Proposed Sale of Timber from Palm Oil Concession Sparks Alarm in Liberia

Sep 21, 2016 | Jeremy Hance
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In July, news leaked out that Liberia’s Forestry Development Authority (FDA) was considering a new regulation to allow timber logged from palm oil and other plantations to be sold abroad.

The news followed the failed request for a timber sale from a palm oil concession owned by Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL). The NGO Rainforest Rescue started a petition against the potential new regulation and 50 Goldman Prize Winners signed an open letter calling on the Liberian government “to abandon its plan to legalize forest destruction by removing the current restriction on the export of timber from forest conversion.”

The Sustainable Development Institute (SDI), a Goldman award-winning Liberian NGO, warned that the move “will mean the end of many forests.”

Environmentalists were concerned that allowing the sale of timber from forests cut for palm oil – termed “conversion timber” – would lead to a massive increase in deforestation in the West African nation by allowing companies to increase the size of their concessions at the expense of forests and wildlife.