Liberia Signs Accord With EU to Protect Forests, Stop Illicit Timber Trade
Liberia signed a voluntary accord with the European Union aimed at preventing the export of illegally felled timber, stepping up the country’s efforts to curb corruption within its logging industry.
About half of West Africa’s remaining tropical rain forest, the shelter for endangered or rare species of wildlife as well as vital sinks that absorb greenhouse gas emissions, is in Liberia. Woodland covers about 45 percent of the country.
“The agreement builds on the reforms that are ongoing in Liberia to ensure accountability and good governance in the sector,” Luis Riera Figueras, chief negotiator of the accord for the 27-nation EU, said in a May 5 phone interview from Brussels. “We want the forest sector to contribute to the country’s recovery.”
Liberia is trying to rebuild its economy following a 14- year civil war partly funded by timber revenue and the removal of United Nations sanctions on its logging exports five years ago, according to an e-mailed statement today from European Forest Institute, a research body based in Finland.
Liberia’s postwar administration has revoked all permits of logging companies known to be acting illegally, starting the licensing process anew, and improved regulations governing its timber business, according to the statement. The industry has strong growth potential, once accounting for as much as a fifth of Liberia’s gross domestic product, Figueras said.
Exports Decline
Liberia’s volume of timber exports fell 30.4 percent to 100,247 pieces in the third quarter of 2010, compared with three months earlier, due to bad weather and poor roads to ferry the products, according to the Central Bank of Liberia’s website.
“Demand could increase given the growing movement in consumer countries to require proof that wood and wood-product exporters are dealing only in legal timber,” the EFI said.
Liberia becomes the fifth African nation to sign the Voluntary Partnership Agreement, following Ghana, Cameroon, the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo, according to the statement. The only country outside Africa to agree on a VPA is Indonesia, which joined the initiative last week, the EFI said in the statement. Malaysia and Gabon are discussing it, Figueras said.
The accord requires countries to manage their forests in a sustainable way, making it possible to trace the source of its timber, according to the statement.
To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah McGregor in Nairobi at smcgregor5@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net
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