Liberia Forest Reassessment

The Liberia Forest Reassessment (LFR) project is implemented by Fauna & Flora International and Conservation International in partnership with three Liberian government agencies: the Forestry Development Authority, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs. The LFR, cofinanced by the European Commission and the Critical Ecosystem Protection Fund, is the largest externally funded forest management effort in Liberia since the civil conflict began in 1990.

The goal of the project is to promote sustainable forest management and conservation of Liberia’s biological diversity and improve overall environmental management. Its specific objectives are to (1) assess forest cover, protection status, and management of key forest areas and update Liberia’s system of legally protected forest areas for forestry purposes, nature conservation, research, or low-impact human use (such as buffer zones, recreation) and (2) improve forest management decisions, land-use planning, environmental impact assessments, and related activities through a computerized, reliable, and widely accessible data repository of Liberia’s forests and related socioeconomic parameters. This system is capable of continued expansion and updating, with Liberian staff trained to use and update it.

The LFR project analyzed 30-meter resolution Landsat 7 satellite imagery and aerial photography to assess forest cover and deforestation between the mid-1980s and 2001. This analysis provided the first in-depth assessment of the extent of changes in and quality of Liberia’s forest cover in more than 20 years and the first high-resolution assessment. The LFR GIS laboratory works extensively with external partners, especially the United Nations Humanitarian Information Centre, to build on this database and better understand the status and changes taking place in Liberia’s landscape. To complement the remote-sensing and GIS analyses, LFR includes socioeconomic and biological field surveys of significant forest blocks and a process of protected forest policy review and revision. Together these components work toward establishing the necessary foundation in terms of information, tools, and policy for effective and responsible management of Liberia’s forests and biodiversity.