Country:

Liberia

Region:

Africa

Date:

2015

Implementor:

SDI in collaboration with the Forestry Development Authority (FDA); Global Witness and Liberia’s NGO Coalition

Funding Amount:

$71,214

Details:

The SRM funded the production of a conference in Liberia, which convened over 200 participants, including local community members, policymakers, researchers, and civil society from the local, national, and international levels. Over twenty speakers shared valuable lessons in the sustainable use and management of forest resources and garnered political buy-in for a shared vision for Liberia’s forests. Dr. Edward McClain, the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, represented the President of the Republic of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and delivered closing remarks at the conference on her behalf. The Ministers’s speech highlighted the government’s commitment to rights-based forest resource management, with an emphasis on the government’s ambitious land reform, in which the draft Land Rights Act is a key instrument.