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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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