Top: A view of the Gola National Park from Fonnor Town, Grand Cape Mount County. The DayLight/Esau J. Farr
By Esau J. Farr
FONNOR TOWN, Grand Cape Mount County – The Forestry Development Authority (FDA) is exploring forests for potential ecotourism sites.
The exercise recently started with a visit to portions of the Gola National Park and other areas in Grand Cape Mount and Gbarpolu Counties. FDA’s Managing Director Rudolph Merab led a delegation of FDA staffers and tourism stakeholders on the mission.
“Some people want to come to Liberia to see and explore other things, especially when we talk about the rainforest. People from the West and the Americas want to come here, but we will have to come and set the stage…,” Merab told reporters.
“[What] we are trying to do is for people to know our forests. They’ve got to know the tree and animal species we have. We need to bring researchers to research the forests to find which trees can help us with our own health.”
Established in 2016, the Gola National Park is an 88,000-hectare forest that extends into neighboring Sierra Leone. It has a rich ecosystem with diverse wildlife. The park has 300 bird species, including the Gola Malinbe and the white-necked Picathartes, 49 mammal species, reptiles and amphibians.
The tour followed a recent trip to neighboring Sierra Leone last month to understand that country’s park management structure and operations.
The FDA Managing Director, Rudolph J. Merab, speaks at the agency’s Camp Fonnor. The DayLight/Esau J. Farr
Merab said showcasing Liberia’s tourism potential would attract tourists to its forests and generate revenue. Tourism is one of the pillars of President Joseph Boakai’s developmental agenda for inclusion, a sector that has been underdeveloped for decades.
“This is meant to amplify the voice of the President on his tourism pillar in the ARREST agenda. That is why you are seeing me here in the forest,” adds Merab. The FDA intends to train young people in tourism so they can develop the sector in the future.
The tour was conducted jointly with the Liberia National Tourism Authority and the Society for the Conservation of Nature of Liberia (SCNL), a Monrovia-based NGO that helped establish the Gola Park.
A delegate of the Tourism Authority said the it was working with the FDA to map tourism activities in the country.
“We will tap into all the opportunities that these forests have and we are going to develop them sustainably,” said Juanita Yiah, the Tourism Authority’s technical director. “We want to do everything to make Liberia ecotourism-friendly.”
Tour delegates, including the FDA, the Tourism Authority and SCNL representatives at the FDA camp in Tima Town, Gbarpolu County. The DayLight/Esau J. Farr
Calling birds
James Mulbah, SCNL’s landscape manager, praised local communities for the protection of the Gola Park. said locals needed support to maintain the park’s rich biodiversity.
“We have come to overlook this place to see how well we can attract national and international tourists to come,” said Mulbah.
“The community people have a way of calling birds and other animals and you see them coming to you live,” Mulbah mentioned several local tourism sites, including an elephant fall and a famous bird watch site.
The FDA, the tourism authority and conservationists acknowledge the community’s efforts in preserving the park over the years and assure them of tourism benefits.
The FDA is seeking support for researchers to conduct a study of tree and animal species and potential tourist sites.
“Whatever we do, whether it is commercial, conservation, or even carbon, it has to impact the lives of our people for the positive,” said Merab.
Top: A worker labels logs in Akewa’s log field in Beyan Poye Community Forest, Margibi. Photo credit: Akewa Group of Companies via Facebook
By Emmanuel Sherman
MONROVIA – A court in Monrovia has terminated a logging agreement between a community forest and a company after an arbitration process, ending over four years of legal battle.
The Commercial Court at the Temple of Justice handed down the ruling recently after Akewa Group of Companies failed to honor the arbitration with the Beyan Poye Community Forest in Margibi County.
“The community forest management agreement… between the Beyan Poye Community Forest and Akewa Group of Companies is hereby deemed terminated as a matter of law…,” read the ruling.
“Failure to appear in open court to make a case, this court has no other option after hearing the informant’s argument and giving due recourse to the parties pleading than to grant the informant’s Bill of information,” added the ruling.
Abigail Funke Odebunmi, Akewa’s manager and co-owner, did not immediately respond to queries.
A long legal battle
Beyan Poye Community Forest, on March 25, 2017, signed a 15-year logging agreement with Akewa to harvest its 33,338 hectares of forestland in the Gibi District.
In 2022, Beyan Poye invoked an arbitration clause in its logging agreement with Akewa after nearly five years of stalemate. Subsequently, the FDA set up a panel, and the process began.
The panel awarded Beyan Poye over US$80,000 in forest-related benefits and granted Akewa the right to continue its operations unhindered.
Akewa opposed the arbitrators’ decision and petitioned the Commercial Court to review it.
When that review ended unsuccessfully, Akewa, owned by Nigerian businesswoman Abigail Funke Odebunmi, petitioned the Supreme Court. However, the company committed procedural errors in its petition to the high court.
The Supreme Court sent the case back to the Commercial Court to enforce the arbitration award, granting Beyan Poye’s motion for dismissal.
Then Beyan Poye petitioned the Commercial Court to terminate Akewa’s contract for failing to resume operations. The petition referenced a provision of the arbitration award that the company restart activities in January 2023.
The Commercial Court sided with Beyan Poye, terminating Akewa’s contract.
