The forest revenue system and government expenditure on forestry in Liberia
A paper prepared for the FAO work-programme component on financing sustainable forest management
Working paper: FSFM/WP/13
James W. Doe
Manager, Planning,
Research and Statistics
Forestry Development
Authority
PO Box 10-3010, 1000
Monrovia 10, Liberia
Forestry
Policy and Planning Division, Rome
Regional
Office for Africa, Accra
July 2004
© FAO 2004
INFORMATION NOTE ON THE FAO PROGRAMME ON FOREST FINANCE
LIST OF ACRONYMS AND CONVERSION FACTORS
ABSTRACT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
INTRODUCTION
Description of the country and present forestry situationDESCRIPTION OF THE FOREST REVENUE SYSTEM
Status of land ownership and tenure
Forestry’s contribution to the national economy
Description of forest harvesting agreements (contracts)
Guidelines for the exportation of timber and timber products
Charges on roundwood productionADMINISTRATION OF THE FOREST REVENUE SYSTEM
Charges for production of non-wood forest products and services.
Charges on the production of processed forest products
Charges on forest products trade
Other requirements for roundwood producers
Comparison of forest charges to product value
Fines and Penalties
The process of setting forest chargesTOTAL REVENUE COLLECTION AND DISTRIBUTION
Collection of forest charges and production monitoring
Centralised and decentralised levels of government in revenue administration
Total collection and distribution of forest revenueGOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE ON FORESTRY
Expenditure by the main government forestry institutionDISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
Expenditure by other government forestry institutions
Grants and subsidies to the forestry sector
Income and expenditure of state forestry enterprises
Overall appraisal of the forest revenue systemBIBLIOGRAPHY
The impact of the forest revenue system on sustainable forest management
Government expenditure on sustainable forest management
The effect of other fiscal policies on sustainable forest management
Attitude to change
ANNEX 1: LIST OF REGISTERED COMPANIES AND SAWMILLS
ANNEX 2 SEVERANCE FEE TALLY SHEET
ANNEX 3 DETAILED MONTHLY PRODUCTION SUMMARY
ANNEX 4 AGGREGATE MONTHLY PRODUCTION SUMMARY
ANNEX 5 LOCAL LOG WAYBILL
ANNEX 6 EXAMPLE OF A BILL FOR FOREST CHARGES
ANNEX 7 MINIMUM DIAMETER LIMITS FOR HARVESTING
ANNEX 8 EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 04