On 7 March 2018, a team of technical experts gathered at the FAO Office in Monrovia to discuss the design of the first National Forest Reference Emission Level (FREL) of Liberia. The meeting was organised by the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) in collaboration with REDD+ and hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in the context of their support in establishing a baseline of emissions and removals accounting for the REDD+ activities and performance of the country. The support by FAO to the FDA to support the submission of the FREL is funded by the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (World Bank) in close collaboration with Norway. At the meeting, the technical experts represented various forestry-related institutions, among them - the Liberia Institute for Statistics and Geo-information Services (LISGIS), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Forestry Training Institute (FTI).

Liberia is a country with a significant amount of the Guinean Forest and covers more than 40% of the country. For decades, Liberia had experienced low deforestation rates, but due to recent economic recovery, the forestry sector is in a reform phase. Recently, the sector has increased its investments in commercial forest activities while not always stressing the importance of forest conservation. In the cases like these, reference level becomes a useful tool to measure commercial forestry, conservation and community management as an attempt to reduce deforestation, forest degradation and improve enhancement and conservation (REDD+ activities).

A national forest reference emission level is one of the elements to be developed by developing countries implementing REDD+ activities. Reference levels are expressed as tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year for a reference period against which the emissions and removals from a results period will be compared. Thus, FREL serves as benchmarks for assessing each country’s performance in implementing REDD+ activities.

In his opening speech, REDD+ National Coordinator Mr Saah A. David Jr. highlighted the significance of the meeting and its relevance to the preparation of recommendations regarding the scope, scale and forest definition of the FREL to inform sound policy decisions by relevant policymakers working on FREL design.

During the meeting, the participants identified several drivers of deforestation in Liberia. Both subsistence farming (shifting cultivation) and the oil palm industry threaten Liberian forests. However, it was noted that the latter would have less and less impact on the sector in the future. Other rising drivers mentioned were charcoal production, pit sawing, logging and mining activities. The meeting also emphasized the importance of looking at REDD+ as a complex approach that not only deals with deforestation but also considers forest degradation, forest enhancement and conservation.

The participants also discussed the common definition of the forest. Forest definitions vary throughout the world, depending on factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing and ecological function. Liberia's forest authorities understand forests to have tree canopy cover of more than 30 percent (1 ha area and 5 m tree height), which is not primarily under agriculture or other specific non-forest land use.

In line with the methodological framework of the Forest Carbon Partnership (FCPF), the workshop participants suggested setting the reference period to 2007-2016, which is adherent to a ten-year period criterion with two years prior to a potential technical assessment. The team also discussed how priority landscapes might influence the reference level breakdown of necessary land use area data and carbon stocks from the national forest monitoring system.

The meeting was an important step in Liberia’s REDD+ efforts as it will be used as a basis to further define the reference level of Liberia, which will be a collaborative effort among FAO, FDA, LISGIS and EPA.

During the next weeks, experts from FAO REDD+ team will be supporting Liberia in producing the land use change assessment and in carrying out the national forest inventory. These steps will accelerate FREL definition that is foreseen to be submitted by Liberia by the end of 2018.

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