Liberia: Can Liberia's Land Rights Law Empower Communities As Carbon Credit Owners?

The atmosphere here is warm and calm despite Monrovia's scorching sun. Her staff, fewer than ten on duty, chatting with each other, clogged their way to their laptops as they ushered in visitors and guests for the day.

From the top floor of the building, where the SIB bank is hosted, Jeanine Cooper, head of Liberia's Carbon Market Authority (CMA), watches the rhythm of the city: the flow of cars and commuters visible through the glass.

Formerly heading the country's agriculture ministry, she juggles a constant stream of meetings, email replies, and interviews before closing for the day to observe the National Unification Holiday, with plans to return to work on Friday.

As the CMA head, Madam Cooper is leading the development of the country's carbon market policy, along with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Forestry Development Authority (FDA). This document will serve as the definitive framework for how carbon credits are sold and regulated. This policy, still under ongoing consultation, will be backed by the country's carbon market law, which can be passed.

Recently, the policy has come under scrutiny from civil society groups specializing in land governance, who fear the policy might erode community rights. More than 20 civil society organizations working on issues of land governance, forest management, and community rights wrote a letter to Liberia's President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, urging him to not to sign the carbon policy.

This letter followed an article written by Dayugar Johnson, chairman of the NGO Coalition of Liberia, titled "A Lose-Lose Deal for Liberian Communities." Johnson accused the government of Liberia of rushing to finalize a carbon policy. According to Johnson, the policy draft was only shared with CSOs on the day it was proposed to be sent to the president for signature.

Madam Cooper denied the allegation. "I am surprised when the CSOs say they have not been consulted. They wrote that article the day they came from a meeting where they were consulted. They outnumbered the government and everybody. They were there, and they have been consulted."

Johnson argued that the 2018 Land Rights Law gave people living within the forest, through their customary heritage, 70 percent rights to own the forests.

"When communities own forests, they are entitled to 100% of forest benefits and should therefore have rights over any carbon sequestered, but the proposed law would earmark only up to 50% of benefits from carbon market deals (after tax) to be distributed to communities. Notably also, receiving distributions from benefit-sharing agreements has always been problematic for communities."

According to Madam Cooper, the policy does not take away communities' right to their land. The policy recognizes the asset holder. The asset holder is the person who owns the land--whether it is a community, a private individual, or the government. The carbon policy doesn't change that.

"We don't want to be taken advantage of, particularly because we are entering this market and not many people are familiar with it," she said. The government's responsibility is to make sure the best benefit that is possible for the country and for the people is what is derived."

Reports from the Financial Times claimed that the Liberian government risks losing support from the African Development Bank if its failed to sell carbon credits.

Cooper dismissed the claim, stating the report was "not true."

Mongabay, an international environmental conservation online outlet, reported that Johnson shared what he said was a leaked email from the head of Liberia's Environmental Protection Agency to government officials, which described the carbon policy as "linked to AfDB support for Liberia's 2026 budget.

"If the policy goes out as it is, it creates an opportunity for a law that will have a lot of loopholes. Communities could be marginalized, and that's why we're pushing back on it," Johnson said.

The CMA is spearheading the establishment of the country's National Carbon Registry to serve as a digital database that tracks and records all carbon credit activities within a country's jurisdiction. The CMA is also responsible for drafting and implementing legislation on climate finance and the development of carbon markets, serving as the lead entity for negotiations and engagements with domestic and international carbon markets. The issue of sovereignty is paramount. "Data is the currency," Madam Cooper said. "Data sovereignty is critical. Liberia is vulnerable because we lack strong cybersecurity. If we lose sovereignty over our data, we don't know the consequences. We must maintain that sovereignty by emphasizing local developers and Liberians in this space."

Madam Cooper noted that the carbon registry--while not yet fully operational--must be heavily digitalized. "The registry has to be digitalized for transparency and to ensure it complies with international carbon trading practices under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Under the draft policy, the Government of Liberia regulates all carbon-related activities to ensure benefit-sharing. The policy positions the government to manage natural resources as a sovereign asset for national development. While the government oversees these activities, some entities have already utilized the voluntary carbon market--a system allowing corporations to purchase offsets to neutralize emissions without a legal mandate.

