Top: The headquarters of the Forestry Development Authority in Whein Town, Paynesville. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
By Esau J. Farr
MONROVIA – A logging company cut numerous trees outside its authorized area in a Nimba community forest, according to an unpublished, official report, seen by the newspaper.
The June report found that Westwood Corporation harvested an unspecified number of logs outside the Gba Community Forest in the Sanniquillie-Mahn District. Forestry Development Authority (FDA) investigators found that Westwood worked 4 kilometers outside the 450-acre forestland, confirming a DayLight investigation. The newspaper had utilized satellite imagery to establish the illicit activities following an initial probe that raised plenty of legal questions.
“All the harvested logs were felled elsewhere without any traceability,” the report read. Samuel Cooper, Westwood’s manager, did not respond to questions for comment on the report.
The FDA initiated the investigation after receiving a tip from SGS, an independent verifier, which was concerned about the quantity of logs coming from the plot. Investigators found Westwood harvested in Gba’s conservation area, a regional biodiversity hotspot. Gba is adjacent to the East Nimba Nature Reserve, part of the Nimba Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
“Their felling was scattered,” the report said, “under the pretense of constructing an alternative road.”
It was unclear how many logs Westwood harvested. However, the report put the total logs in one location as 1,135 (5,694 cubic meters), valued US$127,729. Westwood exported 216 logs (921 cubic meters) in March to Italy when the scam had not been discovered.
A drone shot of Westwood Corporation’s illegal logging activities in the Gba Community Forest in Nimba County. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
The report urged the FDA to halt Westwood’s operations and punish the company for “economic sabotage.” Westwood had signed an agreement with Gba to clear-cut the 450 acres for an ArcelorMittal Liberia waste plant.
Westwood faces a fine of three times the value of the logs it harvested, and logs it has already exported in line with the Regulation on Confiscated Logs, Timber, and Timber Products. The penalties also include a six-month imprisonment, or a fine and a prison term.
The report urged the FDA to confiscate and auction Westwood’s unsold logs as the regulation requires.
Additionally, FDA investigators found that Gba’s leadership was “complicit” in the underhanded operations. “During the investigation, it was discovered that the [leadership] had full knowledge of Westwood’s illegal actions,” the report added.
Nyan Flomo, a Gba leader who is familiar with the operations, said he was still reviewing the report. The DayLight caught up with Augustine Suah, Gba’s leader, at an event in Congo Town, but he declined an interview.
The report said Aaron Nyenebo, a ranger assigned to that region, and an unnamed FDA staffer, “condoned” Westwood’s illegal activities. Investigators are calling for a further probe and a possible dismissal due to the scale of the illicit harvesting. The report quoted Nyenebo, the accused ranger, as alleging that the FDA management in Monrovia was aware that the harvesting was outside of the legal location.
Efforts to contact Nyenebo for his side of the story did not materialize, as he did not answer phone calls. The DayLight will update this story once it contacts him.
Investigators also urged the FDA to take administrative actions against Gba’s leadership over its role.
Though submitted on June 20, the FDA has yet to publish, mention, or act on the report. Managing Director Rudolph Merab did not respond to email queries regarding what is perhaps the biggest forestry crime committed during his administration.
This is a Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia production.
Top: The stump of a tree Westwood Corporation harvested outside a 450-acre authorized area in the Gba Community Forest, based on satellite imagery. The evidence also established that the firm even harvested outside the community forest. The DayLight/James Flomo
By Esau Farr and James Flomo
SEHYI-GEH – Earlier this year, Westwood Corporation, a firm with no known logging experience, harvested timber outside its authorized area in the Gba Community Forest in Nimba’s Yarmein and Sanniquillie-Mahn Districts, a DayLight investigation has found.
In 2016, ArcelorMittal Liberia signed an MoU with Gba, giving the community US$150,000 to clear 450 acres of rocky forestland to construct a mine waste plant. However, Gba misapplied the money and turned to loggers to do the job multiple times in eight years.