Samuelle Hare-King of the Heritage Partners and Associates, Beyan Poye’s lawyer, told The DayLight the law firm had contacted another firm to seek a court’s order to freeze Akewa’s bank accounts until it could settle its debt to Beyan Poye.
Jehudi Barnyou, Beyan Poye’s chief officer, reveled in the victory and has advice for community forests across the country.
“As a community leader, if you have a problem with a company concerning land rental, royalty, or whatever, take the lead and go to court,” said Barnyou. He promised to present the ruling at the community meeting with members of the community later this month.
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia.
Top: A drone shot of a zircon sand mine in Greenville, Sinoe County, in 2023. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
By Varney Kamara
MONROVIA – Liberia’s mining sector failed to report US$2.7 billion in gold and iron ore exports between 2007 and 2023, likely due to underreporting and/or smuggling, a new reportfound.
The US-based Forest Trends found that Liberia reported US$5.1 billion from mining exports over the 16 years. However, researchers established that importing countries reported US$7.8 billion from Liberia, resulting in the US$2.7 billion discrepancy.
“The scale of the problem is massive,” said Arthur Blundell, one of the report’s co-authors. “There is no reason to believe that what the government reported was a mistake because Liberian sources agree with the numbers.”
The report—”A Rapid Assessment of Liberia’s Mining Sector…”—determined that underreporting of export commodities and smuggling were the potential reasons for the revenue loss. Moreover, there are strong indications that the country could be giving away valuable revenue at a staggering rate. For instance, Liberia’s sales of rough diamonds and iron ore fell below the international benchmark during the reporting period.
Weak enforcement likely enabled underreporting, smuggling, and tax evasion, as well as environmental violations, costing hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
The report recommends that the government halt illegal mining, improve trade oversight, protect ecologically critical areas, ensure transparency, uphold community rights, and enforce companies’ legal obligations fully.
The report utilized legal review, trade data, and geospatial analysis. Data used in the study were collected from various government agencies, including the Ministry of Mines & Energy, Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Forestry Development Authority (FDA), Central Bank of Liberia, Liberia Revenue Authority, and the Environmental Protection Agency. Researchers analyzed Liberia’s minerals exported to Switzerland, the EU, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and other countries.
A mine in Vaguay, Grand Cape Mount County, in 2020. Picture credit: James Harding Giahyue
Overall, the report found that it was impossible to calculate all losses due to a lack of transparency in the reporting process, as there were likely losses from unpaid import fees and withholding taxes, social security payments, surface rental, license fees, etc.
The Ministry of Mines did not return queries for comment on the report’s findings.
Community benefits and the environment
The report also established that unfulfilled promises, human rights abuses, and environmental damage, among other things, hinder the mining sector, which accounts for a fifth of Liberia’s GDP, while dominating exports and generating a significant share of government revenue despite the losses.
Mining impacts across communities have been staggering, the report found. The study revealed that communities were not benefiting from their natural resources. It shows companies are not complying with their legal obligations to communities.
There is no official reporting on whether mining companies are paying two percent of their exploration budget on local health and education, as required by the mineral exploration regulation, nor is there reporting on whether companies are giving five percent equity to communities as required by the Land Rights Act.
Overall, it found that 1.4 million hectares of community forest lands were overlapped by mining licenses, undermining local people’s economic opportunities, and thus their autonomy and right to self-determination. The mining environmental laws require permits for semi-industrial scale or class ‘B’ licenses.
Benefits legally guaranteed to communities remain unrealized, while affected communities increasingly face degraded lands, abandoned open pits—deepening their vulnerability and leaving them with more burdens than they can actually handle.
“We only know what has been reported for communities, not what has actually been done. Additional payments may have been made that were unreported, but also payments reportedly made for communities may also have been misdirected elsewhere,” said Blundell, noting that since 2012, rather than putting the revenue into community funds, the government has required all payments to first be deposited into the County accounts. “What has happened to these funds is not clear.” However, the report noted that the General Auditing Commission, in its most recent audit on County Development Fund spending, found gross violations and lack of oversight by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which they said may “lead to fraud…through the processing and disbursement of illegitimate transactions.”
“Any reform should include immediate steps to stem financial losses, compel compliance, and ensure accountability of compensation and other benefits sharing with local communities,” Blundell concluded.
The report revealed Liberia’s forests are at risk, with licenses overlapping more than 2 million hectares nationwide. Mining is undermining the environmental health of these forests, citing a report by Liberia’s Environmental Protection Agency. For example, the EPA found that many Class ‘B’ license holders are not obtaining environmental permits, a major requirement under the mining law, and that companies were using heavy machines to pollute major watercourses.
Dredges on the Dugbe River in Sinoe County in 2023. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
The assessment found mining-linked deforestation, hazardous chemical mismanagement, and water pollution at an increasing rate, while monitoring and enforcement remain major challenges to tackling those issues nationwide.
Moreover, the Forest Trends assessment cautioned that these statistics do not include widespread artisanal, unlicensed mining because these mines go unreported by the Ministry of Mines & Energy.
Between 2021 and 2024, Liberia lost 390,000 hectares of primary forest to deforestation due to logging, agriculture expansion, and illegal mining, according to the Global Forest Watch. The recent boom in cocoa farming in the country’s southeast has increased the pace of deforestation.
