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We are not actively updating this country profile. If you are seeking more updated country information, please visit the country profiles provided by Land Portal and FAO. Liberia is rich in natural resources, including valuable timber species, significant biodiversity, and mineral resources, including iron ore, gold and diamonds. Agriculture provides a livelihood for the majority of the population, with most farming carried out on small landholdings, but there are also a number of large commercial plantations. Liberia has an urban-based elite, the descendants of freed slaves from the US and Caribbean. The majority of indigenous Africans live in rural areas. The land-tenure system reflects this division of the population. Throughout coastal Liberia, the urban elites use a Western statutory system of land ownership based on individual fee simple titles. In the Liberian hinterland, indigenous Africans use their own customary systems, which are based on community or collective ownership of discrete territories. At first, state policy recognized customary ownership as full ownership rights, whether or not formally titled. It now recognizes only usufruct rights of possession and use of undocumented customary claims. This policy has permitted the state to grant concessions for vast tracks of customary lands, as well as to create national parks and reserves. It has also contributed to conflict, as indigenous communities lost their food and livelihood source and an important lynchpin of their cultural heritage. In addition, during the civil war, a new national forestry law was passed, decreeing that forest resources trees , as distinguished from forest lands, belong to the state. While key sector reforms have been introduced in the post-conflict period, there is still more work to be done with respect to land policy reform, land dispute resolution, legal recognition of customary rights and the promotion of community forestry development. Two land and property rights issues need to be definitively addressed as Liberia proceeds with post-conflict reconstruction. The first is the issue of the legal status of customary land rights, and the second is the issue of ownership of trees and other forest resources on community forest lands. Key reforms undertaken by the Liberian Government put it on the right track to resolving these issues: the cancellation of all existing forest concessions; the review of rubber concessions ; the establishment of the Land Commission to settle the question of customary land rights; and the enactment of the Community Rights Law, which returns ownership of forest resources to communities. Obviously, resolution of the issues will take some time. Yet the Government faces huge challenges, including the need to jumpstart the economy. The resource sector — forest, mining and rubber — is seen as the main engine for economic development. The Forest Development Authority is poised to grant forest concessions amid protests from communities and civil society. The grant of concessions without a clear resolution of the issues has the potential for igniting conflict. USAID is helping shape the solution to the issues. The Land Rights and Community Forestry Program LRCFP is working towards building a community forestry framework — both a legal and policy framework — and community capacity-building for sustainable resource management that includes biodiversity conservation and livelihood improvement. A component of the program is assisting the high-level Governance Commission and developing policy proposals for administering community land-rights USAID It is critical, however, that the legal and policy framework for community forestry recognize customary ownership of community lands and, secondly, that ownership of the land include ownership of the trees and other natural resources thereon. Otherwise, communities will never be truly empowered, nor will they have the incentive to pursue sustainable resource management. Worse, it may serve as a spark for violent conflict. While the Community Rights Law is a positive development, it should be noted that there are still provisions in the National Forestry Reform Law, the Aborigines Law, and other laws that can undermine customary ownership. USAID is in a unique position through the LRCFP and other land tenure programs to provide technical and legal expertise that can help clarify the issues and their proper resolution for the Liberian Government. Aligning these laws is essential: clarity is achieved through taking all of these laws and facilitating the removal of contradictory sections. Addressing gender divisions of land ownership is also essential to improving rural livelihoods. This would ensure that the LRCFP would make a real difference in the lives of indigenous communities and all other Liberians. It houses the largest remaining remnant of the Upper Guinean tropical forests of West Africa 4. Liberia is also rich in mineral resources, including iron ore, gold and diamonds. Agriculture plays an important role in the economy. Most farming is carried out on small landholdings, but there are also a number of large commercial plantations, including the largest