Those efforts failed until this January this year, when Gba signed the agreement with West Wood, known for roadworks. The agreement included logs that previous companies had abandoned in the 11,538-hectare forest.
Westwood soon began the felling, and exported 216 logs (921.124 cubic meters) in two March shipments, according to the FDA’s records. An initial DayLight investigation found that the exports were illegal in several ways. The logs had been harvested under an agreement that did not match a legal forestry contract. The logs were exported to Europe despite not being from a legal source, violating Liberia’s timber trade agreement with the European Union.
But this investigation established that things were a lot worse. Geolocations of tree stumps with Westwood tags show the company harvested outside the designated area, apparently targeting expensive, first-class timber. Reporters photographed a dirt road that the company paved inside the forest to access the logs.
Using official dataset and geolocation technology, The DayLight used coordinates fitted into pictures taken of stumps of trees Westwood harvested to draw a map, exposing the illegal harvest.
It was unclear how many logs were illegally harvested. However, DayLight estimated 250 first-class logs in the Makingo Town. Their species—ekki and niangon—matched those Westwood exported in March.
It is unclear how many logs were harvested outside a 450-acre designated area in the Gba Community Forest. Picture credit: Anonymous
Westwood’s activities were an open secret. Three DayLight visits found that people and the Gba leadership were aware of the illegal harvest.
“They went to Gbarpa, where they did not send them, felled logs and carried them,” said Paul Gahnto, Sehyi-Geh Town’s assistant youth chairman.
The illegal harvesting adds to Nimba’s deforestation. Between 2002 and 2024, Nimba recorded 393,000 hectares of tree cover loss, second only to Bong (434,000 hectares), according to Global Forest Watch, which tracks countries’ deforestation. A tree cover is any vegetation that is at least three meters high.
World Heritage Site
The illegal harvest is counterproductive to a region known internationally for conservation.
Gba and its neighbors—Blei, Sehyi Ko-doo and Zor—serve as a buffer with East Nimba Reserve, a part of the Nimba Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, running through Guinea and the Ivory Coast. The region is home to the Nimba flycatcher, the Nimba toad and other endangered and common species.
Based on the region’s importance, Gba and the other communities have an agreement with the Liberian government and ArcelorMittal to protect the forest there. As part of the agreement, the steel giant supports the communities’ conservation programs, including a monthly stipend for forest guards and tree planting.
Gba, in particular, has also received support for its conservation from other institutions. It had been established by a USAID project and continued to receive support from the United States Forest Service. Since 2023, Social Entrepreneurs for Development (SESDev) has worked with Gba’s leadership to strengthen its governance mechanism.
Westwood adds to the list of companies Gba has contracted to clear the controversial 450 acres. In 2016, LTTC Thanry signed a contract with Gba but did not deliver. Later in 2021, Six S International entered the picture, but, like LTTC Thanry, it failed.
A map utilizing satellite imagery shows areas affected by the illegal harvest outside the Gba Community ForestRudolph Merab’s letter approving Westwood’s harvest in the Gba Community Forest, bypassing forestry regulations
Before those deals, Gba was among several community forests whose status the FDA’s board canceled in 2014 for errors. The agency had mistakenly combined Gba with Zor and had to be split into two community forests.
‘Hereby granted’
The Forestry Development Authority played a part in the illegal harvest. Managing Director Rudolph Merab ignored legal requirements and authorized West Wood.
In normal logging practices, the FDA counts and marks trees in a mapped area before harvest. Then, there are FDA fieldworkers who monitor the process and verify the legality of the log before export.
In Gba’s case, a warning letter replaced that rule, even though more crucial, given the nature of the harvest.
“You are obligated to ensure your operations comply with the legal framework,” wrote Merab. “You are required to tag all standing trees.
“You are hereby granted approval to commence operation in the Gba Community Forest.”
Interestingly, Merab lowered the bar Mike Doryen, his immediate predecessor, had set for Gba. Doryen, whose administration was characterized by forestry offenses, ensured that previous companies obeyed the rules.
