Publications

PETITION STATEMENT FOR THE PASSAGE OF A PROCOMMUNITY LAND RIGHTS BILL ISSUED THIS 29TH DAY OF MAY 2018 AD To our honorable lawmakers of the 54th Legislative Assembly, We, members of the Liberia Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) Working Group on Land Rights Reform , (hereafter the Working Group), a group of 28 CSOs working on land reform in Liberia; working along with the National Civil Society Council of Liberia (NCSCL), the Women Land Rights Task Force (WLRTF), communities across Liberia and in the diaspora, and friends from across Africa and around the world are here to present a collect

The draft Liberian Land Rights Act (LRA) has the potential to become a fundamental law to the creation of a peaceful future for the country – improving the lives of over 3 million Liberians, reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and protecting the country’s forests. However, unless major changes are made to the current version that is in the hands of Senators, this historic opportunity will be lost.

SDI Briefing 06 highlights local people’s preferences in the implementation of CFMAs in Liberia. It sought to establish the preferred community-owned forest enterprises, what communities are already doing to pursue their preferred enterprise development and, what the main commercial enterprises in the study communities are. The brief is limited in scope given that only two CFMA communities were covered. However, the selection of the communities was purposely representative of the two categories of CFMAs that are dominant in the sector, i.e.

SDI briefing paper 05: The Sewacajua Community Forest The need to strengthen rule of law in the community forestry sector in Liberia

 This briefing paper presents findings of assessment in Sewacajua CFMA in Sinoe County, specifically highlighting the legal compliance and other issues that need to be addressed to make the CFMA compliant and ensure that it meaningfully benefits the community.

This briefing paper provides an analysis of the revenue flow from the logging industry into the national coffers and logging affected communities. Publicly available national revenue collection data and payments to communities are used as the basis for the analysis to ensure a fairly accurate assessment of the financial flows.

This monitoring framework was developed by SDI under the project: Tackling deforestation through linking REDD and FLEGT and funded by European Commission and  UK Department of International Development. It broadens ongoing civil society initiative to include monitoring access to information, participation in benefit sharing and community rights involving REDD+ programs currently ongoing in the Liberian forest sector.

In June 2016, Rights and Rice Foundation (RRF) andSustainable Development Institute (SDI) commissioned theconduct of a research to assess collective title versusindividual title and their implications for livelihood in termsof the use and management of land and forest resources.The research was conducted based on the premise that thedraft Land Rights Act (LRA) will be legislated therebypaving the way for formalized and legally protectedcollective ownership of land.With this pending development there is a need for civil society, policymakers and the rural population to better understand the

This briefing paper asserts that "Logging without a permit or outside a logging contract area or concession is illegal". The Forestry Development Authority has committed to "formulate a regulation ensuring forestry legal requirements are followed regarding felling of logs alongside access road leading into a concession area" from SDI’s publication Logging Outside the Blouquia Community Forest Management Area 2.

This report will examine two of the most serious potential threats to good governance and professional management of Liberian forests: the looming wave of Community Forestry Management Agreements (CFMAs), and the potential for large-scale conversion of forests into agriculture plantations – particularly oil palm. By examining these emerging issues critically, the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) hopes to warn the Liberian government and its partners of the potential for abuse and mismanagement in coming years.

A host of Golden Environmental Prize winners send a letter to Liberia's Forest Development Authority (FDA) expressing their concerns at the FDA's plan to legalize conversion timber and its potential impact on Liberia's forests.