rubber plantation in the world, operated by Firestone. The land tenure system follows this division. The first Americo-Liberian settlers brought with them the Western statutory system of land ownership based on individual fee simple titles the most complete form of land ownership in Anglo-American law, often imported with colonialism and referred to in English law as freehold , while the indigenous tribes used their own customary systems, which are based on community or collective ownership of discrete territories. State policy established by the Americo-Liberian political elite evolved from recognizing customary ownership as full ownership rights, whether formally titled or not, to merely recognizing usufruct rights of possession and use of undocumented customary claims. Early state policy and law which may still apply recognized a separation of civilized and uncivilized people in the application of Liberian laws, including land laws. In law, fee simple ownership was clearly reserved for civilized people. Per the Hinterlands Rules and Public Lands Law, the process for obtaining fee simple ownership required that the tribe be civilized, and limited claims of tribal land to 25 acres per family. In practice, however, some indigenous people obtained ownership title stated in terms of fee simple. All lands not formally titled became public lands owned by the state, paving the way to the grant of concessions of vast tracks of customary lands for logging, mining iron ore , and rubber plantations, as well as the creation of national parks and reserves. This inevitably generated conflict as indigenous communities lost their food and livelihood source and an important lynchpin of their cultural heritage. In effect, they had to buy back their lands from the government to acquire legal ownership. Some groups did so, acquiring collective titles to their lands. Liberia entered a long period of instability, marked by descent into a year civil war — The causes of the war were multiple, but central to it even if not its direct trigger was conflict over land and natural resource rights. These included issues over customary ownership, ethnic land disputes Mandingo issue , and issues stemming from poor land administration systems and capacity. Timber and diamonds were used to finance the war, prompting United Nations sanctions against these resources. Environmental degradation worsened as people crammed into camps without basic services, and dumped garbage and wastes into rivers and other ecologically sensitive locations. During this time too, a new national forestry law was passed, decreeing that forest resources trees , as distinguished from forest lands, belonged to the state. Previously, only minerals had been state-owned. Key sector reforms were introduced — all forest concessions were cancelled; rubber concessions were renegotiated; a Land Commission was established in to set policy for customary ownership and tenure security, improved land-administration and development of land resources; Liberia is adhering to the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme for rough diamonds; a committee on ethnic disputes has been created; and forestry laws were revised in an effort to balance commercial exploitation, community forestry and forest conservation. The Community Rights Law clearly reiterates the distinction between forest trees and forest lands: all forest resources in Liberia, regardless of land proprietorship, shall be regulated by the Authority for the benefit of the people, except forest resources located in community forests and forest resources that have been developed on private or deeded land through artificial regeneration. This repeats in different language the provisions of the Forestry Reform Law Ch. The significant point is not the separation of trees and land, but rather who defines the extent of community forests and whether traditional claims will be recognized, and who in the end controls the community forest. The donor community in Liberia is transitioning from relief aid to development aid. USAID investments include technical assistance for land-policy reforms and for budget management in the mining sector, swampland rehabilitation, and the development of community forestry. Liberian advocates have argued that land-policy reform and community forestry development necessarily require the full recognition of customary ownership of indigenous lands and all natural resources on those lands. Liberia has a total land area of , square kilometers, including 96, square kilometers of land 9. About 3. About 30 square kilometers are irrigated The inland grassy plateau and swamplands support agriculture. Environmental issues include tropical rainforest deforestation, soil erosion, loss of biodiversity, and pollution of coastal waters from oil residue and raw sewage. Dust-laden harmattan winds blow from the Sahara from December to March. The dust blocks the sun and limits visibility CIA Overall, the main causes of environmental degradation include shifting cultivation, uncontrolled logging, fuelwood harvesting, encroachment into forests by human settlement, illicit fishing, and unsustainable mineral and sand-mining activities Drakenberg and Dahlberg Liberia is