Rush to log Liberia’s forests will jeopardise the reform process

Under intense pressure from the timber industry – including many familiar faces from the past – the Forest Development Authority (FDA) of Liberia has started to issue timber contracts. Yet key legislation on community rights – to ensure an equitable balance between community, conservation and commercial forestry – is still in draft. The rush to allow a timber trade with a poor track record of corruption and trampling on community rights raises the spectre of Liberia’s forests once again undermining stability in this fragile country.

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