Top: An earthmover at work in Belleh Yalla, Gbarpolu County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

By Varney Kamara

SALAYEA TOWN Lofa County – In early June, villagers seized a team of miners and their equipment for operating in the Salayea Community Forest without their consent and sued them.

A week later, the Salayea Magisterial Court dismissed the case because the miners had a valid license. It advised the Ministry of Mines and Energy and the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) to settle the matter administratively.  

Salayea is the latest community forest for which the Ministry of Mines has issued a license without landowning communities’ participation. This practice abuses communities’ rights, undermines their efforts to manage forests, and leads to forest degradation.  From 2002, Liberia lost 347,000 hectares of primary forest, with 20,000 hectares in Lofa County last year alone, according to the Global Forest Watch, an online platform that monitors forests worldwide.

“What is happening in the community is bad because they are damaging the forest that we are fighting to protect for our children and the future generation,” says Yassah Mulbah, the chief officer of the 8,270-hectare forest, one of a few conservation community forests countrywide. Home to important plants and animal species, Salayea received a community forest status in 2019.

“We are not happy because they are still destroying our forests, cutting down trees, and spoiling rivers and creeks because of gold-digging business,” adds Mulbah.

The Community Rights Law of 2009 with Respect to Forest Lands, empowers rural people, who were marginalized for decades. The law empowers residents to share benefits and managerial responsibilities with the FDA.  

On the other hand, mining is a cornerstone of Liberia’s economy, with significant contributions to GDP and revenue. Last year, mining contributed $665.4 million to Liberia’s GDP and was a primary driver of economic growth along with construction, according to the World Bank. Continued growth of 5.3 percent is projected for 2024 and an average of 5.6 percent between 2024 and 2025, spurred by mining and structural reforms.

Lawsuits

Mining in community forests has led to several lawsuits countrywide in the last five years. Two cases ended with fines against the miners,  while the other was withdrawn, giving the miners a clean slate.

In the first case, Korninga B Community Forest in Gbarpolu, 100 kilometers west of Salayea, locals sued Bea Mountain company for unauthorized entry into the community forest. They accused the company of cutting and destroying 2,800 logs while exploring for gold.

Later, the 16th Judicial Circuit Court in Bopolu found the Turkish-owned company liable and ordered it to pay over US$1.3 million in special damages and an additional US$3 million in general damages. The company eventually paid the community US$200,000 in an out-of-court settlement.

The second case is the most infamous. In 2019, the Ministry of Mines and Energy granted Solway Mining Inc. an exploration license for patches of forest in Blei and Sehyi Ko-doo Community Forests without the communities’ consent. So, locals filed a lawsuit. Subsequently, Solway paid the communities a US$3,000 fine after a local court ruled its entry into the rocky woodlands unauthorized. However, Solway went on to sign an agreement with the two communities for its exploration activities.

The third case happened earlier this year, just before Salayea.  Bondi Mandingo Authorized Community Forest in Gbarpolu filed a $500,000 lawsuit against Harming Mining Group of Companies. The community accused the company of cutting trees, digging large pits polluting water sources and establishing a camp protected by armed police.

Backed by chiefs and elders, the company purchased small-scale mining licenses the Ministry of Mines had awarded unknown to the community forest’s leadership. In the end, the community flipped and consented to the company’s operations.

Uncoordinated agencies

The cases expose the lack of coordination between the Ministry of Mines and the FDA, corruption other issues, forestry campaigners say.

A 2018 USAID report established that the Ministry of Mines weakened local forest management by authorizing mining in community forests without consulting local people and the FDA.

A 2021 Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (CENTAL) report highlighted weak coordination between the government offices in awarding semi-industrial-scale and small-scale mining licenses.

It found no redress mechanism for dissatisfied townspeople, except the courts, and that citizens’ participation in mining was low.

“In some areas, the FDA and Ministry of Mines and Energy lack the resources or capacity to enforce rules effectively,” says Dayugar Johnson, the lead campaigner at Civil Society Independent Forest Monitors.

“This leaves community forests and… protected areas vulnerable to unauthorized mining activities…” Johnson thinks corruption, high demands for minerals, limited awareness of the law and lack of alternative livelihood are a part of the problem.

Based on past and present mining authorities’ comments, there is more to the issue than the lack of coordination. It is also about the abuse of communities’ rights to forestlands.

In a 2020 interview, then-Assistant Minister for Exploration Rexford Sartuh disclosed that the Ministry of Mines did not recognize community forests. “They have their right to their land but when it comes to the issuance of mineral rights in Liberia, we don’t consider them. They believe that we should ask them before we issue [licenses]. We should not,” Sartuh said in the interview.

Sartuh’s view is the same as current Minister Wilmot Paye. In a WhatsApp chat with The DayLight, Paye suggested that the mining law was superior to forestry laws and regulations.

“Your query should further focus on what the Minerals and Mining Law of 2000 says,” Paye texted, and did not say anything else.   

Paye’s comments contradict the facts. Though the mining law does not recognize communities’ rights—it is Liberia’s oldest extractive law—the Community Rights Law and the Land Rights Act of 2018 do. Both forestry instruments grant locals the right to consent and ownership of forestlands. The land law’s respect for community ownership is regarded as a landmark achievement in Liberia’s history.

Drafters of a new mining law, a draft seen by The DayLight, are proposing full recognition of all forestry and land laws and regulations.  

‘Dissatisfied’

The FDA Managing Director Rudolph Merab did not respond to queries. However, Merab’s predecessor, Mike Doryen, criticized the Solway deal in 2020.

“We are disappointed in the way the Ministry of Mines and Energy handled things,” said Doryen at the time. “We think it has the propensity of discouraging our donors from making any more investments in the conservation area of our country.”

Doryen’s comments were a reference to a fallout of Solway’s exploration in Blei and Sehyi Ko-doo.

The two conservation community forests are adjacent to the East Nimba Nature Reserve, a biodiversity hub home to the endangered Western Chimpanzee and the endemic Nimba toad. Both steep community forests and two others—Gba and Zor—receive support from ArcelorMittal Liberia and USAID.

Meanwhile, the situation in Salayea is not over. The court removed its stay order on the miners’ operations, leaving the community reeling.

Mulbah and co have decided to sue the miners at another court after consulting the FDA, which she says pledges to support Salayea.

“The community is frustrated, and people want to protest, but we urge patience as we seek help to protect our forest,” said Mulbah. “We are not satisfied because the government authorized us to manage our forest and resources.