administratively divided into 15 counties. Among them is Firestone, whose 1 million-hectare concession is the largest rubber plantation in the world. An undetermined portion of County Liberia remains under the control of the indigenous population Wily There is little information on the distribution among and within the different indigenous groups. Portions of the interior have been allocated by the government to immigrant settlers and foreign companies as well, or brought under mining and logging concessions Wily Large-scale displacement during the civil war resulted in the growth of slums and illegal home occupations in urban and peri-urban areas. The Constitution which replaced the Constitution sets forth a citizenship requirement for land ownership, and with some exceptions limits citizenship to persons who are Negroes or of Negro descent. It also lays down the requirements for the expropriation of land eminent domain , and has a general provision on the treatment of exclusive marital property GOL Constitution The Public Lands Law last amended in lays down the procedures for the purchase, allotment to aborigines indigenous peoples , or lease to foreigners of public lands, and the procedures for claiming back land that has reverted to the government Wily The Hinterland Law last amended in recognized customary ownership, not just usufruct rights, with respect to the Hinterlands. While indigenous communities were allowed to formally register their lands in fee simple collective ownership, lack of formal titles did not diminish or affect their ownership rights Wily Customary land rights are also recognized in the Aborigines Law, but as usufruct rights, not as ownership rights. These usufruct rights include the use and possession of as much of the public land in the area inhabited by it as is required for farming and other enterprises essential to tribal necessities Sec. Lands that were not occupied, actively cultivated or privately titled were deemed public lands owned by the state the definition of tribal was debatable. The Aborigines Law limited the ability of tribes to sell their land, except by public land sales. At the same time, the right of the tribe to exclude others is laid out clearly in the law. Tribes seem to have more than usufruct but less than fee simple. Land in the hinterland is owned collectively; it is only use rights to that shared property that are customarily owned on an individual basis, mainly by individual families. The incentive to seek expensive formalization of communal land is high; experience compounded by legal uncertainty warns rural communities of the high costs of failing to do everything possible to entrench communal ownership in modern title deeds. Recognition of possession is not enough; it is the ownership of the land that needs to be entrenched. Even in , some towns, clans and chiefdoms set out to secure collective ownership in fee simple by buying their own land back from the government Wily There are two different statutes for tribal land under the Hinterlands Rules and other laws: Tribal Reserves and Communal Holdings. Neither of these is fee simple ownership. The Communal Holding is land that has been surveyed and deeded, but it is explicitly stated that the tribes cannot pass fee simple ownership by sale of the land to another person. Only a small number of communities have secured their communal areas under fee simple properties held under Aborigines Deeds or more modern Public Land Sales Deeds , although the areas cover a large proportion of forested lands. In forested areas these include at least 14 Aborigines Deeds and 19 Public Land Sale Deeds which together amount to over 2. The Registered Land Law formalizes the land registration system. It empowers the government to designate areas for adjudication and registration, and requires landholders to register landholdings Wily Under the Aborigines Law, ownership of all lands not otherwise privately titled or deeded became vested with the state. Prior to this law, only lands purchased by the government from indigenous tribes became public lands. There is a dualistic system of land tenure — one based on statutory law and another based on customary law. Statutory law recognizes absolute ownership, while customary law limits tenure to usufruct rights. There are several types of statutory or legal title Wily :. The urban residents of County Liberia, immigrant settlers and their descendants, acquire land rights through statutory law, either by allocation or purchase from the government, or through private transactions with landowners. Some have also purchased public lands in the Hinterland. Indigenous elites in County Liberia acquired statutory landholdings through aborigines land entitlements granted under the Public Lands Law to Aborigines who have become civilized i. Wily Indigenous lands are regulated in accordance with customary rules which do not vary dramatically between the different groups as administered by tribal authorities. While the land is owned on a collective basis, member families have usufruct rights, dependent upon occupancy or use. The usufruct rights may be short-term as for food-crop farms or long-term, even passed down several generations e. Strangers, or