{"id":2918,"date":"2022-09-30T11:31:19","date_gmt":"2022-09-30T11:31:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/?p=2918"},"modified":"2022-09-30T11:31:21","modified_gmt":"2022-09-30T11:31:21","slug":"communities-protest-for-forest-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2022\/09\/30\/communities-protest-for-forest-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"Communities Protest for Forest Benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Top: Members of the communities affected by logging concessions protest before the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning in Monrovia. Daily Observer\/Tina Mehnpaine<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

By Tina Mehnpaine<\/strong>, with the Daily Observer<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MONROVIA \u2013 Communities affected by logging concessions across Liberia have staged a sit-in action in demand of over US$5 million in land rental the government of Liberia owed them, the second year in a role for such protest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The protesters gathered before the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning with placards. The group consisted of the leaders of logging-affected towns and villages under the banner of the National Union of Community Forest Development Committee (NUCFDC). \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By law, 30 percent of land rental fees the government collects from companies should go to communities. The fee is the product of the total size of the concession, US$2.50 for large-scale forest management contracts (FMCs), and US$1.25 for small timber sale contracts (TSCs). However, the payments have not been regular since 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur people are affected every day by these companies and the only way to give us some relief is by paying us our percentage. So we demand our benefit, \u201d said Andrew Zelemen, the national facilitator of the NUCFDC. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zelemen added that the protest would continue if the government fails to provide the money allotted in the budget was not paid by the end of the year. NUCFDC represents logging communities from Lofa, Gbarpolu, River Cess, Nimba, Grand Gedeh, Sinoe, River Gee, Grand Kru and Maryland. Grand Bassa, Grand Cape Mount and Gbarpolu counties complete the list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those debts amounted to US$5.5 million between 2007 and 2019, according to a report<\/a> by Forest Trends, an American NGO promoting sustainable forest management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, the government paid US$200,000 after the communities\u00a0protested<\/a>. It allotted US$2.7 million in the current National Budget for the payment but barely three months before the end of the fiscal term, it has only paid US$500,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Janga Kowo, the Comptroller General of Liberia, said on OK FM Thursday that the government would pay another US$1.5 million.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent report published<\/a> by the National Benefit Sharing Trust Board shows that delayed payments have stalled projects in communities. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPolitical commitment is weak despite some positive actions taken by the government in responses to pressure from stakeholders,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This story was produced in collaboration with the Daily Observer.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Top: Members of the communities affected by logging concessions protest before the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning in Monrovia. Daily Observer\/Tina Mehnpaine By Tina Mehnpaine, with the Daily Observer MONROVIA \u2013 Communities affected by logging concessions across Liberia have staged a sit-in action in demand of over US$5 million in land rental the government […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2920,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[122,123,1475,126,1391],"class_list":["post-2918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-logging","tag-forest","tag-forestry-development-authority","tag-government-of-liberia","tag-logging","tag-ministry-of-finance-and-development-planning"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\n","aioseo_head_json":{"title":"Communities Protest for Forest Benefits - The DayLight","description":"Top: Members of the communities affected by logging concessions protest before the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning in Monrovia. Daily Observer\/Tina Mehnpaine By Tina Mehnpaine, with the Daily Observer MONROVIA \u2013 Communities affected by logging concessions across Liberia have staged a sit-in action in demand of over US$5 million in land rental the government","canonical_url":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2022\/09\/30\/communities-protest-for-forest-benefits\/","robots":"noindex, nofollow, max-image-preview:large","keywords":"","webmasterTools":{"msvalidate.01":"CA6BD2F84653EA44942A55ABC0B35372","miscellaneous":""},"schema":null,"og:locale":"en_US","og:site_name":"The DayLight - The DayLight is a nonprofit, environmental news website. Our evidence-based, independent and quality news contents tell you all the happenings across nature\u2019s frontiers and the extractive sector in Liberia. From forestry and fisheries to wildlife conservation and climate change, from renewable energy and land rights to oil\/gas and oil palm, we bring you news on everything about the environment you need to know. The DayLight is published by The DayLight Incorporated in Vahnwin Community, Congo Town.","og:type":"article","og:title":"Communities Protest for Forest Benefits - The DayLight","og:description":"Top: Members of the communities affected by logging concessions protest before the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning in Monrovia. Daily Observer\/Tina Mehnpaine By Tina Mehnpaine, with the Daily Observer MONROVIA \u2013 Communities affected by logging concessions across Liberia have staged a sit-in action in demand of over US$5 million in land rental the government","og:url":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2022\/09\/30\/communities-protest-for-forest-benefits\/","og:image":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Tina-protes.png","og:image:secure_url":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Tina-protes.png","og:image:width":974,"og:image:height":437,"article:published_time":"2022-09-30T11:31:19+00:00","article:modified_time":"2022-09-30T11:31:21+00:00","article:publisher":"https:\/\/web.facebook.com\/news.thedaylight","twitter:card":"summary","twitter:title":"Communities Protest for Forest Benefits - The DayLight","twitter:description":"Top: Members of the communities affected by logging concessions protest before the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning in Monrovia. Daily Observer\/Tina Mehnpaine By Tina Mehnpaine, with the Daily Observer MONROVIA \u2013 Communities affected by logging concessions across Liberia have staged a sit-in action in demand of over US$5 million in land rental the government","twitter:image":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/cropped-site-identity.png"},"aioseo_meta_data":{"post_id":"2918","title":null,"description":null,"keywords":null,"keyphrases":null,"primary_term":null,"canonical_url":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"og_object_type":"default","og_image_type":"default","og_image_url":null,"og_image_width":null,"og_image_height":null,"og_image_custom_url":null,"og_image_custom_fields":null,"og_video":null,"og_custom_url":null,"og_article_section":null,"og_article_tags":null,"twitter_use_og":false,"twitter_card":"default","twitter_image_type":"default","twitter_image_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_fields":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"schema":{"blockGraphs":[],"customGraphs":[],"default":{"data":{"Article":[],"Course":[],"Dataset":[],"FAQPage":[],"Movie":[],"Person":[],"Product":[],"ProductReview":[],"Car":[],"Recipe":[],"Service":[],"SoftwareApplication":[],"WebPage":[]},"graphName":"","isEnabled":true},"graphs":[]},"schema_type":"default","schema_type_options":null,"pillar_content":false,"robots_default":true,"robots_noindex":false,"robots_noarchive":false,"robots_nosnippet":false,"robots_nofollow":false,"robots_noimageindex":false,"robots_noodp":false,"robots_notranslate":false,"robots_max_snippet":null,"robots_max_videopreview":null,"robots_max_imagepreview":"large","priority":null,"frequency":null,"local_seo":null,"seo_analyzer_scan_date":"2025-08-15 03:14:49","breadcrumb_settings":null,"limit_modified_date":false,"reviewed_by":null,"ai":null,"created":"2023-09-23 13:27:51","updated":"2025-10-21 23:46:16"},"aioseo_breadcrumb":"

\n\t\t\tHome<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span>\u00bb<\/span>\n\t\t\tRainforest<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span>\u00bb<\/span>\n\t\t\tLogging<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span>\u00bb<\/span>\n\t\t\tCommunities Protest for Forest Benefits\n\t\t<\/span><\/div>","aioseo_breadcrumb_json":[{"label":"Home","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68"},{"label":"Rainforest","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/category\/rainforest\/"},{"label":"Logging","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/category\/rainforest\/logging\/"},{"label":"Communities Protest for Forest Benefits","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2022\/09\/30\/communities-protest-for-forest-benefits\/"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2918"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2921,"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2918\/revisions\/2921"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}