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Cross Border Forest Management Approach “A review of Liberia’s experience”

TRANSBOUNDARY EXPERIENCE SHARING WORKSHOP MANO RIVER UNION SECRETARIAT FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE 18 TH – 19 TH OCTOBER 2010. Cross Border Forest Management Approach “A review of Liberia’s experience”. Morris B. Kamara Protected Areas Manager Forestry Development Authority.

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Cross Border Forest Management Approach “A review of Liberia’s experience”

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  1. TRANSBOUNDARY EXPERIENCE SHARING WORKSHOPMANO RIVER UNION SECRETARIATFREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE18TH – 19TH OCTOBER 2010 Cross Border Forest Management Approach “A review of Liberia’s experience” • Morris B. Kamara • Protected Areas Manager • Forestry Development Authority

  2. PRESENTATION OUTLINE • Overview of Liberia • Role in regional conservation • Lessons learnt in transboundary project implementation • Conclusion

  3. Liberia National Context (1) Size: 111,370 km2. • Lies between longitudes 7o30' and 11o30' west; • latitudes 4o18’ and 8o30' north. Neighbored by: • Sierra Leone (in northwest) • Guinea (in northeast) • Côte d’Ivoire (in east) Population: 3.5 million people (2008 census)

  4. Liberia National Context (2) Forest Cover: 4.52 million hectare • ≤ 42% = Upper Guinea Forest • 30% = Protected Area Network Biological Resources: diversified and high endemism • ≈ 125 mammal species • ≥ 590 bird species • ≥162 native fish species • ≥74 known reptiles + amphibians • > 1000 described insect species

  5. Liberia National Context (3) Legal Framework National Forestry Reform Law (2006) • Established protected area network • Mandate framework law for wildlife Community Rights Law (2009) • Law empowers communities to fully engage in the sustainable forest management

  6. Liberia National Context (4) Forest Policy and Strategy • Management of forests to achieve the nation’s overall goal of development and sustainable benefits of forest resources

  7. Role in Regional Cross Border Forest Management Mt. Nimba collaboration(2001) • 3 states (Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea & Liberia) initiative to manage Mt. Nimba • Grown to sub-regional programme of 4 countries; Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Sierra Leone & Liberia. • Pursue TBNRM approach through the harmonization of NRM laws • Adopted Nature-Wealth-Power nexus • power and resources governance, wealth creation and biodiversity conservation be integrated and balanced at various levels and given equal weight.

  8. “Across the River” Transboundary Peace Park for Sierra and Liberia

  9. Project Funding Overall €3.2million STEWARD $150,000 via RSPB $50,000via BirdLife $150,000 via RSPB €2.4 million via VBN

  10. “Across the River” Transboundary Peace Park for Sierra and Liberia Overall Objective Upper Guinea Forest estate in West Africa protected in critically threatened and important cross border areas and managed effectively by National institutions and authorities with the active collaboration of local communities. Specific Objective The long-term conservation of forests their biodiversity and global carbon storage benefits are secured through national and international partnerships for improved forest governance across the Sierra Leone – Liberia border.

  11. “Across the River” Transboundary Peace Park for Sierra and Liberia Project Results • Result 0: Effective project management framework established and maintained, project wide and at each country. • Result 1: Enabling environment for cross border conservation collaboration. • Result 2. Areas for strategic forest and wildlife corridors assessed and monitored • Result 3. Corridor areas established and managed with the judicious and equitable involvement of local stakeholders.

  12. “Across the River” Transboundary Peace Park for Sierra and Liberia Project Results (2) • Result 4. Forest governance, management/monitoring capacity and effectiveness of the Government of Sierra Leone and Liberia for cross border conservation is strengthened. • Result 5. Capacity of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and local communities to play a key role in national and international conservation efforts improved. • Result 6. Policies and mechanisms in place to ensure effective and transparent implementation of Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) action plan. • Result 7. Mechanisms of carbon trading and sustainable financing options investigated and where possible established and exploited.

  13. Deputy Project Project Manager 12 village Manager (Monrovia) monitors. (Kenema) Casual labour 1 Driver (Monrovia) 1 Administrator (Monrovia) SCNL - education FDA - RSPB - Research CSSL - education FD - and extension Enforcement and Carbon and extension Enforcement 1 Manager 1 Manager 1 Research 1 Manager 1 Manager 1 policy officer 1 Driver Scientist 1 policy officer 1 Driver 1 Driver 25 forest guards 12 Research 1 Driver 25 Forest 4 Extension staff technicians 4 Extension staff Guards (Gola) Reporting (financial & narrative) “Across the River” Transboundary Peace Park for Sierra and Liberia Project Implementation

  14. Boundary Mapping Forest Guards Research Field Office Community Engagement

  15. Lessons for Cross Border Forest Management • Successful transboundary natural resources management initiatives depend on political support of the highest. • Management of transboundary natural resources requires up-to-date information to influence decision-making process. • Cross border management of natural resources is a subset of a broader concept of regional integration to address issues that affect more than one country in shared natural resources management. • Boundary demarcations of protected areas are essential activities to avoid some of the controversial issues in the adoption of improved practices in land and natural resources management.

  16. Lessons for Cross Border Forest Management (2) • Understanding the level of community awareness in natural resources management and the incorporation of traditional or customary methods in traditional institutional set up is crucial to the proper implementation of TBNRM programme. • Engaging CSO from the start of natural resources management project is useful in soliciting supports at the local level.

  17. Challenges for Cross Border Resources Management • Balancing conservation and post conflict development needs. • Conflicting protected area management authority or governance system. • Conflicting laws affecting transboundary natural resources management. • Inadequate human and institutional capacity for effective transboundary natural resources management.

  18. Conclusion • High level of political commitment by states authorities is an important indicator of positive enabling environment strong ownership and good transboundary forest management initiatives; • Resource base information gathering, mapping and acquiring inventory of resources within the cross border area will lead to understanding the level of destruction to natural resources and determine strategic decisions on how to redress; • Through transboundary natural resources management initiatives, efforts to conserve and protect biological diversity are fast track; • There is strong traditional knowledge in the management, traditional governance infrastructure for the sustainable utilization of natural resources

  19. THANK YOU

  20. Questions?

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