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Under the Disguise of Participation: Community Forestry as a New Form of Land Rush in Liberia

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The Transnational Land Rush in Africa

Part of the book series: International Political Economy Series ((IPES))

Abstract

A variety of national and international actors embarked upon the reform of the Liberian forest sector after the end of the civil war in 2003, in part due to the logging sanctions enacted by the United Nations during the conflict. One result of these reform efforts was the adoption of the Community Rights Law with Respect to Forest Lands in 2009. The law introduces community forestry and is considered to be one of the most progressive laws on the African continent. Yet, fieldwork in Liberia conducted between October 2017 and January 2018 and between February and March 2018 indicates that the community forestry regime is redefined and undermined by different actors, and, in practice, contributes to land grabbing. After providing a brief overview of the government’s post-war Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) strategy, this chapter explores: (1) the reform of the logging sector after the war (2) the legal framework of community forestry, and (3) the implementation of community forestry based upon two case studies.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    45 interviews with elders, women leaders, youth leaders, local USAID-funded project staff, members of the Community Assembly, Community Forest Management Body and Executive Committee.

  2. 2.

    In the first community forest, I walked to 6 different villages in a radius of 3 hours walking distance. In the second one, I managed to cover all villages (8 plus 4 smaller settlements).

  3. 3.

    15 general focus groups with 6–10 participants and 12 women’s focus groups (6–8 participants).

  4. 4.

    Other researchers in Liberia describe very similar experiences (Utas 2003, 54).

  5. 5.

    However, the CRL Regulation also contains provisions on smaller and bigger community forestry indicating that the FDA in practice does not stick to the size requirement of the CRL.

  6. 6.

    For instance, the community forests around East Nimba Natural Reserve, one of the protected areas, only extend to the buffer zones of the park but not to the park itself (Gill 2017, 36–7).

  7. 7.

    Those additional steps consist of the implementation requirements of a Community Forest Management Plan.

  8. 8.

    Deeds are a pre-condition for obtaining a Private Use Permit.

  9. 9.

    The cow business may have been noteworthy for community members as cattle are scarce in Beyan Poye.

  10. 10.

    According to the CRL, no government official must be elected into the EC (2009, art 4.1.b).

  11. 11.

    Community members were unsure about the width of the buffer zone, with some of them suggesting that it was 3 miles, 3 kilometres or 300 metres. FIFES staff members and other the key people in the governance structure took the position that it is 3 kilometres.

  12. 12.

    With the exception of Sehyee village and Zeonghn.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany

    Ricarda Roesch

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  1. Ricarda Roesch
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Correspondence to Ricarda Roesch .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Global and International Studies, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Logan Cochrane

  2. Global and International Studies, University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, BC, Canada

    Nathan Andrews

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Roesch, R. (2021). Under the Disguise of Participation: Community Forestry as a New Form of Land Rush in Liberia. In: Cochrane, L., Andrews, N. (eds) The Transnational Land Rush in Africa. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60789-0_6

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