The report recommends that the government stop illegal mining, enforce existing mining laws and regulations, increase consultations between miners and communities, urging miners to refill holes they dig across communities.
“What is needed now is more transparency, accountability, and a fundamentally different model of resource governance—one that prioritizes social equity, environmental sustainability, and community rights,” the report concludes.
Top: An illegal mine in the Sapo National Park. File picture/Forestry Development Authority
By Myer Saydi
GREENVILLE – A court in Sinoe County has fined 28 suspects and ordered them to do community service for illegal mining in the Sapo National Park.
The Greenville Magisterial Court fined the men US$1,300. It also ruled that they cut grass at the Presidential Palace in Greenville for seven working days.
The suspects had pleaded guilty to theft of property and criminal trespass following their arrest in February by park rangers. They escaped imprisonment because prosecutors did not prove they had any prior convictions for the crimes.
“I am happy for my clients despite government fines and community services because they are not going to jail,” said Franklin Myers, the convicts’ lawyer. “The court ruling is not based on public sentiment but on what the law says. So, I am happy for them.”
John Smith, Chief Warden of the Sapo National Park, said the ruling would serve as a deterrent to illicit occupants. Smith added that Liberia’s protected areas are critical to biodiversity conservation. He urged citizens to respect conservation laws and support sustainable practices.
Joint security forces arrested the men in February 2026 during an enforcement operation, court documents show. Security forces seized 4.2 grams of gold, a half-filled 25-kilogram bag of rice, six gallons of gasoline and eight pieces of carpet.
Authorities reported that the group was actively involved in unauthorized mining, a direct violation of Liberia’s forestry, mining, environmental and wildlife laws.
The ruling comes amid ongoing efforts to curb environmental degradation inside Liberia’s largest park. To date, thousands of illicit occupants have been removed from the 697-square-mile park, one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots.
This story is a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
Top: A partial view of the Konobo Community Forest in Grand Gedeh County. The DayLight/Samuel Jabba
By Esau J. Farr
BOUNDARY TOWN, Grand Gedeh County – Lawrence Koolor woke up one cool morning, his face beaming with a smile and joy pouring out of his heart. Koolor’s dream became a reality late last year when he moved his family into his new house. He had lived in his uncle’s house for decades.
Koolor built his home out of money he received from Burkinabé cocoa farmers he hosts in Konobo. His house—part-mud, part-concrete with metal roofs— stands out among huts with thatched roofs in Boundary, a town on the border between the Konobo and Tchien Districts in Grand Gedeh County.
“I felt so happy that day for me to go and live in my own house at that time,” recalls Koolor. “That was a complete relief for my family to [move from one bedroom] to a whole house.”
Koolor is one of several residents of Konobo, who, along with their Burkinabé guests, have encroached on Grand Gedeh’s largest remaining rainforest. Townspeople in Konobo say the arrival of Burkinabé cocoa farmers in their communities has transformed their lives.
The map of Konobo. File photo/Forestry Development Authority
Konobo has 390,000 hectares of natural forest, according to Global Forest Watch, an application that tracks deforestation. Gbarzon and Tchein Districts are second to Konobo District in Grand Gedeh County, with higher rainforest, 360,000 hectares each.
Burkinabés likely started migrating into Liberia from the neighboring Ivory Coast in 2014 in search of cocoa farmlands. The Liberia Immigration Service (LIS) has profiled 55,000 Burkinabés in southeast Liberia, 48,000 in Grand Gedeh. Burkinabés, also known as “Mossi,” have agreements with locals in which they provide investment and labor, while the locals provide land.
“The cocoa business that came here is helping to take us from zero to hero,” says Alice Doe, who hosts six Burkinabé migrant workers in Boundary Town.
“Before, we could not get a dime to buy a sheet of zinc. But for now, that story has changed, because before the Burkinabés enter your [forest], they give you [money],” adds Doe.
Interviews and reporters’ observations show Konobo District—a low-income community of 26,588 people—is transforming in several ways. People are earning income from cocoa that they have never earned in their lives. New houses are being built, and one resident is sponsoring his son’s studies in Spain.
Cocoa farming might be transforming lives in Konobo, but it is wiping out the district’s forest. To plant cocoa, Burkinabés burn down the forest. Reporters saw trees losing their foliage, gradually morphing into woody skeletons.
Between 2002 and 2024, Konobo lost 9,300 hectares of primary forest. A 2024 study found that 15 percent of Liberia’s deforestation is linked to cocoa cultivation. Then, last November, the London-based Global Witness linked top European chocolate makers to deforestation in Liberia.
‘Under threat’
Satellite imagery confirms that cocoa farmers are encroaching on the Konobo Community Forest, a 49,625-hectare woodland meant for logging. Konobo and the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) signed an agreement in 2020 to co-manage logging activities with the regulator. The agreement outlaws farming in the community forest.
And that is exactly the case. Drone shots show cocoa pods sprouting amid decaying trees and cultivated forests.
“When the Burkinabés enter the forest, they burn all the trees…,” says Beyan Woi, FDA’s regional manager in Grand Gedeh. “Most of [those] community forests that people wanted to do logging and conservation in are under threat by Burkinabés.”
Burkinabé migrants set fire or apply chemicals to the base of trees in clearing the forest for cocoa cultivation. File photo/Forestry Development Authority
Woi says the FDA has made efforts to curtail encroachment on forests in the southeast, including prosecution.
