Nearly one quarter of Liberia's total landmass has been leased to logging companies in the past two years "following an explosion in the use of secretive and often illegal logging permits," according to an investigation by Global Witness, a U.K.-based watchdog group.
Nearly one quarter of Liberia's total landmass has been leased to logging companies in the past two years "following an explosion in the use of secretive and often illegal logging permits," according to an investigation by Global Witness, a U.K.-based watchdog group.
Global Witness said the leases-called "private use permits"-now cover 40 percent of Liberia's forests and nearly 50 percent of the country's "best intact forests." While the permits are designed to allow private land owners to cut trees on their property, Global Witness said, the permits are being used by large companies to skirt Liberia's "carefully crafted forest laws and regulations."
"Companies holding these permits are not required to log sustainably and pay little in compensation to either the Liberian Government or the people who own the forests for the right to export valuable tropical timber," Global Witness said.
Global Witness said the permits have given "notorious" logging companies like Samling Global and its subsidiaries "unparalleled access to some of Liberia's most pristine forests." In July 2011, Samling was accused by Greenpeace Australia of potentially selling illegally sourced plywood, and Samling later unequivocally denied the allegations.
With companies using private use permits, "Some communities will receive less than one percent of their timber's value, while very little revenue will reach state coffers," said Robert Nyahn of Save My Future Foundation, which participated in the investigation. "Since the end of Liberia's war we have worked with [Liberia's] government and international partners like the United States, the European Union and the World Bank to ensure the Liberian people get sustainable benefits from their forests. These private use permits severely undermine these reform efforts."
Global Witness found that certain documents justifying the permits were forged, and that residents in the affected forests were not properly consulted beforehand. Beginning in February, Liberia placed a moratorium on the permits; however, the moratorium has since been violated by certain private companies and officials in the country's Forestry Development Authority. Since then, the Liberian Timber Association has filed complaints with the country's Senate and Supreme Court.