Rules aside, the FDA did not verify West Wood’s legal documents before approving its operations in Gba. The company’s article of incorporation does not list its shareholders. The document has only two articles in the legal documents: I and III. This violates the Beneficial Ownership Regulation, which mandates businesses to name the people who own them.
Westwood’s illegal article of incorporation
That rule does not only apply when registering a business. It is also a forestry requirement. The Regulation on Bidder Qualifications requires a company’s owners or “significant individuals” to be scrutinized. It curtails conflicts of interest involving public officials and prevents forest resources from being placed into the hands of broke or dishonest individuals.
The FDA and Samuel Cooper, owner of Westwood, did not respond to requests for comments.
The Forestry Development Authority investigated the harvest following the initial DayLight publication, but has not released any report months on. Logging outside an authorized area is a crime, punishable by a fine, imprisonment and penalties.
Nyan Flomo, a Gba leader, fears locals will bear the brunt of West Wood’s actions. Flomo now runs Gba’s affairs due to the death of Samuel Johnson, Gba’s leadership head, in March.
“What we heard is that the FDA will investigate, declare the logs abandoned, auction [them] and give the community its benefits,” said Flomo, who initially supported Westwood and was critical of The DayLight investigation. “We are still looking up to the FDA to give us the [official] outcomes of the investigation they carried out.”
The story was produced by the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists (CoFEJ).
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
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.
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.”
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.”
Top: Eva Kpandah, Palama Clan’s community land and development committee chairperson. The DayLight/Harry Browne
By Esau J. Farr
SALAYEA TOWN, Lofa County – In 2019, the Sehyi Clan in Sanniquellie-Mahn District, Nimba County began the legal process of acquiring a customary land deed. Sehyi’s community land development and management committee spearheads that process.
Another clan group has exercised similar functions over Sehyi’s forest since 2017. The Sehyi Ko-doo Community Forest’s community forest management body comanages the 1,538-hectare forest alongside the Forestry Development Authority (FDA).
There is a problem, though. The forest leadership does not have a good relationship with its land counterpart. Like several communities, they are at loggerheads, with mounting calls for a national conversation to resolve these disputes.
But things are different in the Salayea District of Lofa County over 200 miles away. There, three—not two—community land and forest bodies, peacefully coexist and solve some of the district’s problems.
Since 2009, the district has had a community forest development committee, representing locals’ interests in a large-scale logging concession.
In 2016, the Salayea Community Forest was established, with a community leadership to co-manage the forest.
Then in 2019, Palama, a clan that hosts a portion of the Salayea Community Forest, established a governance structure to help develop and manage its land.
“If we don’t merge and work together, things will not work well for us,” says Yassah Mulbah, the chief officer of the Salayea Community Forest.
“We are working together as a team for a goal to protect the forest, to take it from illegal activities for the community’s development,” adds Eva Kpandah, the chairperson of Palama Clan’s land committee.
All three of the district’s bodies combat community challenges, including land conflicts and illegal mining activities.
A portion of the 8,270-hectare Salayea Community Forest in Lofa County. The DayLight/Harry Browne
In May, Kpandah tipped off Mulbah when she spotted miners entering the forest. Kpandah and Tokpah Koiwu supported Mulbah in filing a lawsuit against the miners. Koiwu is a member of Salayea District’s committee regarding the district’s large-scale logging concession.
In another instance, Mulbah and Koiwu are supporting Kpandah in Palama’s boundary dispute with Gbarlain, a neighboring clan.
‘Not invited’
In Sehyi, the stakes are even higher. Like Salayea, its forest and those of its neighbors Zor, Gba and Blei are all adjacent to the East Nimba Nature Reserve. The four communities run conservation programs that help protect the reserve’s endangered and endemic species, including chimpanzees and the Nimba toad. However, confusion among community leaders undermines livelihood programs that benefit locals and keep the forest standing.
Yassah Mulbah speaks to The DayLight at the margins of the National Land Conference in September 2024. The DayLight/Harry Browne
“The [community forest] leadership said… they can’t accept to collaborate with us,” says Peter Dolo, Sehyi’s land leadership. “When they are having meetings, [we are] not invited.”