Wulu Gaye, the chief officer of Konobo Community Forest, echoes Woi’s comments. The encroachment is the biggest challenge Gaye, who was recently elected, faces.
“As we speak, the forest is not well protected. There are illegal farmers farming in the forest,” says Gaye.
Burkinabés-hosts in Konobo deny farming in the community forest, claiming the farmland was their private property.
“I have more than 20 Burkinabés working for me on more than a-kilo-hectare of our farmland here in Boundary Town,” said Dennis Jakar, a classroom teacher and a resident of Boundary Town. Jakar claimed he is using ancestral land for his cocoa farm.
The DayLight could not independently verify Jakar’s and other townspeople’s comments due to the distances to the farms and the security of the reporters. Furthermore, the newspaper could not identify the owners of the farms the drone captured.
However, farmers hosting the Burkinabés say people are farming in the community forest because logging has failed them. Their position is a reference to an inactive logging agreement locals have.
In May 2021, Konobo and Horizon Logging Limited, a Monrovia-based firm, signed a contract. Horizon agreed to construct health facilities, handpumps, and latrines in the affected communities in addition to land rental and harvesting fees. The company failed to carry out the projects, leaving behind unpaid debts and abandoned logs. Horizon did not respond to queries for comment on the contract.
The contract’s failure is visible throughout Konobo. Several logs are abandoned in Boundary Town, behind a clinic and at other locations. Locals drink from creeks, and there are no public latrines.
“They (Horizon) lied to us; so, we were left with no other option but to put Burkinabés in the concession area to [farm for us],” says Christian Menyeah, a Konobo resident, who hosts three Burkinabé migrants.
“The money we are now getting from cocoa farming is plenty and quicker than what a logging company would give us,” adds Bill Yallah, a host of dozens of Burkinabés migrants.
Gaye, Konobo’s chief officer, says his leadership is working with county authorities to remove the encroachers from the community forest.
Gaye says, “Well, all the local authorities [bought] the idea that there’s a need that we remove the illegal farmers…”
Samuel T. Jabba contributed to this story.
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
Top: The payment for stewardship enables communities to get direct cash benefits and livelihood programs for keeping their forests standing. The DayLight/Samuel Jabba
By Varney Kamara
MONROVIA – Years ago, women in Wedjah and Jaedae Districts in Sinoe County processed cassava with their bare hands. Their story has changed for the better. They now use motorized mills, locally called garri machines, to grind their cassava before processing it. The grinders significantly reduce their labor inputs while increasing production, enhancing their businesses and improving their livelihoods.
“Since it was introduced, women’s involvement in business activity in the community has increased. We see more provision shops being built,” says Wratee Boyee, a community leader in Jeadea District.
The flourishing cassava businesses are some of the results of a trial of a new conservation method known as payment for stewardship. Launched last July, the program enables communities to receive direct cash benefits and livelihood interventions to help keep their forests standing. Experts say the program shows great potential to improve lives in rural communities, though it is too early to measure its full impact.
The program intends to protect between 300,000 and 500,000 hectares of forest, with a total investment of US$3.4 million by 2030. It is jointly implemented by Integrated Development and Learning (IDL), a Margibi-based NGO, and the Forestry Development Authority (FDA).
“FDA strongly believes that this project will lead to the enhancement of sustainable forest management, forest conservation, including legal compliance and enforcement,” said Myers Tweh Jr., assurance and compliance manager at the FDA. “It will lead to the implementation of reward-based mechanisms that would reduce pressure on the forest.”
Under the trial, Wedjah is protecting 7,131 hectares, and Jaedae 43,543 hectares after meeting payment requirements. Both communities have received a combined payment of US$150,622 at the rate of US$1.50 per hectare yearly, according to payment records. Wedjah got US$21,393 for the two years the trial has been running, while Jaedae secured US$129,229 for the same period. Moreover, local forest guards receive training, a monthly compensation, protective gear, and GPS-programmed gadgets for monitoring.
Both Wedjah and Jaedae are on the buffer with the Sapo National Park, Liberia’s largest protected area, and the Proposed Grand-Kru-River-Gee Protected Area. They host wildlife such as chimpanzees and other species typical of Liberia’s rainforest, the largest remaining in West Africa.
In exchange for cash and the other benefits, Wedjah and Jaedae do not mine, farm, log, or build new homes in their forests. They harvest timber and non-timber products for community use only. They signed an agreement last June.
Environmentalists say the payment for stewardship helps reduce local communities’ dependency on the forest resources and contributes to the fight against climate change. Between 2002 and 2024, Liberia lost 390,000 hectares of primary forest, according to the Global Forest Watch. Agriculture, logging, mining, illicit activities and a recent cocoa boom in the southeast are the contributors, undermining conservation efforts.
Game-changer
Payment for stewardship breaks away from the past, when communities were at the margins of conservation efforts. In contrast, the program places communities at the core of conservation efforts. They protect the forest and decide what to do with the resources.
“We ensured that no one was excluded from the process,” recalls Silas Siakor, the executive director of IDL, “because, when you exclude others, there is a natural tendency for a whole community to go against you.”
“We wanted to do something very simple: we wanted communities to be provided direct incentives to protect their community forests,” adds Siakor.