those in the community who are not of local descent such as temporary residents, sharecroppers, or a person marrying into a community , are also granted usufruct rights under certain conditions. There is some evidence of tribal authorities and district commissioners giving out land certificates to individuals. There is no basis in the law for doing this, but it is a good example of more individualized rights being recognized on tribal lands. Other tribal lands, such as forest lands, remain open for members of the tribe Wily Some Hinterland tribes have converted their landholdings into collective title or deed under statutory law, first through the Hinterland Law and then the Aborigines Law. Formal title is vested in the tribal chief and elders as trustees for the community. These titles cannot be sold or transferred, but the tribe may subsequently upon becoming sufficiently advanced in civilization , petition the government for subdivision of the land into acre family lots. Perhaps 2 million hectares of customary land has so far been brought under collective title. All rural land that is not under probated or registered entitlement deeds can be assumed to be customary land. Research reveals that there are now more indigenous tribes working to get formal collective titles to their lands Wily According to the Constitution, with the exception of benevolent, missionary and educational institutions, as well as diplomatic missions, foreigners may not own land. Foreign landholdings are in the form of long-term leases for agribusiness rubber located in County Liberia GOL Constitution ; Wily Evidence shows that women hold land in much lower proportions than men. An agricultural survey has shown that women tend to access land through their husbands, and that they experience higher insecurity of tenure Abril Women have fewer rights to land under customary law than statutory law. The Equal Rights of the Customary Marriage Law of approved seeks to remove the dichotomy between statutory and customary laws, giving women in customary unions the same legal status with respect to property and inheritance rights as men. The extent to which the law is being enforced is difficult to ascertain. Community chiefs and elders — who are overwhelmingly male — have a systematic preference for men in allocating community lands Abril Key authorities in the customary land administration system include the town chief and community elders. Some of the most important decisions about land access are made at the town level the smallest traditional unit. Clan and Paramount Chiefs heads of larger units are primarily involved in land-dispute mediation Wily There is high population density on most agricultural land. Communities are shortening fallow periods, expanding into forest areas, and opening up swamplands for farming Wily Disincentives to land investments stem primarily from tenure insecurity resulting from confusion regarding formal and customary tenure systems, and poor land administration systems, particularly the lack of a national land registry Unruh Vast areas of rubber concessions, amounting to hundreds of thousands of acres, remain undeveloped and idle, but cannot be accessed by traditional users Unruh Expropriation of private property by the government is authorized for purposes of national security in the event of armed conflict, when public health and safety are endangered, and for other public purposes. The landowner is entitled to be informed of the reason for the taking, prompt payment of just compensation, and the right of first refusal to reacquire the property, if the property ceases to be used for public purposes. The landowner may also challenge in court the propriety of the taking or the amount of compensation GOL Constitution The inability of the statutory and customary tenure systems to interact effectively aggravates the longstanding divide between the urban-based settler elites and their indigenous supporters and the rural, Hinterland-based indigenous Liberians Unruh The statutory system provides the legal basis for land and natural resource concessions through state claims of ownership of tribal lands , some of which overlap and expand into customary lands. Such actions exclude many indigenous communities from their land base, and their food and livelihood sources except as ill-paid workers. These issues helped to fuel the civil war and, post-conflict, have been exacerbated by the seizure and control by ex-combatants of two large rubber concessions — Guthrie and Sinoe plantations. Land-grabbing and claims of ownership of plantation land by local communities could also have security implications. By , the government apparently succeeded in taking over control of Guthrie and Sinoe plantations from ex-combatants. Some of the ex-combatants were retrained through an NGO program, and others may have stayed on at the plantation under new management Blore The dual system also breeds resentment by allowing transfers of land from customary tenure to the statutory system through land deeds and titles, without providing for a similar transfer from statutory to customary systems. This has facilitated large transfers of land from indigenous tribes to settler elites, reducing