Monrovia — Amid incessant report that the Government of Liberia is negotiating with the UAE-based Blue Carbon for a possible one million hectares of forest land, the opposition Liberian People's Party (LPP) called on the government to put a halt to the negotiation until the right mechanisms are put into place.
The LPP, headed by renowned lawyer Cllr. Tiawan Saye Gongloe said the deal, if put through, will violate various Liberian laws, the rights of customary land-owning communities, threatening the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people in rural Liberia.
"The grassroots Party therefore urges the Government and representatives of Blue Carbon to cease ongoing negotiations until communities that will be affected are identified, adequately informed of the potential social and economic impacts of the would-be agreement, and secure their consent," the LPP said in a statement released on Tuesday at its national headquarters in Monrovia.
Liberia has the largest remaining forest cover in the Upper Guinea Region that spans most of West Africa. Its forests are extremely rich in biodiversity and are recognized as a global conservation hotspot, accounting for approximately 6.6 million lowland tropical forests, according to the Forest Carbon Partnership, a program of the World Bank covering Liberia.
As a result, the Government of Liberia headed by President George Weah has been rallying African countries to create an African Carbon Market to boost the fight against climate change by strengthening capacities and resilience against the crippling effects of the menace.
But his government has come under criticism over its reported move to market Liberia's carbon, especially over the reported plan to award one million hectares of forest land to Blue Carbon as part of the deal. This, the LPP says, will lead to the use of community land.
The forestry law prohibits the government from including private land in forestry contracts and the forestry contract areas must not exceed 400,000 hectares. Allocating one million hectares under a single contract and including communities Customary Land in said contract would violate the forestry law.
In addition, the Community Rights Law of 2009 gives communities the right to control the use, protection, management, and development of community forest resources. In addition, the Land Rights Law of 2018 protects communities Customary Land rights, whether or not the community has a Deed for the land, and guarantees that the existence, validity, and/or enforceability of the Ownership of Customary Land shall not be affected because of the lack of title document or prior registration.
Allocating communities' Customary Land to Blue Carbon would violate their rights under these laws, the LPP said.
In the statement, the LPP noted that the government has an obligation to protect the land rights of customary communities across the country - entering into this agreement with Blue Carbon would contravene that sacred responsibility.
FrontPage Africa contacted the Forestry Development Authority through its communications department, but was not able to reach any of the staff as their phones were off.
In 2022, according to Global Forest Watch, Liberia recorded the highest primary forest loss since 2001. The party acknowledged that this is alarming and needs government intervention. However, it stated that the proposed agreement with Blue Carbon, which on its surface may appear to offer an opportunity to reverse this alarming trend of deforestation, violates the rights and threatens the livelihoods and wellbeing of tens of thousands of Liberians.
"Blue Carbon must therefore discontinue negotiation with the Government of Liberia until it is presented with evidence that would-be affected communities have given their Free Prior and Informed Consent as required under Liberian law."
The Forestry Development Authority (FDA) have, over the last 13 years, repeatedly engaged in various illegalities that have cost the country millions of dollars in unpaid and lost revenue. In 2009 and 2010, the Government of Liberia at the behest of the FDA entered into four Forest Management Contracts (FMCs), five Timber Sale Contracts and 23 Private Use Permits covering.
A LEITI audit of those contracts revealed that all of the 32 contracts and permits were non-compliant with various laws governing forestry; simply put, all of these contracts were illegal.
In 2012, a Presidential-appointed Special Independent Investigative Body (SIIB) examined 63 Private Use Permits, covering 2.5 million hectares of forest. The SIIB confirmed widespread illegalities during the issuance of these permits. The report concluded that:
The level of abuse of power and public trust that characterized the transactional relationship that evolved amongst various actors in the forestry sector, was led and sanctioned by FDA. The legal framework, including the National Forestry Reform Law (NFRL), Community Rights Law (CRL), Public Procurement and Concession Act (PPCA), FDA Regulations, and other laws have been wilfully violated to such an extent that the effective governance and management of the forestry sector has been undermined and its viability threatened.
The report further revealed: That the FDA failed to comply with the National Forest Management Strategy (NFMS) that states in its objective that the FDA - allocate and manage Liberia's remaining 4.39 million hectares of forest as either forest management contract areas, and timber sales contract areas, community management areas, or protected areas to capture, develop and preserve the wide range of forest resource benefits....
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As a result of these illegalities, the LPP said the government has lost millions in taxes and millions more remain unpaid. Some of the companies owing millions in taxes have already fled the country and the logging industry is in near collapse.
Since the Weah-led government took over in 2018, illegalities in the sector have intensified. The Associated Press on February 21, 2023 cited various reports describing a "network of illicit sawmills, off-the-books exports, and payments made to the Liberia forestry agency that were not deposited in official accounts"
A 2023 audit of five Forest Management Contracts and six operations in Community Forest Management Agreement areas found that only one company met the minimum standards, including a legally executed contract, a legal corporate identity, and a posted performance bond. None of the remaining 10 companies had the legal right to log. Additionally, none of the 11 companies met all the thresholds in law necessary to avoid termination, and all 11 Operators were financially in arrears--in excess of US$31.5 million--to the Government of Liberia (GoL), as well as to the communities most affected by their logging. The Government of Liberia is yet to act on this report.
