Liberia is home to globally significant forests and most of its people depend on them for their livelihoods. But the restarting of large-scale timber extraction in the country has proven disastrous for local people, the environment, and efforts to strengthen governance. Nonetheless, recent actions by the President and her government to address these failures provide a brief window of opportunity to bring about profound and lasting positive change for Liberia’s forests, the communities that depend on them, and the wider economy.
This briefing sets out the challenges and opportunities, and calls on The Government of Liberia, those involved in the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) process, and the international donor community to urgently develop strategies that support communities, and act to preserve the local and global benefits that Liberia’s rainforests provide.