Ericson Flomo, the leader of Sehyi’s forest leadership, denies that accusation. “They have not called us in any of their meetings,” Flomo says. He claims he is the one who has invited Dolo to several meetings.
Dolo refutes Flomo’s comments, saying he has attended Flomo’s meetings as a townsperson, not the land leader.
This crisis has rocked communities outside of Nimba. In River Cess, the leaders of Gbarsaw and Dorbor Community Forest have refused to recognize land leaders of the clan. “They are only there to take care of the land after the loggers have left. They have no authority over the forest,” James Gbordoe, the forest leader of Gbarsaw and Dorbor, said in 2021. “When the logs have been cut from there, they will have the whole land to take care of.”
The intensity of the crisis was displayed at a workshop in Ganta last month. Things got so heated that Silas Siakor, the Country Manager of Dutch NGO IDH, who helped organize the event, had to suspend the topic after a discord of claims and counterclaims from participants. The event was being held to gauge communities’ views on what they would need to manage their forest sustainably.
‘Forerunner’
Campaigners foretold this result. A few months after the passage of the Land Rights Act in 2018, the Margibi-based NGO Sustainable Development Institute published a report, predicting the power struggle.
(R-L) Peter Dolo, the chairman of Sehyi Clan’s community land development and management committee (CLDMC), and Ericson Flomo, the chief officer of Sehyi Ko-doo Community Forest. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
The report argues that “conflicting provisions” in the law, which created the community land leadership, and Community Rights Law…, which established the forest leadership, would escalate tension.
“Our thinking is the crisis will increase because part of the reasons the law was crafted was to address issues of rural marginalization in respect to managing resources in the country but also conflicting, overlapping rights,” Ali Kaba, the then-head of SDI’s community land protection program, said at the time.
“It is a good law. However, there are loopholes, there are gaps and there are contradictions,” added Kaba, who is now a Commissioner at the Liberia Land Authority.
Speaking in 2021 at a conservation event in Monrovia, Cllr. Negbalee Warner, a senior partner at Heritage Partners and Associates (HPA) and one of the laws’ crafters, somehow acknowledged the “overlap” SDI spoke of.
“If there is anything, it is that the provisions of the two laws are in some instances [overlapped], although an argument can be made that the more appropriate term will be ‘reinforcing,’” said Warner. “The [land leadership] is therefore superior to all the structures established by the [Community Rights Law].”
‘Confusion will do nothing’
Bonathan Walaka, the lead facilitator of the National Union of Community Forest Management Body, says that understanding the roles and responsibilities of the two groups is crucial for progress.
The union intends to hold a forum with national stakeholders of the sectors to help ease the tension between community leaders. “The [forest leadership] should know that those who own the land are the community [people] and that they are only managing the forest,” Walaka says.
Augustine Dweh, the chairperson of a network of community land managers, agrees with Walaka, saying education and awareness are crucial to the solution.
An elevated view of the Sehyi Ko-doo Community Forest in Nimba County. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
The same goes for Eddie Beangar, Nimba County’s Land Administrator. “Having both them to understand their roles and to ensure that their involvement impacts the environment positively,” says Beangar.
Back in Sehyi, Dolo and Flomo are willing to work together. Dolo promises to invite Flomo and his team to an impending meeting, hoping to pave the way for a renewed, smooth relationship. The same goes for Flomo
“[Anything] that is better for Sehyi, Sehyi Ko-doo will accept, Flomo tells The DayLight in an interview at an entrance of the mountainous forest. “Confusion will do nothing for us.”
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.
Top: One of several sewage lines ArcelorMittal uses to dump feces in a wetland used by local farmers. The DayLight/Franklin Nehyalor
By Franklin Nehyalor
YEKEPA, Nimba County – ArcelorMittal Liberia (AML) has not completed an Environmental Protection Agency recommendation to restore a wetland the company degraded and polluted in Yekepa, according to an EPA report.