Overall, the stewardship is intended to develop a community-led benefit-sharing mechanism. Currently, that is the duty of the Benefit Sharing Trust Board, which regulates resources for logging concessions. However, the new program recommends a channel that incorporates mining, agriculture, and climate finance.
Similarly, the payment for the stewardship program readies communities for climate financing, environmentalists say. Liberia is developing a carbon policy framework.
An independent assessment reviewed the new program’s activities and payment performances, and found positive behavioral changes among locals.
The most visible success of the scheme comes from the investments in livelihood activities, largely driven by village loan groups that provide savings and low-interest loans to members. IDL works with more than 52 in Sinoe; 20 in Wedjah and Jaedae.
“In 2025 alone, the [village loan scheme] generated more than L$50 million (US$263,000) from their village saving activities, more than what the amount the communities received for keeping their forest standing,” says Silas Siakor.
A section of a farm on the edge of a forest in Jaedae District, Sinoe County, in 2025. The DayLight/Esau Farr
For the cassava processing, four machines have been strategically deployed in Wedjah, replacing the traditional method of grinding the cassava. The investment in livelihood is the primary attraction for women, according to Siakor.
In addition to the machines, Wedjah received three motorbikes to improve women’s access to the market and secure better prices for their garri.
“We see that women are forming more financial clubs in the community, the movement of goods and services has increased, and businesses are also flourishing,” Lasting Kadee, a community leader in Wedjah, said in an interview with The DayLight. “We want to give it out to them 100 percent for this program. It is really helping our people.”
Additional feedback
Despite the success stories, the independent assessment found the payment for stewardship to be “moderately strong” in that it was too early to grade the overall impact. The review took place six months into the program, needing more than to conduct a full-scale assessment. This, too, was compounded by bad weather and terrible road networks.
However, the assessment was conclusive regarding the challenges associated with the payment for stewardship. It found that the youth and elderly townspeople disagreed on how potential land disputes could be settled.
Also, it found that townspeople in Wedjah and Jaedae faced difficulty meeting and agreeing on projects due to long distances between communities. Townsfolk said they did not afford transportation to attend meetings, the assessment revealed.
“We saw that planning for the project was a difficult thing to do because you cannot get everybody in one location at the same time,” says Saah David, an environmentalist who led the assessment. “Nevertheless, based on our interactions with the different actors, I think it is a game-changing initiative with a lot of potential.”
David’s report recommends that youth participation, coordination, and improvement in communication and compliance safeguards would address challenges. It also recommends improvement in performance requirements and governance safeguards to meet the program’s challenges.
To meet these challenges, IDL wants to engage communities and support local forest bodies for long-term success.
“We intend to organize more discussions around these issues,” says Siakor. “The idea is to generate additional feedback from the different stakeholders, so that we can derive effective solutions to those issues that have been identified.”
Top: A deforested area in Polar Town, Neezonnie Clan, Grand Gedeh County. The DayLight/Samuel Jabba
By Carlucci Cooper
KUEBO TOWN, Grand Gedeh — Princess Monjolo, the Town Chief of Kuebo, a forest-enveloped town situated within the Neezonnie Community Forest, was there from the formation of Neezonnie in 2011. The community obtained the right to co-manage logging activities alongside the Forestry Development Authority (FDA).
However, in recent years, French-speaking men from the neighboring Ivory Coast have begun arriving there on foot, on motorbikes, and by canoe. They encouraged locals to farm cocoa, assuring them it would improve their lives in no time. Townspeople here, including Monjolo, agreed.
“We used to plant rice and other crops before; our lives didn’t change. Now, seeing how the livelihood of the people in the next town is improving, we don’t want to be left behind,” Monjolo says in an interview in Kuebo. “That’s why we agreed to enter the cocoa business.”
Like Monjolo, local people and Burkinabé migrants they host have encroached on the Neezonnie Community Forest to cultivate cocoa. The people here say low living conditions push them towards illegal cocoa cultivation, citing a failed logging contract as their justification.
It was not a tough decision, though, just as Monjolo, who has a six-hectare cocoa farm and hosts eight Burkinabé migrants, puts it. Neezonnie’s neighbors, Marbo-1 and Marbo-2, had done the same years ago and were benefiting from their cocoa production. Modern houses are mushrooming, and businesses are booming.
The transformation here from logging to cocoa, known as the “brown gold,” is touchable. Young cocoa farms line both sides of the road from Polar Town to Tiah Town, as it was in other communities. In Tiah Town, Burkinabé migrants spread cocoa beans on a platform to dry, with the migrants everywhere, outnumbering their landlords. The Liberia Immigration Service has recorded 55,000 Burkinabe migrants in the country, with 48,000 in Grand Gedeh County alone.
Burkinabé migrants pose for a picture before cocoa beans in B’hai District, Grand Gedeh County. The DayLight/Samuel Jabba
The Burkinabés have an agreement with their Neezonnie hosts: The landlords provide land, while the migrants invest cash and labor. In some cases, locals hire Burkinabé to clear the forest for cocoa.
The people in are hopeful that when their cocoa harvest they will begin to experience a better life, like their neighbors in Marbo-1 and Marbo-2.
“My three boys have graduated from high school, and I’m depending on my cocoa to support my children in the university,” says Amelia Sioseoh, a 10-hectare cocoa farmer in Polar Town, one of the communities that owns Neezonnie.