the availability of arable land to local populations in the Hinterlands. Indigenous tribes are allowed to acquire state lands only upon becoming civilized World Bank Customary power structures — the control of land resources by tribal elders or big men — has resulted in generational conflict, as rural youth especially males with little prospect of accessing land are marginalized and exploited for their labor. Many of these young males who joined militias during the civil war are reluctant to go back to the same social structures that existed in their communities before the conflict. Some factions have become squatters in mining areas and forest reserves Richards et. Longstanding ethnic tensions rooted in land claims, particularly between the Mandingo and the Mano and Gio ethnic groups Nimba County , and the Mandingo and Loma Lofa County , threaten to become a flashpoint as Mandingo refugees returning from neighboring Guinea find their lands and properties seized by the other ethnic groups. The absence of a national land registry, unclear and outdated land laws, and poor land administration, aggravated by the civil war, have resulted in multiple and fraudulent land transfers. IDPs and refugees returning to their communities including the capital, Monrovia are finding their lands occupied by others, resulting in confrontational land claims and evictions Gregory Myers and Timothy Fella, personal communication, ; Unruh ; GOL b. Unclear land boundaries, caused by haphazard surveys, government adjustments, population growth and migration, overlapping territorial claims of different groups, and seizure and control of areas by different factions during the civil war, have caused confusion and conflict Unruh ; GOL b; Wily It was tasked with forming a Land Commission to facilitate reforms in land policy, law and programs. Strategic objectives include: 1 equitable and productive access to land, especially for marginalized groups; 2 land tenure security, including on customary lands, and the rule of law in land dealings and dispute resolution; 3 effective land administration and management; and 4 promotion of investment in and development of land resources GOL c. Following the establishment of this Commission, a number of donors, including USAID, have started to support its work in addressing land tenure and property rights challenges. The World Bank and UN Habitat are providing technical assistance to the Land Commission to: 1 define in more detail a research agenda; 2 assist in the management and execution of research; and 3 ensure the integration of lessons learned into the policy formulation process. The Rubber Plantation Task Force established jointly with the United Nations Mission in Liberia evaluates rubber concessions, including the size of a concession granted versus the area of a concession developed, and plantation conditions. The Ministry of Agriculture is working to bring back the two plantations controlled by ex-combatants Unruh ; Blore USAID is shifting its aid focus from post-conflict relief projects to reconstruction and development. Among other donors, it currently provides some technical assistance to the Governance Commission in developing policy proposals for administering community land rights through its Land Rights and Community Forestry Program. The assessment is intended to aid the Governance Commission and the Land Commission in formulating options for policy reforms and donor assistance. Liberia has six major rivers: the Mano, Lofa, St. Paul, St. John, Cestos and Cavalla Rivers. These rivers flow from mountains in the north and empty into the Atlantic Ocean. Most are navigable up to 20 miles from the coast, except for the Cavalla, which is navigable up to 50 miles. There are also numerous micro-watersheds and sub-watersheds. There is a total of kilometers of river, most of which is shallow, rocky and with cataracts and fallen logs DAI ; FAO Freshwater resources support species of fish. There is wide use of pesticides and dynamite in inland fisheries. Residents living near rivers in both urban and rural areas commonly use the riverbanks for both solid and human waste disposal. Two wetlands have been designated as Ramsar sites: 1 Gbedin Wetlands in the north 25 hectares ; and 2 Kpatawee Wetlands within the rainforest zone hectares. Ramsar sites are wetlands of international significance in terms of ecology, botany, zoology, limnology or hydrology Ramsar Convention for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands, recognizing the fundamental ecological functions of wetlands and their economic, cultural, scientific and recreational value DAI Internal groundwater is estimated at 60 cubic kilometers per year. Although water supply is abundant, clean water has become a scarce resource as a result of pollution and the destruction of water supply systems during the war. The main constraints to effective water management are a weak legal framework, destruction of physical infrastructure, lack of institutional capacity for delivery of services and resource monitoring, and severe financial constraints. There is also a lack of recognition or appreciation for the role of freshwater wetlands in providing ecosystem services DAI Liberia lacks a