The steel company was mandated to reinstate 9.33 acres of wetland that it polluted with human feces, according to the report published in March this year but recently obtained by The DayLight.
The EPA investigation was commissioned after residents of Area Q, S1, and Liagbala—three communities mainly affected by the pollution—erected a roadblock in February this year for “the constant habit of (AML) dumping employees’ feces into their communities.”
The investigation corroborated the communities’ accusation. It found that the company’s sewage plant had contaminated groundwater in the area after two tests.
“The result of the analysis shows that iron, phosphate and e-coli were above permissible limits in both ground waters samples,” the EPA report said. E. coli for the Escherichia coli bacterium, iron and phosphate in water cause diarrhea, stomach cramps, occasional fever for people, and low dissolved oxygen for fish.
ArcelorMittal dumps human feces into a wetland in Yekepa, Nimba County, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The DayLight/Franklin Nehyalor
ArcelorMittal continues to violate EPA’s orders.
On April 17, 2024, about a month after the report, police arrested an ArcelorMittal tanker transporting 7,200 gallons of feces from Buchanan, Grand Bassa County to Yekepa, Nimba County.
In a statement seen by The DayLight, Prince Moore, AML’s tanker driver, told police that he was dispatched on April 16 to collect sewage waste from Buchanan to Yekepa by the transport office of ArcelorMittal.
But the EPA, the government agency that authorizes the transport of hazardous wastes or substances in or out of Liberia, said it was unaware of the transport. “The EPA did not give AML any permit to transfer sewage waste from Buchanan to Yekepa,” Danise Dodoo, EPA’s head of media and corporate communications, said in an email reply.
ArcelorMital’s failure to obtain approval to transport the sewage waste violates the Environmental Protection and Management Law of Liberia, punishable by a fine of not more than US$50,000 or imprisonment for a period not exceeding 20 years, or both.
The headquarters of the Environmental Protection Agency of Liberia(EPA). The DayLight/Mark Newa.
The EPA March 6 report was the second of two assessments by the agency regarding ArcelorMittal’s degradation of biodiversity in Nimba. In June 2022, an EPA assessment found the steel company guilty of environmental pollution and soil degradation in three communities in Yekepa after Nimba Mom-Waa, a local advocacy group that represents the affected communities, filed a complaint with the agency. The group had identified alleged environmental pollution and soil degradation and asked the EPA to investigate the matter.
After a thorough assessment, the EPA imposed a four-part fine on ArcelorMittal, totaling US$110,000 for breaking Liberia’s environmental laws.
The 2022 report also outlined six recommendations that should have been completed, including providing compensation packages to all farmers for damages caused to crops, alternative livelihoods for farmers using the polluted portion of the wetland and repair to damaged sewage lines. The recommendations included the construction of a water treatment plant and the provision of at least one treated drinking water source in each of the three affected communities.
But Alex Paye, the executive director of Nimba Mon-Waa, told this paper that the water treatment plant is nonfunctional and AML is yet to provide treated water units in the affected communities.
“The company still buys minerals [water] from an Indian company for its employees while our people suffer,” he said.
Restoration of the wetland should have been completed in a hundred days and the repair of broken sewage pipes from residential and office buildings hosting the company and its workers, in 60 days.
A septic tank that AML uses to dispose of feces in a nearby wetland with tree crops. TheDayLight/Franklin Nehyalor
The March recommendation also included the construction of water treatment units for communities in sixty days, as of the date of the release of the March 6, 2024 report.
Friday, June 21, 2024, makes the count exactly 105 days since the recommendations.
Winston Daryoue, AML’s Communication Manager, said the company is making efforts to address these issues.
“ArcelorMittal Liberia is in conversation with local community members to address their queries in relation to the restoration of the wetland,” Winston wrote via email.
“We are presently carrying out the tendering process to hire a vendor for the construction of two solar water kiosks at Areas Q and S. Construction work will commence in due course.”
ArcelorMittal has implemented some of the recommendations. It paid US$16,583.53 to compensate 25 farmers whose crops were damaged by the pollution. It has also introduced alternative livelihood for those affected by the pollution and contracted a company to repair and maintain its sewage lines.
