Whilst Liberia is taking the initial steps on the path towards community based forest management, experience from around the world has shown that moving to community-managed forests and successful community forest businesses is a lengthy process.
“Liberia’s rich forest wealth is of huge value and importance to the economy, but by focusing on only the commercial production of timber, Liberia may be short-changing itself; the true value of lands and forests are much higher when multiple uses are captured.”
This new briefing from Global Witness draws on expert experience in community forestry, offering a snapshot of practical possibilities that could help to set Liberia on the path to successful community based forest management. It is intended to stimulate discussions and ideas and is offered for consideration for project designers, implementers, donors and communities to further our shared objective of successful community based forest management that provides communities with income security, facilitates rural development, promotes local economies and generates tax revenues for the state.