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GANTA, Nimba County \u2013 Local communities are firm on conserving their forests but they want direct benefits from doing so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve noticed that not giving funds directly to communities led to too many bureaucracies with limited social and economic impacts on the communities,\u201d said Anthony Sumo, a community leader in the Proposed Wologizi and Wonegizi Protected Areas in Lofa County. The areas are part of the Wologizi-Wonegizi-Ziama belt<\/a>, extending Guinea and connecting to Sierra Leone, and home to the critically endangered pigmy hippopotamus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEvery day we hear about the money coming, but not much of how much development it brought to the community. There is a need to change things around.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sumo is one of 41 people from northern and northeastern Liberia who attended a recent meeting in Ganta, Nimba County to identify new ways local people could benefit from keeping their forests standing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Their views and an emerging report on options Liberia could pursue to generate revenue will be developed into a proposal and turned over to the government and international partners for possible action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Community Rights Law\u2026 and Land Rights Act grant locals ownership of ancestral territories. Up to 75 percent of Liberia\u2019s land is under customary control, including 1.3 million hectares of community forests and 1 million large-scale logging concessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Locals also support Liberia\u2019s commitments to combat climate change, including halving deforestation, restoring a quarter of its degraded forests and reducing gases from forest use. A host of communities run conservation programs and support protected and proposed protected areas, covering 1.14 million hectares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet those communities have not significantly gained from forest resources over the last one and a half decades. Failed logging contracts have left debts, abandoned logs and anger<\/a> countrywide, while communities have struggled to profit from local conservation efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAny benefits that come from preserving the forests should go directly to the people, instead of passing through multiple organizations or international people,\u201d said Sumo in an interview with The DayLight. \u201cThat\u2019s what we have been asking for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those views were echoed by other community leaders in Salayea, Blei, Sehyi Ko-doo and Zor and Gba. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Robert Mahn, a leader of the Zor Community Forest in the Sanniquellie-Mahn District of Nimba, said direct benefits were necessary for residents to manage and maintain ownership. The mountainous Zor, Gba and Blei are conservation community forests adjacent to the East Nimba Nature Reserve, an 11,538-hectare forest that is home to chimpanzees and the Nimba toad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI feel that direct funding will boost our CLDMC\u2019s involvement in decision-making, helping us use our benefits more effectively,\u201d said Mahn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe people depended on these forests from our ancestral days. Now that you want them to manage and protect it in other ways, you need to provide benefits like soap-making, women’s arts, tailoring, village saving loans, animal raring, and more,\u201d said Yassah Mulbah, the chief officer of the Salayea Authorized Forest Community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eight thousand two hundred and seventy hectares Lofa County, Salayea, runs a conservation program, focusing on livelihood projects Mulbah mentioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But other attendees, including Grace Kotee<\/a>, a ranger with the East Nimba Nature Reserve, caution against mismanagement. They referenced an instance<\/a> in the Korninga A Community Forest in Gbarpolu, where townsmen were tried for allegedly misusing US$76,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe think that providing direct benefits to communities is a good idea but we have a little bit of concern about this. There should be a process or system put in place that will make them to be accountable,\u201d said Kotee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All parties agreed NGOs were crucial to communities\u2019 conservation efforts. However, most frowned on NGOs implementing projects for communities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ericson Flomo, the chief officer of Sehyi Ko-doo Authorized Community Forest, called on conservation donors and the government to empower communities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The community has planted 30,000 indigenous and fruit trees, one of the highest totals in the country. Sehyi Ko-doo has an MoU with ArcelorMittal Liberia in which the company pays a dozen local forest guards a monthly stipend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe want to get things done,\u201d Flomo told The DayLight at Sehyi Ko-doo\u2019s border with Gba amid the hooting of chimpanzees. \u201cWe just need the right training and resources to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Silas Siakor, the Country Manager of Dutch NGO IDH, who was one of the workshop’s facilitators, welcomed the participants\u2019 views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBy protecting their resources, they can access funds tied to conservation ownership,\u201d said Siakor. \u201cThe objective is to identify other sources of economic benefits and revenue that you can use for your own development as a community, as an incentive for you to better manage your forest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe idea is to balance conservation with community needs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The next discussions will be held in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County. After that, Inclusive Development Consultancy will draft the proposal on how communities can benefit from sustainably managing their forest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Top: A view of the Sehyi Ko-doo Community Forest in Nimba County. The DayLight\/James Harding Giahyue By Varney Kamara GANTA, Nimba County \u2013 Local communities are firm on conserving their forests but they want direct benefits from doing so. \u201cWe\u2019ve noticed that not giving funds directly to communities led to too many bureaucracies with limited […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":5516,"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":[10,3],"tags":[2858,1258,1485,2861,2859,2860],"class_list":["post-5514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-conservation","category-rainforest","tag-east-nimba-nature-reserve","tag-lofa-county","tag-nimba-county","tag-silas-siakor","tag-wologizi-proposed-protected-area","tag-wonegizi-proposed-protected-area"],"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 Desire Direct Benefits to Conserve Forests - The DayLight","description":"GANTA, Nimba County \u2013 Local communities are firm on conserving their forests but they want direct benefits from doing so.","canonical_url":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2024\/10\/26\/communities-desire-direct-benefits-to-conserve-forests\/","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. 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