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
Top: A West Water skidder in District Three B&C Community Forest in Grand Bassa County. The DayLight/Philip Quwebin
By Emmanuel Sherman and Gerald Koinyeneh
Editor’s Note: This is the third part of a series on the Forestry Development Authority’s approval of illegal timber exports.
TONWEIN, Nimba and GAYEPUEWHOE, Grand Bassa – The Forestry Development Authority (FDA) authorized a company to cut thousands of logs. However, it did not execute its social agreement with communities, violating a harvesting regulation.
West Water Group (Liberia) Inc. has operated in Blinlon and District Three B&C Community Forests in Nimba and Grand Basaa, respectively. During this time, it harvested 2,782 logs (20,095 cubic meters), according to the FDA.
But West Water has completed just a few out of dozens of mandatory projects for the communities, a DayLight investigation found.
“We will make sure they do that. I just want our people to be patient because these projects have been overdue,” said Eric Dahn, a leader of Blinlon’s community forest leadership.
“So, if it causes us to stop the company from operating until they fulfill all the promises, we will do it,” Dahn added.
This investigation adds to another published earlier this month, which found the FDA violated a payment regulation by approving West Water’s exports amid its indebtedness to the communities. Both payment and harvesting regulations empower local communities to benefit from forest resources.
The villagers’ plight had been thrust into the spotlight after an initial DayLight investigation found the FDA approved the export of West Water’s illegally harvested timber in District Three B&C.
West Water did not respond to questions for comment.
Failed promises
In 2020, West Water, a Chinese-owned company, signed a 15-year contract with Blinlon Community Forest for its 39,409 hectares of forestland in the Yarweh-Mehnsonneh District near the Nimba- River Cess border.
A West Water camp in Tonwein, Nimba County. The DayLight/Gerald Koinyeneh
The company promised the villagers a series of projects across Blinlon including a school, clinic, handpumps, roads and concrete bridges.
Nearly four years on, West Water has only done two out of 14 handpumps and has just started paving mandatory roads, which should have happened at the beginning of the contract. It has not done the school and clinic, which should have commenced in 2021, according to the contract.
The company only jumpstarted the roads after townspeople protested, blocking its workers from entering the forest in March. Both parties later resolved on March 5 to end hostilities.
“We will make sure they fulfill all the promises,” added Dahn.
Protest and Interference
The tension in District Three B&C Community Forest in Grand Bassa is higher. It mirrors a string of controversies, which have marred the community since it obtained community forest status in 2014. (communities own forestlands but must complete legal requirements to sign logging contracts)
At that time, the community forest contracted Renew Forestry Group to operate its 49,728 hectares of forest on the border of Grand Bassa, River Cess and Nimba.
However, a conflict erupted. The forest leadership recognized Renew Forestry Group, while the local and county authorities sided with West Water.
Then in 2021, West Water signed a 15-year contract with District Three B&C Community Forest of 24,175 hectares of woodland. The company promised to build roads, concrete bridges, a clinic, a school, market tables, town halls and hand pumps.
Like its Blinlon contract, West Water has not lived up to its contract with District Three B&C. It has completed just one out of eight hand pumps, while villagers drink from polluted creeks. Three years into the agreement, it has not done the major roads, bridges, clinics, town halls and market tables. According to the contract, most of these projects should have been completed in two years.
“West Water is not doing anything good for us,” Alex Bonwin, a member of the community leadership said. “If the company is not doing what they’re supposed to do we revoke their document to get out.”
West Water’s failure to honor the contract has led to tension, with three protests already this year. In the latest one, which occurred last week, townspeople stopped seven log-loaded trucks from leaving the community.
Alfred Flomo, the representative of Grand Bassa Electoral District Four, where the community forest lies, interferes in the matter.
Gayepuewhoe Town is one of 14 communities that own the District Three B&C Community Forest. The DayLight/Emmanuel Sherman
In a May 12 meeting, Flomo asked the company to stay off the forest until it addressed issues the villagers raised, according to the meeting’s minutes seen by The Daylight. That was the second time he had taken such action.
