniques. They learned how to manage native tree nurseries, including shade construction with local materials, bed preparation, seed selection and sowing.

A nursery was established at the East Nimba Nature Reserve to spark the restoration activities.

The FDA, USFS Liberia and Guinean NGO Resource Naturelles Sans Pauvreté facilitated the training. It followed an April-May study tour during which USFS’ Guinean partners shared their experiences with their Liberian counterparts.

Freeman said training laid the foundation for a potential collaboration between Guinea and Liberia, particularly in the Nimba landscape.

Participants came from the University of Liberia, the Forest Training Institute, and the Forestry Development Authority. Others came from the reserve, communities adjacent to the reserve and civil society.

They toured potential forest restoration sites and experimental plots created by ArcelorMittal Liberia, which comanages the reserve with the FDA. The company donated seedlings.

“It means a lot to me. All the people who participated will be able to apply the knowledge in their communities,” said Alphonso Kiedor, FDA’s restoration manager. “It will transform our learning field as well. I am sure that we are going to make a great change.”

Freeman said the next steps would be to maintain the partnership with the FDA, ArcelorMittal and other participants.

Tag: East Nimba Nature Reserve

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