“I inherited eight hectares of cocoa farmland from my parents. The farm was giving me a hard time, but when the Burkinabes came, they transformed the farm, and I will be harvesting soon,” adds Eddie Gaye, a cocoa farmer in Kuebo Town.
Morris Totaye, a Polar Town resident and, like Sioseoh, has a 10-hectare farm in the community forest, is already benefitting from cocoa. Totaye says he has generated US$22,000 from his cocoa farm. His new house—a two-storey building, part mud, part concrete, with a metal roof—is near completion.
“Without this farm, I am not sure that I would be successful,” Tataye tells The DayLight.
“Those who are saying that the Burkinabes should go back have a point. As for me, I would like to apologize: Let the Burkinabés stay because they are helping,” he adds.
But the forest pays a great price for Neezonnie’s newfound prosperity. Since 2022, Neezonnie has lost most of its 42,424 hectares to cocoa cultivation. It is one of eight community forests, the FDA reports. Burkinabés and their hosts have encroached on Grand Gedeh, in addition to proposed protected areas and large-scale logging concessions.
Gbarzon District—where Neezonnie is located—is the worst-deforested region, accounting for 37,000 hectares of primary forest loss between 2002 and 2024, according to Global Forest Watch, an application that tracks deforestation in real time. Permanent agriculture accounts for over 86 percent of that primary forest loss.
“For now, I cannot tell you there’s any forest left in Neezonnie that the government can utilize. Except the government wants to use the dry logs by doing clear-felling. They are burning trees daily, and community dwellers themselves are involved,” says Beyan Woi, the FDA’s deputy regional management officer in Grand Gedeh and Sinoe.
Drone footage of a dying forest in The Neezonnie Community Forest, where deforestation is at an alarming rate. The DayLight/Carlucci Cooper
‘Cocoa money’
Townspeople might be thrilled with their cocoa prospects; however, their farms violate the agreement they signed with the FDA. Under the agreement, Neezonnie cannot clear-cut a forest for agricultural processes.
People here use the failure of a contract between Neezonnie and a logging company to justify their encroachment on the forest. In 2019, the Liberian Hardwood Corporation deserted the contract, abandoning hundreds of logs to decay and failing to deliver on required projects.
Then Neezonnie filed a lawsuit against the company, winning an initial judgment of US$123,332 for damages at a local court. However, in 2021, the Supreme Court overturned the ruling, ordering Liberian Hardwood to vacate the forest.
“We know the forest is for concession, but they are not working. We can’t be sitting down while other towns are getting rich from their forests.
The FDA is in a daily struggle to save the region’s forests. The agency creates awareness, but those efforts have proved unsuccessful. Last year, it arrested 31 Burkinabés at the border between Marbo-1 for encroachment, one of the single-largest apprehensions of the West African migrants. The group was later charged with criminal trespassing and criminal mischief. They deny any wrongdoing.
Neezonnie’s leadership is aware that planting cocoa in the community forest is illegal, but it struggles to prevent intruders. It is the direct opposite of the Bloquia Community Forest, where Sampson Zammie, its leader, works with townspeople there to keep out intruders.
“Our people’s lives are improving, but it will embarrass us in the future. We will not have anywhere to farm in the next five or six years,” says Albert Mohwen, an advisor to Neezonnie’s community forest leadership.
Monjolo acknowledges the negative impacts of cocoa farming, but does not change her stance.
“When we cut down all the trees in the forest,” Manjolo says, “we will buy planks and cement to build our homes from the cocoa money.”
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia.
Top: Isaac Tuker, Chief Officer, Mavasagueh Community Forest, District #2, Grand Bassa County. The DayLight/Emmanuel Sherman
By Emmanuel Sherman
COMPOUND TWO, Grand Bassa County – A community forest’s account has been unfrozen after a bank, allegedly heeding a lawmaker’s request, froze it nearly a year ago.
Last month, the Mavasagueh Community Forest accessed its account at the Liberia Bank for Development and Investment (LBDI) for the first time since it was frozen last March.
“I feel a little relieved,” Isaac Tuker, Mavasagueh’s chief officer, said in an interview in Compound Two, Grand Bassa County. “I am happy that the community account has been opened, so we can do what we are supposed to do as a community.”
Tuker withdrew US$100 from the forest account, based on a receipt of the transaction, to prove that it was operational. The community has set up committees to begin development initiatives, according to Tuker.
The unfreezing of the account followed a community resolution that threatened to stop logging activities in the 26,003-hectare forest.
Last year, the C&C Corporation signed a logging contract with 39 towns and villages of Mavasagueh. However, a few towns and villages claimed they were sidelined, sparking a protest.
It was unclear who authorized the bank to freeze Mavasagueh’s bank account, though.
Clarence Banks, the representative of Grand Bassa’s District Two, and Superintendent Kadyue Johnson intervened in the matter.
Representative Banks alleged that the Tuker and his team had misapplied US$9,500.
Tuker denies any wrongdoing. He claims that the money was used to purchase a motorbike, pay forest guards, and on health matters.
Banks then wrote C&C, asking it to direct all payments to another account.
“I am asking the C&C Corporations to deposit all financial obligations to the affected communities of the Mavasagueh in the following named account with Account# 001USD42205927202 until the investigation is completed,” read the letter.