Under the community forest law, lawmakers are members of the community assembly, the highest decision-maker, and the executive committee. However, they cannot unilaterally halt a company’s operations.
Flomo and the townspeople’s actions also violate the contract between West Water and the community. Both parties agreed to settle their dispute between themselves or through an arbitration procedure. Flomo did not reply to The DayLight’s emails and text messages for an interview.
The FDA did not respond to queries for comment on this story. However, in a recent interview, Director Rudolph Merab told the Associated Press he would work to scale back regulations. Those comments echoed ones he made during his induction in February, saying forestry reformers created laws “that cannot work.”
[Additional reporting by Philip Quwebin and Derick Snyder]
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
Top: In one of his first acts after being appointed Managing Director of the Forestry Development Authority, Rudolph Merab signed an illegal export of 797 logs for West Water Group (Liberia) Inc. The DayLight/Harry Browne
By James Harding Giahyue
Editor’s Note: This is the first part of a series on the Forestry Development Authority’s approval of illegal timber exports.
MONROVIA – The Forestry Development Authority (FDA) approved the export of 797 logs, valued at an estimated US$923,441, despite being aware that over half of the timber had been illegally harvested. The illegal shipment was one of the first acts of Managing Director Rudolph Merab—a serial logging offender—since he became the unlikely head of the forestry regulator.
The export permit and a National Port Authority reconciliation report show that West Water Group (Liberia) Inc., which operates in Grand Bassa and Nimba Counties, owns the shipment. Merab had approved the export barely two weeks after his appointment in February, according to the permit.
The 4,702.679 cubic meters of logs were loaded onto M/V Tropical Star, a ship flying under the Malaysian flag. The vessel departed the Port of Buchanan on March 16 bound for China. Marine Traffic, which provides information on the movement of ships, reports that the ship is due in China on May 16. Wenzhou Timber Group Co. Ltd, the Chinese state-owned firm that deals in timber and other trades, bought the consignment, according to the permit.
But an analysis of the consignment FDA’s computer system generated by, obtained by The DayLight, identified 401 logs, or 50.3 percent of the consignment as illegal logs. The LiberTrace system tracks logs from their origin to their final destination. Programmed automatically to flag noncompliance, it is a crucial part of forestry reform following years of corruption and mismanagement. SGS, a Swiss verification firm, created LiberTrace in 2014 and turned it over to the FDA five years later.
This pie chart analyzing West Water’s illegal timber export that was approved by the Forestry Development Authority (FDA)
A document from the FDA’s legality verification department (LVD) provides a peep into how Merab approved the export. It reveals Gertrude Nyaley, the Deputy Managing Director for Operations, who headed LVD at the time, endorsed the export.
“[Managing Director Merab], please approve [West Water’s export permit] as per the analysis and payment made,” Nyaley wrote to Merab.
Nyaley appeared to have skipped the red flags LiberTrace raised. “Out of the 797 logs, 50 percent are traceable with red label because of diameter [issues]. Two percent is also traceable relating to species. And 48 percent over tolerance,” Nyaley added.
On the contrary, the analysis shows that the FDA had not authorized the harvest of some of the logs. Others were either immature, originated from different sources or had other issues, violating several forestry statutes.
‘Vulnerable’
The FDA had not approved the harvesting of 180 of the 401 problematic logs, according to the Liber Trace analysis.
Of that 180, 160 logs were ekki wood (Lophira alata) that did not meet the legal diameter ekki wood is listed as “vulnerable” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a UN-recognized body that promotes sustainable use of natural resources. The DayLight manually verified the permit that details each of the logs exported. Some even measured 60 centimeters, 20 centimeters less than the required dimension, known in forestry as the diameter cut limit.
No penalties
Approving the West Water shipment shows Merab, an outspoken critic of forestry regulations, ignored various legal frameworks, and the violations LiberTrace flagged. The main function of LiberTrace is to keep illegal logs from the FDA’s chain of custody system, which covers everything from harvest to export. That, in turn, rids national and international markets of illegal timber and timber products.