Madam Cooper insists all existing projects must register with the CMA for monitoring. Liberia and other African nations contribute the least to global $CO_2$ levels but are heavily impacted by climate change--experiencing sea-level rise and coastal erosion caused by fossil fuel burning, charcoal production, and deforestation.

The CMA was established by an executive order, which provided a one-year window to develop a climate act or legislative policies.

"We haven't taken formal steps with the legislature yet," Cooper said. "We are proceeding cautiously. We could rush a law to meet the one-year deadline, but we might miss something critical regarding the monitoring of our assets. I want to make sure what we do is in the best interest of Liberia."

When asked about mitigating the influence of middlemen, Cooper admitted it is a challenge. "We are just entering this space. You have to use intuition and due diligence to see if someone is genuine. There are many middlemen, which is why the president entrusted this to me--to use my international and national experience to navigate this."

Responding to critics who compare the carbon market to selling off the country's land, Cooper was blunt: "Carbon is a gas. You can't see it. The argument that we are selling land is naive. Carbon is not a physical asset like timber or minerals. It is an asset generated or reduced by certain actions."

She used a biblical analogy: "If you have an acre of land and plant 100 trees, you still own the trees and the land. The carbon stored in those trees is the asset the government can trade for you. You get money you weren't getting before, and you still have your land."

Building public trust remains a hurdle. "Our people have a legacy of not trusting government," Cooper acknowledged. "We start from a position of distrust. But we have a beautiful Land Rights law I ask, how has that changed things materially for communities? We want the right to manage our affairs, but we must avoid mismanagement."

She emphasized that the government's responsibility is to ensure the best possible benefit for the country. "The main thing is we don't want to be taken advantage of. Because this market is new, people are hesitant."

She concluded by noting that while the government will manage the process and oversight, it will not manage the "generation" of credits. "We want to ensure communities aren't offered 10% when they deserve more. We will set safeguards. If a developer offers too little, we reject it. We are still discussing the fixed percentages."

As the dialogue continues, the CMA remains focused on creating a system where carbon trading is regulated for the interest of all Liberians, ensuring that "predators" do not prey on local communities.

The primary concern raised by CSOs revolves around the government leading the carbon credit process. However, the core issue is protection. "The main thing is that we don't want to be taken advantage of," Madam Cooper explained, "particularly because we are entering a market that is unfamiliar to many."

She maintains that the government's responsibility is to act as a safeguard, ensuring that the maximum possible benefit for both the country and its people is derived from every deal.

Madam Cooper advocates for a "practice-first" approach to policy. "I don't believe that policy should precede practice," she stated. "My position from the start has been: let us try one or two things, and based on that experience, we will know how to draft an effective policy."

The drafting of the policy led by the EPA began before Madam Cooper's appointment in November last year. She noted that previous policy-making efforts were far too narrow, focusing almost exclusively on forest carbon. Those earlier drafts failed to address the following:

Biodiversity and the Blue Economy (fisherfolk and coastal assets).
Renewable Energy and diverse sources of climate finance.
The private sector, which was initially omitted in favor of only community and government roles.

"When we shape policy, we have to take into account the people out there who are going to buy the carbon credits. What are their perspectives? What are they looking for? Liberia is a beautiful, rich, fertile land, and when it comes to carbon, we are pristine; we are exceptional in the world. What we have to offer is beautiful."

"But does someone want to buy it?"

"What is the market looking for? What are their concerns? What are the risks they see from buying carbon credits from Liberia? Is somebody selling carbon credits from Liberia already? If so, what has been their experience? These are all some of the consultations that we need to go through before we pass the policy."

Under the proposed framework, the government will manage the administrative process while developers focus on project creation. The CMA's role is to provide oversight during negotiations to ensure transparency.

"We want to put safeguards in place so our communities aren't exploited," Cooper said. Regarding specific revenue percentages, she clarified that nothing is set in stone yet. "We are looking at ranges, but it depends on the specific community and is handled on a transaction-by-transaction basis. We haven't even tried it yet. A pilot project would be an excellent exercise to test these dynamics before the policy is finalized."

Read the original article on Liberian Observer.

Liberia: Can Liberia's Land Rights Law Empower Communities As Carbon Credit Owners?

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