comprehensive legal framework to govern water-resources management. There is no effective national water policy to guide resource development, use and conservation. The National Rural Water Program was established in the s successor to the Rural Water Program established in to provide rural populations with water wells. There are no in-depth studies on freshwater resources or water tenure. As a result, there is little information on water rights in Liberia. Traditionally, some communities claim customary rights over certain water resources, such as a section of a local river or a spring, but these are undocumented and not recognized in statutory law. The Constitution states that every person shall have the right to own property alone as well as in association with others; provided that only Liberian citizens shall have the right to own real property within the Republic GOL Constitution , Art. Inland fisheries are underdeveloped. There are an estimated boats on the river system but only about of these are registered. Migrant fisherfolk with large motorized boats and advanced technologies generally out-compete the resident fisherfolk. There is little control over net mesh size and there is widespread use of pesticides and dynamite for fishing FAO ; DAI The declaration of Gbedin Wetlands as a Ramsar site has caused conflict between the government and local communities, due to lack of prior information and consultation, and an unclear boundary for the Ramsar site DAI Groundwater, though of relatively high quality, has not been fully developed. Liberia does not have adequate hydrogeological programs. Aquifers have not been fully mapped to determine extent and water quantity. Greater Monrovia had the most sophisticated water system in the country, but it was largely destroyed during the civil war. In the rural areas, rivers, streams and ponds are the main water sources, but are of poor quality. Pollution of water sources is directly attributed to human action, resulting in outbreaks of diarrhea, cholera, typhoid and malaria UNDP and EPA By tradition, women and children are responsible for fetching water for the family, spending several hours each day on the activity. Women are also involved in small-scale fish-processing, mainly fish-smoking EC Key line agencies regarding water resources include: 1 the Liberian Hydrological Services under the Ministry of Land, Mines and Energy which serves as a research arm, conducts hydrometric measurements, and provides technical support to other agencies on waterworks and hydropower development; 2 the National Bureau of Fisheries under the Ministry of Agriculture, charged with conserving all fish resources and aquatic environments; and 3 the Division of Environmental and Occupational Health under the Ministry of Health and Social welfare, which monitors environmental impacts from water pollution DAI Other relevant agencies include: 1 the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation, charged with supplying safe drinking water to the public and providing wastewater collection and disposal; and 2 the Environmental Protection Agency EPA, created in , which manages environmental quality and coordinates all activities relating to environmental protection and the sustainable use of natural resources. Municipalities are responsible for wastewater collection and disposal within their jurisdictions DAI The government is currently focused on emergency repairs of water systems and infrastructure. A guiding principle of the policy is that freshwater is a finite and vulnerable resource DAI The Environment Protection and Management Law empowers the EPA to develop and publish national guidelines for solid-waste management in cooperation with relevant institutions and in consultation with other stakeholders. The National Environment Policy is definitive on waste management and sanitation and proposes several strategic policy measures to address the gaps in this sector, which include: fragmented environmental policies; insufficient political commitment; absence of an institutional framework for non-domestic types of waste; absence of a national integrated waste management system; and inadequate equipment and infrastructure UNDP and EPA USAID supported the Integrated Inland Valley Swamp Rehabilitation and Development Project, which provided employment for ex-combatants in the rehabilitation and development of fish ponds and rice paddies. Official estimates place forest cover at about 4. Other estimates, such as that of the FAO, report a lower figure of 3. Commercial logging also largely funded the civil war, prompting the United Nations Security Council to impose sanctions on the export of Liberian timber in The sanctions were lifted in after forest sector reforms Blore ; GOL Forests play an important direct and indirect role in the daily lives of most Liberians. About one-third of the population lives in rural areas and depends on forests for farmland, animal protein bushmeat , timber, traditional medicines, energy wood-derived domestic fuels , and healthy watersheds for fish and clean water. Traditional secret societies Poro and Sande use isolated forest areas for ceremonial and training purposes Lomax ; Methot and Veit Forests are an