Unauthorized harvesting, cutting smaller trees, and false declaration of tree species all carry a fine or a penalty. Unauthorized harvesting, for instance, carries a fine of twice the value of the species of logs unauthorizedly felled, under the Regulation on Confiscated Logs, Timber and Timber Products. Mr. Huiwen, West Water’s owner, did not respond to email and WhatsApp queries for comments.
The Forestry Development Authority authorized the export of 797 logs for a company called West Water barely two weeks after Rudolph Merab was appointed Managing Director of the FDA.A screengrab of LiberTrace’s analysis of, yellow-highlighting problematic logs in West Water’s consignment
SGS, which comanages LiberTrace alongside the FDA, reviewed the permit but did not disapprove it.
Theodore Aime Nna, SGS’ forestry project manager, did not return questions for comments on this story. Nna said he was “not currently around” and would be available in 18 days for an interview. Nna, who took a swipe at The DayLight in two immediate emails, did not reply to the newspaper even 21 days thereafter.
‘Major traceability errors’
In his response to The DayLight’s queries on Wednesday, Merab said the red flags LiberTrace raised did not “automatically point to traceability or legality issues,” and were, in fact, “normal occurrences.”
A West Water camp in Nimba County. The DayLight/Gerald Koinyeneh
Merab said the 12 logs that were different from the one declared during inventory might have been mistaken. “The logs recorded in that specific export permit are consistent with the approved physical logs,” he said, without any evidence.
On undersized logs, Merab suggested that the logs LiberTrace red-flagged in this category were based on tree inventory data, not the ones that were felled or in West Water’s log yard.
This likely mix-up is commonplace in forestry. However, the details of the logs on the export permit do not support Merab’s explanation. The document repeats the very things LiberTrace identified as a warning or an error. If the log data had been verified as Merab claimed, the changes would have been reflected on the permit’s spec.
Merab offered another broad, textbook justification for the ekki logs LiberTrace picked up as immature.
“This happens because logs have a conic shape with a bottom diameter higher than the top diameter. In the case of a crosscut of that log, the diameter and the length will reduce mainly at the top part of the initial log. Again, these are normal occurrences,” he said.
What Merab referenced is called the diameter at breast height cutting limit or DCL in the Guidelines for Forestry Management Planning. But it only measures a standing tree’s trunk or the tree butt end, not the top end or a crosscut log. It is measured at the height of an adult’s breasts.
Merab sidestepped the question regarding the FDA’s disapproval of the felling of a significant amount of West Water’s logs.
A screenshot from LiberTrace detailing the history of the status of West Water’s 797 logs
But, remarkably, The DayLight obtained a LiberTrace screenshot detailing the history of the status of the export permit. It reveals that the FDA approved the export permit less than 48 hours after LiberTrace identified the “major traceability errors.” For an agency perennially plagued by financial, logistical and manpower constraints, that was too short a time to correct hundreds of legality issues surrounding the consignment.
A Serial Forestry Offender
The West Water illegal export has added to Merab’s profile as a serial forestry offender.
His last known illegality was his participation in the infamous Private Use Permit Scandal in which his company Bopolu Development Corporation (BODECO) was illegally awarded 90,527 hectares of forest in Gbarpolu in the 2010s.
Before that, Merab traded “blood timber” alongside former President Charles Taylor, which fueled death and destruction in the Mano River basin between the 1990s and early 2000s, according to British NGO Global Witness.
The Regulation on Bidder Qualifications partially debars Merab and other wartime loggers from conducting forestry activities in Liberia, except if they meet special requirements. It, however, is unclear whether the regulation blocks Merab from heading the FDA.
[Gerald Koinyeneh of FrontPage Africa and our editor-at-large Emmanuel Sherman contributed to this report]
To get the estimated value of logs, The DayLight multiplied the total volume of each species of logs in the consignment by the FDA-approved price and summed up the products.
