Liberia’s forests are extremely rich in biodiversity and are recognized as a global conservation hotspot. Over the past several decades, the country’s vast forest area has dwindled to an estimated 14.3% of its original size, driven in by commercial and chainsaw logging, shifting cultivation, charcoal production and mining.

Since 2008, Liberia has been working with national and international partners, including the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), to reform its forestry sector. The country’s efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) aim to deliver community, conservation, and commercial benefits while preventing further loss of its forests.

Liberia is now wrapping up its REDD+ readiness phase with important advancements in developing its National Forest Inventory (NFI), institutionalizing its National Forest Monitoring System, as well as operationalizing its stakeholder information platform.

All of this work builds on the National REDD+ Strategy that was adopted by the Government of Liberia in 2017, complemented by other building blocks of REDD+ Readiness, including the Feedback and Grievance Redress Mechanism for REDD+, and Strategic Environmental and Social Assessment.

Liberia’s National Forest Inventory
Liberia forest cover extends over 6.7 million hectares, which is approximately 69 percent of Liberia’s total land surface, making Liberia the most forested country in West Africa.

As part of its sector-wide engagement on forestry reform, Liberia has recently completed its first NFI with funding from FCPF to support Liberia’s REDD+ efforts.

Previous forest assessments in Liberia in 1968 and 2007 focused on particular areas and only produced regional or local estimates of forest resources. Liberia’s most recent NFI is the first of its kind for the country, using field measurements to collect nationally-consistent and comprehensive data on forest resources. Throughout the process that took close to two years, teams from the Liberia Forestry Development Authority have also developed protocols for continuing regular NFI exercises in the future.

Liberia’s online Safeguard Information System for REDD+
Liberia has set up its Safeguard Information System (SIS) to be a free public web-based platform hosted by the Environmental Protection Agency. It gathers national information and provides information to stakeholders on how social and environmental safeguards are being addressed and respected in the context of REDD+ in Liberia.

Liberia’s SIS was developed through a transparent and participatory process that involved broader consultations through two national workshops held in 2018. The principles, criteria and indicators for Liberia’s SIS align with the seven Cancun safeguards This was accomplished by first conducting a comprehensive legal analysis to clarify elements of the Cancun safeguards in Liberian policies, as well as other conventions on land and forest use, including the Voluntary Partnership Agreement with the European Union. Liberia’s SIS was also developed to align with the REDD+ policies and measures identified through the country’s Strategic and Environmental and Social Assessment.
 
Moving forward, Liberia’s REDD+ readiness work-- and resulting emission reductions from its forest sector-- opens the door to a range of potential results-based finance opportunities for the country.