integral part of community domains and are collectively owned under customary rules of access and use. Non-members cannot hunt, fell trees, farm or use forest resources without the permission of the owning community. By custom, community members cannot enter deep, intact forests, clear land for farming or fell trees without the permission of traditional elders. In practice, however, rural people are moving into the forest and establishing new farms Wily The rate of deforestation is estimated to be 12, hectares annually 0. A series of post-conflict sector reforms were launched in 1 Executive Order No. Under Liberian law, forest land is distinct from forest resources. The National Forestry Reform Law provides that all forest resources belong to the state, except forest resources located in communal forests, and forest resources developed on private or deeded land through artificial regeneration. Through its ownership of nearly all forest resources, the government essentially decides how forest land will be distributed, including forest land used for conservation, commercial logging and community use. This brings a host of tenure issues. Foremost, the National Forestry Reform Law disregards pre-existing customary ownership interests over forests recognized in earlier laws Hinterland Law and Aborigines Law , some of which have been converted into formal collective titles. Under the new law, communities will have specifically defined and state-proclaimed communal forests which they can use only on a non-commercial basis Lomax ; Wily The forestry policy states that community forestry will be of roughly equal priority to other uses, but the general legal framework and direction of government efforts clearly favor commercial forestry and conservation. To date, only 0. The National Forestry Reform Law is unclear with respect to resolving competing land claims. Landowners and occupants are barred under the law from using forest resources except as permitted under the law, and are barred from preventing use of their land by others who have been granted permission by the government although they are entitled to just compensation. Apart from public notice and opportunity for public comment, the government has no duty per se to consult, investigate or adjudicate existing land claims in establishing nature parks or nature reserves. About 2. The majority of proposed sites for the resumption of logging and the creation of additional conservation areas are within these various collective deeds Lomax ; Wily However, it has been noted that land rental fees are much smaller than stumpage fees fees for harvesting forest resources , leaving communities with a disproportionately small share compared to their loss and the negative impacts of logging. Likewise, local communities have no parity of bargaining power with concession holders and have no control over fundamental aspects of the social agreements. Experience in other countries has shown that social contracts in general do not provide the benefits expected to local communities Lomax ; Methot and Veit The Forest Development Authority is the main forestry institution. It provides forestry planning, develops policy, and administers forestry laws, concession agreements and national parks. Other institutions with forestry roles include: 1 the Environmental Protection Agency, the principal agency for the management of the environment; 2 the National Environmental Policy Council, the environmental policy-making body; 3 the Forestry Training Institute in Tubmanburg to provide vocational training; and 4 The College of Agriculture and Forestry at the University of Liberia, which provides degree-level training in forestry. The Community Rights Law with respect to Forest Lands was passed by the Liberian Senate and House of Representatives in September , and subsequently signed by the president and passed into law on 16 October The Law gives statutory recognition to customary ownership of both forests and forest resources within community lands, provides for the management of community forests by community forest management bodies, and requires prior informed consent of the community for concessions to be made on community lands. The Community Forestry Management Body is appointed by the Community Assembly which is composed of county legislators. The Law amends contradictory provisions of the National Forestry Reform Law and establishes precedence over it. The Land Commission constituted by the Governance Commission is expected to clarify the legal status of customary forest lands. Other minerals include rutile, clay, kyanite and silica sand. There is also exploration for uranium and petroleum. Iron-ore mining is the main activity and has dominated the industry for more than two decades. Liberia was the second-largest producer of iron ore in Africa before , but the industry suffered a setback in the s due to a decline in the world steel market, and completely shut down in due to the civil war. Gold and diamond mining are limited to alluvial and small-scale operations with official estimates of over , artisanal miners in Liberia International Alert, however, estimates around , to , diggers. Cross-border smuggling is rampant. The United Nations