Land Tenure

This Policy is a vision statement of where Liberians want to go with their land sector; none of the below principles or recommendations will be applied retroactively to change prior actions by the Government. Rather, this Policy will help ensure that in the future Liberia’s land sector is orderly, just, and contributes to economic growth and development for all Liberians. 

SDI's Silas Kpanan’Ayoung Siakor and Ashoka Mukpo discuss how the G8's New Alliance will not address hunger and poverty in Africa instead it will support Western corporations and facilitate landgrabs. It's aim is to open up new markers for agribusiness conglomerates rather than supporting sustainable small scale agriculture. A real committment to agriculture in Africa would ensure the voices or farmers and small scale producers are heard in this debate rather than only powerful vested interests.

This report is based on consultations with Sime Darby affected areas in Grand Cape Mount with regard to reform of Liberia's Land Policy and how government law and policy can in future fit with community customary practices and community self-determined development priorities, and prevent future conflict of the kind experienced in relation to the Sime Darby concession in Grand Cape Mount.

This report examines the regional investment trends of organisations investing in Liberian agribusiness, infrastructure, and extractive industries so as to better understand their roles in land acquisition as related to deforestation and human rights.

In SDI's Silas Kpanan'Ayoung Siakor article in the New York Times he details how between 2006 and 2011, President Sirleaf has granted more than a third of Liberia’s land to private investors to use for logging, mining and agro-industrial enterprises and how her administration is retricting use all the legal and advocacy tools at their disposal to safeguard their lands. He argues that the government must place Liberia’s citizens ahead of corporations and involve them in government decisions that affect their lands and livelihoods.

SDI's Silas Siakor writes for the Guardian on land 'grabs' in Monrovia ahead of the high-level panel meeting which is one of many examples across Africa where the rush for resources is threatening peace. He comments "As the high-level panel guests arrive in Liberia, they would be well served to pay attention to the vacant, rubble-filled lots that they will pass in their motorcades. Perhaps the lots can serve as an example of what must change if the chronic state of underdevelopment in Africa and throughout much of the world is to have any chance of improving after 2015. Unfortunately, these cases are not unique. In rural areas, hundreds of communities have had their land leased to multinational palm oil producers without their consent, with some discovering this only when bulldozers began clearing away the forests that surrounded their towns."

SDI's Ali Kaba and Gaurav Madan from SDI highlight the need for a focus on land rights for women in Liberia's new National Land Rights Policy. Specific provisions need to be included into land policy that will further embolden women’s land claims and help women realise the benefits of progress. The Land Commission needs to ensure the framework for a more just and equitable land tenure system includes proactively asserting women’s land rights.