|
|
Liberia: Locals Exclusion From Concession Deal Worrisome
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
The Analyst (Monrovia)
5 April 2008
Posted to the web 7 April 2008
J. Nathaniel Daygbor
Monrovia
The Head of the Green Advocate Liberia, Atty. Alfred Brownell has disclosed that the continuous exclusion of communities' dwellers from concession deals by national government is a serious threat that must draw the attention of stakeholders.
Atty. Brownell noted that past governments developed habits of making decisions for the people in the leeward counties in Monrovia and then imposes the finals on them, noting that such policy is a threat to national security, and potential stone to under mind developmental progress in the county.
Apart from saying that exclusion of communities' dwellers from concession deals poses threats, he also indicated it also creates an environment in which companies cannot fully identify needs of the people in terms of development.
He spoke Thursday at the official opening of a workshop on "Alternative Models of Forest Tenure and Enterprise in Central and West Africa; Lessons and Opportunities." The workshop, which brought together national and international experts and researchers, is taking place on the campus of the University of Liberia.
The Green Advocates, Rights and Resources Initiative from the United Sates in collaboration with the University of Liberia, the University of Liberia Student Union, Governance Reform Commission and Forestry Development Authority are organizers. The UK Department for International Development & Ford Foundation is sponsoring the worship.
Atty. Brownell added that concession deals will be healthy and rewarding if the government can invite the locals to make their import in all concession agreements, especially those that have to do with forestry, mining and usage of the people's inherited land from their ancestors.
He stressed that the imposition of international companies make the companies to misuse the land or the forestry because they do not have any to lose,
Meanwhile, an expert from Cameroon attending the workshop has made his observation on the issues the workshop is looking. Mr. Samuel Nguiffo told The Analyst that Liberia should not make the same mistake they made during the time their government gave out contracts to foreigners, and to people who did not have interest but to make money.
He said that governments in Africa most often limit the locals from accessing the forest, something he said that creates dark cloud over the operation of the companies.
According to him, elders, traditional leaders should be invited by government to make their import because "government is about to give out locals lands to foreigners to make money so they must be fully involved and that will help them understand the process.
For his part, Mr. Andy White of the Rights & Resources Group said most companies do not discuss their interest with the community, but only focus and deal with the national government.
Meanwhile, research works show that in the forest sectors in Central Africa and West Africa, the conventional and dominant business model for commercial exploitation of forest resources is by far the export oriented timber concession model.
|
They provide limited opportunities for local communities to generate wealth provide employment and improve livelihoods. In addition, the social and environment sustainability of such models is questionable, especially in the context of their erosion of indigenous and customary access and tenure rights of local are people.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 The Analyst. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
