{"id":38204,"date":"2023-06-13T14:18:35","date_gmt":"2023-06-13T14:18:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/independent-forest-monitoring-group-condemns-illegal-exportation-of-log-under-fdas-watch"},"modified":"2023-06-13T15:41:28","modified_gmt":"2023-06-13T15:41:28","slug":"independent-forest-monitoring-group-condemns-illegal-exportation-of-log-under-fdas-watch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/independent-forest-monitoring-group-condemns-illegal-exportation-of-log-under-fdas-watch","title":{"rendered":"Independent Forest Monitoring Group Condemns Illegal Exportation of Log Under FDA\u2019s Watch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Liberia. <\/strong><\/span>The Independent Forest Monitoring Coordination Mechanism (IFMCM), a conglomeration of seven Liberian civil society organizations has strongly condemned the processes leading to the harvesting and the subsequent exportation of timber products by Renaissance Group Incorporated (RGI) outside of Liberia\u2019s forestry legal and regulatory framework.<\/p>\n

Addressing a press conference over the weekend, IFMCM said the exporting of illegally sourced timber is a failure of the rule of law and undermines Liberia\u2019s efforts towards attaining FLEGT VPA license. The EU FLEGT license ensure logs exported to Europe are legal.<\/p>\n

RGI, a logging company operating in Liberia was fined US$105,000 by the Forestry development Authority for illegally harvesting log outside its concession area, TSCA2 in Grand Bassa County.<\/p>\n

The investigation found RGI and Freedom Group Liberia liable for illegally logging at least 14,000 m3 of timber in in 2018-19 worth an estimated US$ 4.4 million at the time on the international market. An IFMCM briefing and the MoJ-FDA\u2019s own investigation confirmed that RGI illegally logged valuable Ekki species in Grand Bassa County, six kilometers outside TSC-A2 concession.<\/p>\n

The company paid the fine, but when the FDA barred it from exporting the log as part of its punishment, RGI sued the FDA at the 2nd Judicial Circuit in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County.<\/p>\n

The Court ruled in January 2022 in favor of the company on grounds that since the FDA did not refer the case to the MoJ but rather imposed an administrative penalty, it was liable for subjecting RGI to \u201cdouble jeopardy.<\/p>\n

The FDA appealed to the Supreme Court, but the High Court upheld the Lower Court\u2019s verdict and order it to proceed with its mandate.<\/p>\n

The IFMCM said FDA should have appropriately referred the case to the MoJ for prosecution \u201cbecause the offence significantly harms the interest of local communities\u201d and \u201cresulted in damage to forest resources exceeding US$10,000.\u201d RGI payment of the administrative penalty may have suggested that the conduct giving rise to the offence does not support a felony criminal charge,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n

However, the IFMCH lauded SGS\u2019s refusal to enroll the logs in question into Liberia\u2019s chain of custody system, thereby categorizing them as illegal logs under Liberia\u2019s forestry legal requirements.<\/p>\n

The IFMCM called on the Government of Liberia to ensure that the laws of Liberia, especially, forestry laws should be respected and enforced at all times.<\/p>\n

According to the IFMC, during the April NMSMC meeting, the lingering issue of the TSC A2 illegally harvested logs was again tabled for discussion arising from concerns raised by CSOs to provide update on progress by the FDA in bringing closure to this illegal logging saga.<\/p>\n

Mrs. Gertrude K Nyalay, LVD Manager, informed the meeting that two shipments have been made by RGI representing 81 of 125 logs processed by RGI outside of Liberia\u2019s Chain of Custody system, which exists to monitor and verify all legal logging operations in Liberia.<\/p>\n

Said the group: \u201cAt the moment there are unconfirmed reports that RGI, without a forest resource license, is making plans to process the remaining logs, scattered in the illegal logging area in Doe Clan, District #1, Grand Bassa County. As long as the illegal logging connected to TSC-A2 remains unresolved, sustainable forest management is being undermined, including issuance of FLEGT license under Liberia\u2019s VPA. It clearly validates statements that Liberia\u2019s forest sector is replete with illegalities.\u201d<\/p>\n

The IFMCM said while it respects the court\u2019s ruling, it believes that the FDA\u2019s action to impose fine on RGI rather than revoking its license and prosecuting it for harvesting logs outside a forest resource license area provided the court concrete reason for its ruling in favor of RGI.<\/p>\n

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

Africa-Press – Liberia. The Independent Forest Monitoring Coordination Mechanism (IFMCM), a conglomeration of seven Liberian civil society organizations has strongly condemned the processes leading to the harvesting and the subsequent exportation of timber products by Renaissance Group Incorporated (RGI) outside of Liberia\u2019s forestry legal and regulatory framework. Addressing a press conference over the weekend, IFMCM […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":38203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-38204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-liberia","tag-liberia"],"yoast_head":"\nIndependent Forest Monitoring Group Condemns Illegal Exportation of Log Under FDA\u2019s Watch - Liberia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Independent Forest Monitoring Coordination Mechanism (IFMCM), a conglomeration of seven Liberian civil society organ ...\" \/>\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\/independent-forest-monitoring-group-condemns-illegal-exportation-of-log-under-fdas-watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Independent Forest Monitoring Group Condemns Illegal Exportation of Log Under FDA\u2019s Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Independent Forest Monitoring Coordination Mechanism (IFMCM), a conglomeration of seven Liberian civil society organ ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/independent-forest-monitoring-group-condemns-illegal-exportation-of-log-under-fdas-watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Liberia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-06-13T14:18:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-13T15:41:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/liberia\/sites\/37\/2023\/06\/sm_1686654158.726214.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/independent-forest-monitoring-group-condemns-illegal-exportation-of-log-under-fdas-watch#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/independent-forest-monitoring-group-condemns-illegal-exportation-of-log-under-fdas-watch\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Independent Forest Monitoring Group Condemns Illegal Exportation of Log Under FDA\u2019s Watch\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-13T14:18:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-13T15:41:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/independent-forest-monitoring-group-condemns-illegal-exportation-of-log-under-fdas-watch\"},\"wordCount\":634,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/independent-forest-monitoring-group-condemns-illegal-exportation-of-log-under-fdas-watch#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/liberia\/sites\/37\/2023\/06\/sm_1686654158.726214.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Liberia\",\"Liberia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/independent-forest-monitoring-group-condemns-illegal-exportation-of-log-under-fdas-watch#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/independent-forest-monitoring-group-condemns-illegal-exportation-of-log-under-fdas-watch\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/independent-forest-monitoring-group-condemns-illegal-exportation-of-log-under-fdas-watch\",\"name\":\"Independent Forest Monitoring Group Condemns Illegal Exportation of Log Under FDA\u2019s Watch - 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