Security Council imposed sanctions on the export of rough diamonds from Liberia in , after confirming that diamonds labeled conflict diamonds were being used to fund the civil war and were implicated in destabilizing incursions into Sierra Leone. The sanctions further discussed below were lifted in Blore The mining sector faces major challenges with unrecorded production, poor working conditions, and a variety of environmental and social problems. The Constitution bestows ownership of all mineral resources to the state. The New Mining Law of promulgated in reiterates state ownership of all mineral resources, and provides an exploration and licensing system for mining. An amendment, Chapter 40 of the New Minerals and Mining Law, added controls on the export, import and transit of rough diamonds. The mining law also provides guidelines for the mitigation of adverse effects of mining or prospecting on the physical environment and the prevention of mining related accidents and health hazards. The Public Procurement and Concessions Act requires public tendering of all concessions, including mining exploration concessions with the Public Procurement and Concessions Commission. The Act states that it supersedes the Mining Law. During the civil war, all major mines were closed, and the contribution of the sector to the economy declined to negligible levels for almost 15 years. Proceeds from small-scale diamond mining largely financed the war GOL d. Small-scale alluvial diamond mining continued in Liberia under the UN sanctions regime. Diamonds and gold are often found together in Liberia, and miners continued operating under cover of gold mining licenses. Industrial mining operations for diamonds, gold and iron ore resulted in the clearance, excavation and flooding of tropical rainforest and farmlands, the collapsing of riverbanks, and the damming or diverting of river courses. In most cases, there are no post-extraction plans. Small-scale artisanal operations typically involve the digging of pits within alluvial river channels. Individual miners exploit gravel beds that lie on or near the surface. They often have no comparable alternative employment opportunities, and work in sub-standard conditions using low cost, simple tools. Women have very little participation in the mining sector, comprising only 7. The Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy coordinates and regulates all mining activities and issues mining licenses. Government efforts to revitalize the mining sector as a key driver for economic growth and poverty reduction has resulted in the following initiatives: 1 creation of the Mining Cadastre Information Management System designed to minimize conflict in awarding mineral titles and improve information on mineral inventories and other crucial mineral development parameters; 2 drafting of a national Mineral Policy which will serve as a framework for the sector currently undergoing a stakeholders validation process and expected to be completed by April ; 3 completion of a Model Mineral Development Agreement; and 4 issuance of 33 new mineral exploration licenses, adding to the 53 existing licenses GOL d. There is limited donor intervention in the mining sector. USAID has also recently launched an initiative to address artisanal mining which will include a review and documentation of licenses. The PRADD program will implement a land rights formalization methodology to help artisanal diamond miners achieve clear, secure and publicly-acknowledged rights to land and resources. The land rights clarification process is complemented by training and technical support in alternative livelihoods strategies for economic development. Skip to content. Overview Liberia is rich in natural resources, including valuable timber species, significant biodiversity, and mineral resources, including iron ore, gold and diamonds. Key Issues and Intervention Constraints Two land and property rights issues need to be definitively addressed as Liberia proceeds with post-conflict reconstruction. There are several types of statutory or legal title Wily : Land Deed: covers allocations made to the original immigrant settlers by the colonization societies from onwards out of lands purchased from indigenous tribes. Aborigines Land Deed: collective title granted to indigenous tribes under the Hinterland Law and later the Aborigines Law. Public Land Sale Deed: title acquired through the purchase of public land, either by a settler or citizen meaning civilized Liberian. Public lands may be allocated to tribal peoples who have become civilized, in fee simple, but only in the amount allowed, 25 acres per family. There was a practice of past presidents selling tribes their own land, but these sales seemingly did not follow the letter of the law technically this would have been a sale to a citizen. As a result, indigenous tribe acquired land on a collective basis. Warranty Deed: title acquired through the purchase of privately owned land. Leasehold : right of possession and use granted by a person or the government, for a specified period and under certain conditions. Show more. Show less. View Full Profile. Mulbah Zig Forkpa, Jr.

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