Forests Sourcebook - HCV Resource Network

Box 5.8
The Liberia Forest Initiative: Institutional Reform in a Postconflict Country (continued)
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transparent manner consistent with official Liberian
policy and laws as well as with international obligations,
including conservation and extractive uses,
that is, sustainable forest management.
Legitimacy. Legitimate Liberian authorities needed
to be helped to establish control over forest
resources.
The institutional reforms were part of a broader forest
sector reform process under way in Liberia. Recent
achievements of this process include the cancellation of
all concessions, preparation of a Forest Policy, preparation
and ratification of a completely revised Forest Law,
a vision for a long-term governance structure, and the
creation of the Forest Reform Monitoring Committee.
The World Conservation Union (IUCN) took the
lead in consulting civil society organizations in developing
a public communications strategy, involving workshops
and various media, which proved effective in conveying
the importance of the work of the LFI and
garnering support for measures taken. Meanwhile, the
UN Security Council renewed sanctions and passed a
resolution that the LFI reform recommendations be
adopted. This gave impetus to reform of the concession
system, and triggered a multistakeholder review committee
involving civil society. Similarly, a Forest Reform
Monitoring Committee was also established, with a wide
spectrum of stakeholders. However, this progress was
stymied by the unwillingness of the provisional government
to implement the committee’s recommendations,
and in response the donor community developed a Governance
and Economic Management Assistance Plan for
state-owned enterprises, including the FDA, that would
impose outside controls and transparency.
The election of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as president
was a pivotal event. On February 6, 2006, soon after her
inauguration, she adopted the recommendations and
reforms proposed by the LFI, including the cancellation
of existing concession permits.
With support from the LFI, the FDA started to reduce
staff and select key personnel for carrying out high priority
tasks, such as organizing and implementing a new
concession and forest management system with the help
of foreign expertise; designing the structure of community
forests; implementing conservation activities; and
setting up the long-term reform process for the FDA,
beginning with providing crucial analytical and organizational
know-how for strategic planning. In addition,
financial and technical services required as supporting
elements for the reform needed to be identified and
quantified. To initiate these activities and raise knowledge
and consciousness, three workshops were held on
community forestry, forest policy, and institutional
reform.
Think tank
functions (strategic
functions)
Advisory
committee
Central operations
Regional subject
matter operations
Commercial
forestry
Strategic planning
ORGANIZATIONAL SCHEME
Board of directors
Managing director
Administration, human
resources, and finance
Service and
monitoring
Community
forests, smallholders,
and cottage industry
Strategic services
Parks and
wildlife
The activities in Liberia are a work in progress faced
with enormous political and human resource obstacles.
The future concept and structure of the FDA, proposed
in October 2006 (see figure in this box) is generally
accepted, but has yet to be finalized.
There are many aspects of the LFI model that could
be used to create similar change in other countries,
including the integration of forest sector reforms into
broader governance and cross-sectoral reforms, the use
of a diverse but coordinated partnership of donors,
and provision for a strong role for civil society.
Source: Authors’ compilation using material from http://www.fao.org/forestry/site/lfi/en/.
a. Organizations involved included the US Forest Service, the US Agency for International Development, and the US Treasury
Department, as well as such NGOs as Conservation International and the Environmental Law Institute. Several multilateral
organizations subsequently joined, including the World Bank, the European Commission, the Food and Agriculture Organization,
the International Monetary Fund, IUCN, Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), and World Agroforestry
Centre (ICRAF) (LFI Web site).
168 CHAPTER 5: IMPROVING FOREST GOVERNANCE