Duarzon, Margibi County/11/16/2024: To enhance the knowledge and capacity of community
members and other stakeholders, the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) and partners will
host the seventh regional forum in Ganta, Nimba County, focusing on forest, land, and
environmental issues. The event will take place on November 21 and 22, 2024. It is a bi-annual
event organized and implemented by the SDI as part of the project “Building Legal Foundations
for Sustainable Forests and Livelihoods.”
The event is expected to increase the knowledge and capacity of participants by sharing expert
knowledge and best practices on forest governance including transparency and accountability,
roles and responsibilities leading to improvements in community forest governance, and explore
implications for policy and law reform. It will specifically contribute to increasing knowledge
about community forest governance and filling the information gap to strengthen the core
governance structure of Community Assembly (CA) and Community Forest Management Bodies
(CFMBs) to ensure their roles and responsibilities lead to improved governance of the
community forest.
Others will include increasing knowledge of legal foundations and remedies available to
communities; including carbon and biodiversity conservation, and exploring options to address
emerging challenges regarding community forestry governance including roles of local
authorities and engagement with Community Land Development Management Committees
(CLDMCs). Thirty-five (35) participants including representatives from project communities in
Lofa and Nimba Counties including Community Assembly (CA), Community Forest
Management Body (CFMB), Community Land Development Management Committees
(CLDMCs), Forestry Development Authority (FDA), Liberia Land Authority (LLA), and
Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) and consortium partners.
These regional forums are contributing to increasing participants’ knowledge of community
forest and land governance and best practices to address identified gaps and improve governance
and management of the project’s intervening community forests. At the upcoming seventh
regional forum, discussions will cover legal frameworks, dispute resolution, financial
management, and gender inclusion.
The forum will also include presentations, focus groups, plenary discussions, and group sessions
that will promote and encourage interactive participation. The mock arbitration case scenario, a
key feature of the forum that has continued to generate participants’ interest, is expected to
generate another fascination at the upcoming event given the real-life complex relationships
communities continue to experience with logging companies they have contracted their
community forest. Additionally, emerging issues will be highlighted for information and
knowledge-sharing purposes. This includes emerging forest governance issues relative to carbon
and biodiversity conservation.
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