Deposit slip of US$45,000, to the Mavasagueh Forest Account by C&C, The DayLight/Emmanuel Sherman
As a result, Mavasagueh could not access the US$45,000 C&C Corporation deposited into the account, stalling local development efforts.
Representative Banks did not return interview questions, and LBDI said it could not disclose a customer’s privacy.
“The bank is bound by strict customer confidentiality obligations and, as such, is unable to disclose any information relating to customers’ accounts to a third party,” said Cllr. Regina Elliott, LBDI’s corporate secretary and in-house legal counsel, in reply to a DayLight inquiry.
Regardless, the evidence shows that the account was frozen unlawfully. The Community Rights Regulations, which created community forestry, only empower Tuker to operate the account with the Mavasagueh executive committee’s supervision.
Representative Banks is only a statutory member of the executive committee, which Abraham Sumo, a townsman, chairs.
Lawmakers’ restricted role is a product of forestry reform. It breaks away from the periods before and during the Liberian civil wars, where politicians marginalized local communities and mismanaged forest resources, fueling one of West Africa’s deadliest armed conflicts.
Top: Sampson Zammie, Chief Officer, Bloquia Community Forest, Gbarzon District, Grand Gedeh County. The DayLight/Harry Browne
By Varney Kamara
CHAYEE TOWN, Grand Gedeh –During the Liberian civil war, warring factions fought over forest resources. Sampson Zammie, an ex-combatant, finds himself protecting the very forest he once scrambled for two decades after the conflict ended. However, this time, he has a different foe: cocoa farmers.
Zammie is the leader of the Bloquia Community Forest, who, against all odds, has fought illegal cocoa cultivation. Bloquia measures 43,796 hectares in Grand Gedeh’s Gbarzon District along the Cestos River on the borders with River Gee and Sinoe Counties.
“It’s a bad idea to clear the forest because it is our supermarket, food warehouse, building material and drug store. Whenever our people get sick, we go in there and pick those special traditional leaves and treat them,” says Zammie in an interview with The DayLight in Chayee, his hometown.
“It is our ancestral heritage. We are under an obligation to protect it.”
Thanks to Zammie and local forest guards, Bloquia is the only community forest that has not been cleared for cocoa farms. Burkinabe migrants have encroached upon every forest in Grand Gedeh County. The tally includes eight community forests, several large-scale logging concession areas, and two proposed parks. Backed by their Liberian landlords, the migrants apply chemicals or set fire to the base of trees, gradually transforming virgin woodlands into vast forest graveyards.
Between 2002 and 2024, Liberia lost 390,000 hectares of primary forests, according to the Global Forest Watch, an app that tracks deforestation, utilizing satellite imagery. Grand Gedeh alone lost 59,000 hectares during this time. Last November, London-based Global Witness found a link between the world’s leading chocolate producers and deforestation in Liberia.
The Burkinabes, also known locally as “Mossi,” migrated to the Ivory Coast in the 1930s, becoming a majority of the plantation workforce and boosting that country’s cocoa industry. In search of new cocoa farmland, they began crossing into Liberia in the 2010s by canoe, on foot, and on motorbikes. The Liberia Immigration Service has registered 55,000 Burkinabés in southeastern Liberia, with 48,000 in Grand Gedeh alone.
Locals, including people in the neighboring Neezonnie Community Forest, welcome them with open arms. They see cocoa as an end to years of poverty and underdevelopment. The locals enter agreements with the migrants, wherein they provide the land and the migrants plant and nurture the cocoa.
“I don’t have a problem with the Burkinabés because through them, I have a house today that is worth more than US$17,000,” said Morris Totaye, a Polar Town resident.
“They are very strong, hard-working, and always willing to work. In my mind, they should stay here because they are helping to develop the community.”
Residents of Totaye and Neezonnie cite a failed logging contract as justification for their cocoa activities in their community forest. In 2011, Neezonnie and Bloquia signed a logging contract with A&M Enterprises Inc., owned by Aisha Conneh, the wife of Sekou Conneh, the ex-leader of Liberia United for Reconciliation and Democracy, or LURD. A&M then subcontracted another firm, the Liberia Hardwood Corporation. The contract promised roads, schools and a clinic for residents. However, instead, the contract ended in a fierce legal battle at the Supreme Court in Monrovia.
‘…Never betray my people.’
Zammie and the people in Bloquia are aware of the opportunities that cocoa brings. However, they have chosen legality and heritage over ill-gotten wealth. In forestry, farming in a community forest without the FDA’s authorization is illegal. There are several cases involving the FDA, Burkinabé migrants, and local people.
Zammie has refused several offers to rein him in. In an audio recording of a phone call with Emmanuel Zongo, a spokesperson for the Burkinabé community, Zongo promises Zammie CFA 5 million (US$8,853.13) to plant cocoa in Bloquia. Zammie turned down Zongo’s offer.
“I rejected his offer because it amounted to bribery and corruption,” Zammie says. “I told him that I would be destroying my children’s future if I had accepted his offer, and that would amount to a betrayal of the community’s trust. I can never betray my people.”
Reporters traveled on motorbikes for over five hours, deep into the isolated belly of Grand Gedeh, where the forest thickens, and the road steadily disappears beneath bush and broken earth. A convoy of two motorbikes squealed over fragile wooden bridges and through narrow, mud-slashed paths, tilting dangerously at every bend. There was Zammie.
