Description
Liberia hosts the highly threatened Upper Guinean
Forest of West Africa. The Upper Guinean Forest is
a critical biodiversity hotspot and hosts incredible
levels of biodiversity, endemism is a top priority
for primate protection and a lifeline for millions
of people in the region.
Early 2019 Liberian Civil Society and Global Witness
warned that the government was not managing
the development of community forests well. And
the logging sector was “hijacking” community
forests, involving external investors and local elite
capture and resulting in deforestation, conflict
and loss of livelihood for communities.
The project will be implemented by building
and strengthening the capacities of forest fringe
communities. The approach will build inclusive
partnership and cooperation in a multi-stakeholder
network of state and non-state actors with technical
departments of line ministries and agencies, civil
society organizations (CSO), and private sector
companies.
Through community mobilization and advocacy,
the project will train key community members
(women, youth and local leaders, CBOs, and local
CSOs) about campaigning and advocacy, land rights
laws, the legal processes for land acquisition, and
international standards. Community members will
also be trained in using technology (like Timby)
to help them gather evidence and report on
environmental and social issues and illegalities
that happen in and around their communities.
This will support their advocacy efforts using
evidence-based data.
SDI will work with a recognized law firm in Liberia
to lead legal actions for redress of gross violation
of community rights, environmental laws, and
land grabs.
Communities will have increased access to
information on land deals, legal frameworks,
and company commitments and stand stronger
in their efforts to secure rights to their forest
land and resources. This project aims to protect
Liberia’s vast areas of remaining natural forests,
threatened by uncontrolled land clearance for
monoculture oil palm plantations
