{"id":27984,"date":"2022-12-08T13:10:33","date_gmt":"2022-12-08T13:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-locals-demand-greater-say-in-forests-protection"},"modified":"2022-12-08T13:10:33","modified_gmt":"2022-12-08T13:10:33","slug":"liberia-locals-demand-greater-say-in-forests-protection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-locals-demand-greater-say-in-forests-protection","title":{"rendered":"Liberia: Locals Demand Greater say in Forests Protection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Liberia. <\/strong><\/span>It\u2019s right that the views of local people are at the heart of any decision that affects their community \u2013 and the futures of the forests that enclose their communities are no different.<\/p>\n

Against this backdrop, local communities adjacent to the East Nimba Nature Reserve (ENNR) are craving greater roles in initiatives that will ensure successful conservation programs. The head of the group that oversees the management of the reserve, Saye Thompson, says that Protected Areas (PAs) like the ENNR, should integrate communities\u2019 participation if the objective of the reservation is to be met.<\/p>\n

As Chairman of the Co-Management Committee (CMC), Thompson told a gathering at the signing of the ENNR\u2019s revised and extended Co-Management Agreement (CMA) on Friday, December 2, 2022, that the locals are the traditional custodians of the forests so ignoring their participation won\u2019t bode well for conservation initiative.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people are the owners of the forests because they live there first before the government designated the forests as protected areas,\u201d the local group head, who is also the president of the National Union of Community Forests (NUCF)\u2014an association of indigenous communities across the country that have been given the legal rights by the government to oversee the management of their ancestral forests.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are the ones who have lived near those forests for years. It is our forest and we know its ins and outs. So working hands in hands with people who want it conserved is the right thing to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Thompson signs the revised CMA as FDA boss, C. Mike Doryen reads through his<\/p>\n

Thompson\u2019s call has also been echoed by conservation experts who say locals or indigenous peoples oversee a substantial portion of the country\u2019s forests and they have been doing this for hundreds of years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy not draw on this expertise to protect forests and support conservation?\u201d Jonathan Yiah of the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) asked rhetorically during an interview in 2020. (The local communities need to be at the center of every conservation initiative because the forest that the government and partners want to conserve belong to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through its Conservation Works activity (CWA), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Conservation International (CI) have been working in partnership with the government to protect the ENNR, a tropical forest area in the eastern part of Nimba County.<\/p>\n

As an important source of biodiversity and other natural resources, this huge tract of forest is home to critically endangered and endemic species such as the Nimba Toad, Nimba Flycatcher and the West African Chimpanzee.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is an urgent need to protect what forests remain from further conversion. This is something that all of us should care about,\u201d Mr. Yiah said. \u201cLiberia has the largest remaining tropical forest in West Africa. This should be a treasure for us, especially looking at the devastating impact climate change is having globally. We need to do our best to make maximum use of this God given treasure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Established in 2003, the ENNR is managed as a Strict Nature Reserve and is the first and only Protected Area (PA) in Liberia to be co-managed by the Government of Liberia (GoL) and local communities.<\/p>\n

Disagreement about the boundary lines and continued encroachment, poaching, and illegal chainsaw activities resulted in perennial conflict between the FDA and the communities, and in 2010, with support from the USAID Land Rights & Community Forest Project, the government resolved to adopt the co-management model.<\/p>\n

This led to the signing of the Co-Management Agreement (CMA) between the FDA and local communities represented by the Joint Community Forest Management Body (JCFMB) of Sehyi, Gba and Zor, headed by Thompson, to manage the reserve and conserve its biodiversity.<\/p>\n

The locals had no clues from the onset about the initiative and this led to a lot of problems, especially the demarcation exercises.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were a lot of agitations from residents over the demarcation exercise,\u201d Thompson told this reporter in an interview a few years ago. \u201cWe had no idea as to who was in control of the reserved area, whether it was the government or we the locals. This uncertainty created a lot of problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was out of this crisis that the CMC was birthed, bringing together representatives of the communities, government and CSOs and others.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe communities have become more involved since the establishment of the CMC. They now understand what their roles are,\u201d he said. \u201cOur young men are now helping the FDA\u2019s Rangers to help provide protection.\u201d<\/p>\n

The communities established a group, Frontliners, whose members are mostly young men, to assist the government in the protection of the reserve.<\/p>\n

Members of the committee and the communities around the reserve have benefitted from some capacity-building programs and some infrastructure projects.<\/p>\n

Thompson described the CMC as a good model that should be replicated across the country. \u201cIt is our dream that this model is established across the country so that more forests can be adequately protected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Landmark Agreement<\/b><\/p>\n

USAID has described the revised Co-Management Agreement signed by the government, represented by FDA Managing Director, C. Mike Doryen, and the local communities, as a landmark agreement. The group said in a statement that the signing marks a major step towards putting communities at the center of conservation and natural resources management.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ENNR remains Liberia\u2019s only co-managed PA and is a shining example of Government and communities working together to protect biodiversity for the benefit of everyone,\u201d the USAID said in its statement.<\/p>\n

Co-management is an important conservation model that aims to increase the legitimacy of protected areas and moderate negative attitudes toward conservation The co-management model, in the midst of the requirements of the Land Rights Act and the importance of rights-based conservation, represents the most effective governance model for managing protected and conserved areas and delivering conservation outcomes, experts have said.<\/p>\n

The ENNR CMC is composed of twelve members with six representatives each from FDA and the JCFMB of Sehyi, Gba and Zor communities. Following the first expiration of the CMA in 2016, the FDA and the CMC renewed the agreement allowing both communities and FDA to continue managing the ENNR effectively.<\/p>\n

Since 2021, upon its second expiration, efforts to renew the CMA had been ongoing, but unsuccessful. This renewal, in the midst of biodiversity loss and the need to protect forest resources, represents significant progress towards the government\u2019s vision of promoting communities\u2019 rights, strengthening biodiversity conservation, contributing to the nationally determined contributions (NDC) for climate change, and building an economically prosperous future through eco-tourism, the statement said.<\/p>\n

Key revisions to the original CMA included clarifications around the CMC’s operational structure, CMC\u2019s and FDA’s rights and obligations, and financial transparency.<\/p>\n

The revised agreement was attested by the District Commissioners of Yarmein, Sanniquellie-Mah, and Gbeley-Geh.<\/p>\n

MD Doryen, said during the signing ceremony that a lot of progress is being made in protecting Liberia\u2019s unique biodiversity through a partnership with the associated communities.<\/p>\n

Stakeholders at the revised CMA signing ceremony<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is my hope that this co-management model, demonstrating success in ENNR, will be replicated to other PAs across the country until communities are involved in the management of these resources, our efforts will yield minimum results.\u201d<\/p>\n

USAID and Conservation International (CI) and some of their local partners are helping the community to protect the forest by providing full training in biodiversity monitoring and supporting regular forest patrols.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Liberia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Liberia. It\u2019s right that the views of local people are at the heart of any decision that affects their community \u2013 and the futures of the forests that enclose their communities are no different. Against this backdrop, local communities adjacent to the East Nimba Nature Reserve (ENNR) are craving greater roles in initiatives […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":27983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-27984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-liberia","tag-liberia"],"yoast_head":"\nLiberia: Locals Demand Greater say in Forests Protection - Liberia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-locals-demand-greater-say-in-forests-protection\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Liberia: Locals Demand Greater say in Forests Protection\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press – Liberia. It\u2019s right that the views of local people are at the heart of any decision that affects their community \u2013 and the futures of the forests that enclose their communities are no different. 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