A soft-spoken, slim, grey-headed man, Zammie joined the Armed Forces of Liberia in 1990 as a private. From 1992 to 2003, he served the disbanded Liberia Peace Council and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia as a battalion commander. After the war, Zammie, now disarmed, returned to Chayee Town, desperate to turn his life around, eager for a fresh start.
Backed by their Liberian landlords, the migrants apply chemicals or set fire to the base of trees, gradually transforming virgin woodlands into vast forest graveyards. The DayLight/Samuel Jabba
His chance came in 2016 when Bloquia, established five years earlier, headed for elections. Zammie contested for the chief officer, the one who runs the daily affairs of a community forest, and won on a white ballot. Liberia had passed the Community Rights Law…, empowering locals to participate in forest governance and share in its benefits.
Zammie uses his wartime experience to organize the community’s forest guards. With Zammie’s oversight, guards regularly deploy across the forest to monitor and remove illegal occupants. His guardianship against encroachment also extends to protecting a 266,910-hectare logging concession adjacent to Bloquia, ravaged by cocoa cultivation.
But like his time as a combatant, leading Bloquia has been a difficult journey for Zammie, who often faces off with encroachers and local authorities.
In 2023, Zammie was removed as chief officer of Bloquia, following a controversial election. However, he was later reinstated after the FDA overturned that election’s outcome, retaining him pending a fresh poll.
Zammie and his guards struggle daily to prevent Burkinabés and their Liberian hosts from illegally occupying the Bloquia forest. At least 30 Burkinabés have been detained and removed from Bloquia by the Zammie-led forest guards, a video shows.
In the video, Zammie can be heard interrogating a group of Burkinabes in Farblor, a village between Bloquia and the large-scale logging concession. Sitting on the ground with folded hands, the men listen to Zammie nervously as he scolds them for encroaching on the community forest.
Zammie also faces threats from Grand Gedeh authorities.
Last April, anti-riot police officers fired at forest guards who had gone to evict illegal occupants. In a video clip of that incident, Zammie is seen presenting ammunition to a local official.
A partial view of Chayee Town in Gbarzon District, Grand Gedeh County. The DayLight/Harry BrowneA partial view of the Bloquia Community Forest, the only community forest in Grand Gedeh without cocoa farms. The DayLight/Harry Browne
Applause
Zammie accuses Alex Grant, the Superintendent of Grand Gedeh County, of masterminding the shooting incident. Now, Zammie travels with dozens of men in a motorbike convoy, as the cocoa crisis in the southeast has resulted in deaths and injuries.
“Grant has always threatened to get rid of me because he said I am standing in his way,” says Zammie. “He wants to take over Bloquia and make it his personal farm.”
Grant did not respond to queries. However, speaking on “Forest Hour” on Okay FM last year, Grant called Zammie “a fugitive.” He called on the police to arrest him “wherever he is found.”
Forestry campaigners have frowned on the constant harassment of Zammie. In a joint press statement last July, they showed solidarity with the Bloquia savior.
“Such threats against a citizen who is acting in the national interest are unacceptable,” says Andrew Zelemen, a forestry campaigner. “We take these allegations seriously and demand a full, impartial investigation. Zammie’s safety must be guaranteed.”
Grant is a major player in Grand Gedeh’s cocoa rush. Last October, Grant signed a 30-year lease agreement with a Burkinabe businessman for 500 acres of ancestral territory in the B’hai District. The deal was later terminated due to several irregularities. Months earlier, Grant had received over CFA 4 million (US$7,111) from B’hai citizens to secure a deed for the same land.
Nevertheless, Zammie’s effort to protect Bloquia Community Forest has been hailed. Beyan Woi, regional management officer for the southeast, is one of his admirers.
“I would like to give it out for the Bloquiah Community Forest. I want to thank Sampson Zammie…,” says Woi. “He is working tirelessly daily and, through him, we don’t have any Burkinabe in that forest.
“Everyone must give him applause for his great work in that area.”
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
Top: A portion of ex-Representative Albert Hills’ abandoned 300 acres of farmland in Quikon after a report found he purchased it illegally. The DayLight/Esau J. Farr
By Esau J. Farr
ROCK CRUSHER – A former lawmaker of Bong County has abandoned a rubber farm after an investigation unearthed that he had illegally acquired the land on which it is planted.
Neither Albert Hills Jr., who served as representative of Bong County District #1 from 2018 to 2024, nor his workers have returned to the 300 acres for over three years, according to locals. This reporter observed the farm covered in bush.
“There is no new cutlass mark on that farm as we speak,” said David Kangar, the chairman of Quikon’s customary land leadership. “The guy he put over the farm has left the farm, and nobody comes there [anymore].”
Hill did not reply to questions and failed to answer calls placed to him.
The 2023 investigation had found that Hills paid an elder an undisclosed fee for the customary land in the Quikon Clan of Kokoyah District. The purchase violated the Land Rights Act, which prohibits such a deal until 2068.
The land in question is part of approximately 25,000 hectares for which Quikon is on the verge of getting a customary land deed. The Liberia Land Authority surveyed the land, confirming the clan’s landmass.
Asked what the community would do if Hills came back for the land, Kangar gave a firm response: “The community is going to take the land.”
