ENVIRONMENT: The Silent Destruction of Liberia’s Rainforest

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Abdullah Dukuly

MONROVIA, Feb 27 2003 (IPS) - ”I’m a Liberian. I was born in Liberia. I want to stay and die here. And, when I die, I don’t want to be buried in a desert”.

Catholic Priest Robert Tikpo, testifying before the Senate last week, was defending a damning report on the plunder of Liberia’s rainforest by foreign companies.

Father Tikpo, chairperson of the Save My Future Foundation (SAMFU), a local forest watchdog based in the capital Monrovia, says, in his report ”Plunder, the Silent Destruction of Liberia’s Rainforest”, that ”the corrupt practices in the forest industry are fostered by the lack of transparency”.

The Liberian logging industry is one of the largest foreign currency earners for the government. However, rural people, who are direct custodians of the forest, have not benefited from the revenue generated from the industry. They continue to live in an abject poverty, destitution and appalling condition.

Eighty percent of the country’s 2.5 million people live below the poverty line of one U.S dollar a day.

Safe drinking water in the countryside is a luxury and health services are near collapse as the nation’s reconstruction and development stand still – the result of a devastating decade-old war.

Liberia – with its vast resources of diamond, gold, timber, iron ore and gold – is recovering from the civil strife, followed by years of divisive political violence. The government blames its economic woes on the international community’s refusal to provide aid. But the lending nations tie their assistance to countries that promote good governance, the rule of law and human rights.

Critics say the government has not explained the whereabouts of the millions of dollars earned by the logging industry each year. A state-owned Forestry Development Authority report, quoted by SAMFU, says production totalled 2,502,068.603 cubic metres, bringing in around 50 million U.S. dollars in revenue, in the past five years.

More than five years after the government of President Charles Taylor assumed power, the SAMFU report observes some 170 logging companies, led by the Asian-owned Oriental Timber Company (OTC), intensified their operations to the extent that they now represent the greatest threat to the Liberian forest.

At an environmental workshop held in Monrovia last week, a participant claimed some companies operate seven days a week at high speed, felling all kinds of trees without reforestation, creating erosion problems and rendering the areas useless for future forestry.

”This practice is contrary to the laws that say that trees under the diameters of 60 and 100 centimetres must not be cut, and that areas cleared must be reforested,” says participant Seidu Karhn.

Some forest areas set aside by previous governments for conservation or scientific research have been granted as logging concession. For example, 284,000 acres of forest in Sinoe County, set aside in the 1980s for scientific research and forestry studies for the University of Liberia, was annexed to the OTC concessions in 2001. When students protested, they were informed that OTC would surrender 50 percent of the profits to the university. But it remains unclear whether that 50 percent has been forthcoming.

SAMFU insists that OTC is symbolic of what is wrong with the Liberian logging industry. The company, it says, ”spearheads the destruction of the forest. OTC has cleared approximately 1000 acres of forest to establish several dozen logging camps and log ponds since its arrival late 1999″. Several dozen roads, of absolutely no value to local people when companies move out, have severely fragmented the forest. For instance, in southeastern Sinoe County, one easily gets lost on the road to Greenville town from the port city of Buchanan, some 88 kilometres south of Monrovia, as roads virtually litter the forest.

Abandoned logs bear evidence of wonton harvesting of logs by logging companies. In some areas, abandoned logs stand as bitter reminder – a massive loss of revenue forgone, loss of critical ecosystem and bio-diversity resource for the sustainable development of rural communities.

”After reaping millions of dollars in logging, the companies have not undertaken any development project in areas they have operated. Instead, as they move from one place to another, they leave behind a people embittered with the destruction of their forest, the pollution of their waters and the sickness and diseases brought upon them,” says Gerald Flomo, at a recent workshop organised to discuss forest concessions.

The most noticeable social impact on local communities where loggers have set up camps is introduction of sex workers, drugs and gangsterism.

Brothels, referred to as Zoe Bush (out of bounds for non-members) have sprung up in nearly most of the OTC bush camps. As more and more hardcore sex workers arrived at the Zoe Bush and began mixing with the local girls in nearby villages, they gradually encourage the girls to come to the Zoe Bush.

”Some of the local girls have abandoned schools, leaving the security and warmth of their homes and families to live with these older girls from the city. They eventually trade them off to OTC expatriates,” claims an environmentalist, who preferred anonymity. There are reports of AIDS epidemic in OTC operating areas.

Local people also complain that logging companies use high-ranking officials to intimidate them during disputes.

When companies move into villages to set up camp, they summon the locals for a meeting. The locals in turn present a host of demands – the construction of roads, schools clinics and town halls.

But they are often disappointed as logging companies put up makeshift structures while siphoning millions of dollars out of the country.

Logging companies, including the OTC, have rejected the claims by the locals. The say they have not reneged on their social responsibilities to local communities in which they operate.

An OTC official says his company has undertaken several development projects in areas it operates. OTC carries out reforestation, provides job opportunity, and constructs schools and clinic, he says.

For Maryland Wood Processing Industry in southeastern Liberia, management says the company has provided a series of social services for local communities. The firm has renovated a high school, paid the teachers, constructed a clinic, and repaired the road and bridges in areas of its operation.

However, a local government official, speaking at a recent workshop in Buchanan, said ”There were promises made to our citizens in our presence and we went for some discussions at the beginning. Many a time we find that when the company (OTC) is trying to go through the forest and even the citizens having their farms, they just moved in and damaged the farms and don’t care who is there.

”Whenever the people try to negotiate for compensation, the company denies them and these are the problems. When they come to local authorities, we put forward their claims. But OTC doesn’t pay heed to you. The next thing they will tell you is that you should meet the president. We have tried in our weak way (but) I must tell you that it is not easy because the government has dominion over everything”.

For Chief Cooper Dongbo of Bong County, central Liberia, it has been nothing but empty promises. ”The time the loggers came here, they informed us that they have come to log. I sent for the chiefs of Goamu and Decker’s towns and we all gathered here. We asked them ‘what do you want to do for us?’ and they asked us ‘what do you want us to do for you?’

”We said we want a clinic, a school, and we want you to grade our road and repair our bridges over the creeks. We don’t want log bridges, because they don’t last. Use concrete bridges or steel beams, they will last. They agreed to our terms but they did not fulfil their promises. They just dodged us and when they were leaving our areas, they did not inform us,” he recalls, bitterly.

When Father Tikpo was summoned before the Senate last Thursday, he was astounded when asked to produce evidence of his report. He said: ”The evidence are clear by virtue of the activities of logging companies”.