{"id":1233,"date":"2021-08-02T03:06:01","date_gmt":"2021-08-02T03:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/?p=1233"},"modified":"2021-08-03T18:29:13","modified_gmt":"2021-08-03T18:29:13","slug":"logging-communities-to-protest-over-us5-5m-government-owes-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2021\/08\/02\/logging-communities-to-protest-over-us5-5m-government-owes-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Logging Communities To Protest Over US$5.5M Government Owes Them"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Banner Image: Elders of Gbi-Doru District, Nimba County, stage a sleep-in protest at the headquarters of the Forestry Development Authority in Paynesville in 2019. The DayLight\/James Harding Giahyue<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
By James Harding Giahyue<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
MONROVIA \u2013 Rural communities in Liberia affected by large-scale logging concession will on Tuesday begin a weeklong sit-in protest at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning for more than US$5.5 million the government owes them in land rental fees, their union said on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MONROVIA \u2013 Rural communities in Liberia affected by large-scale logging concession will on Tuesday begin a weeklong sit-in protest at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning for more than US$5.5 million the government owes them in land rental fees, their union said on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are calling on the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning to ensure that communities affected by logging operations in Liberia get their just benefits, especially the 30 percent shares of land rental fees paid by logging companies to the government of Liberia,\u201d the National Union of Community Forestry Development Committee (NUCFDC) said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The union called on the Ministry of Finance to make sure it apportions at least US$2 million into the next national budget whose hearings are ongoing at the Legislature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government\u2019s failure to pay communities their share of land rental fees is a violation of the National Forestry Reform Law of 2006. The law mandates the government to transfer 30 percent of land rental fees logging companies pay to communities for development purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the NUCFDC said that has not happened since the fiscal year 2015\/2016. The government has paid only US$2.6 million since the law came into being and still owes communities over US$5.5 million from the US$27.7 million it has collected from loggers ever since.<\/p>\n\n\n\nVincent Doe, the president of the National Union of Community Forest Development Committee, reads the group’s petition at the Legislature on September 3, 2020. The DayLight\/Harry Browne <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
The outstanding amount also undermines Liberia\u2019s Volunteer Partnership Agreement (VPA) with the European Union, which calls for fair sharing of timber resources. It also contravenes the community pillar of the country\u2019s forestry reform, which ended decades in which rural areas did not benefit from forest resources and had no say in forest governance. The peak of that marginalization happened during Liberia\u2019s bloody 14-year civil war, which saw warring factions use logging proceeds to fund their wars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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