Monrovia- In the context of the project, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation-REED+, the Government of Liberia through the Forest Development Authority (FDA) requested technical support from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to design and Implement the REDD+ Readiness project.

With funding from the Government of Norway and the World Bank, the FDA in collaboration with FAO in May 2018 launched for the second time since 50 years a nationwide survey on forest inventory in Liberia. As signatory to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Liberia is committed in reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradations. In April 2018, Forty-five technicians from various institutions including the FDA, Forestry Training Institute (FTI), Fauna and Flora International and the University of Liberia participated in an intensive training on forest inventory.

The second phase of the training to introduce participants in the use of high speed technology for the conduct of the survey started in May 2018 in Monrovia. During the training, participants were introduced to the use of “Open Foris Collect” a new software developed by FAO to share and support specialized software tools required by countries and institution to implement multi-purpose forest inventories. It also provide a fast, easy, flexible way to set up a survey with a user-friendly interface.

Speaking at the opening of the training in Monrovia, Jonathan Wesley Roberts, FAO Forestry Inventory Expert at the National Forest Monitoring (NFM) Unit at FAO Headquarters in Italy, said FAO has the technical expertise in providing support to countries in developing robust national monitoring forest system for REDD+ that also provide broader monitoring needs for sustainable development. Mr. Roberts added that the training is intended to support the Government of Liberia in gathering, producing and disseminating reliable information on the state of forest resources that is vital to decision makers and other stakeholders.

For his part, the project coordinator for REDD+ Liberia Mr. Saah A. David Jr. emphasized the importance of the survey, and urged participants drawn from lead natural forest resource institutions to demonstrate their technical abilities to ensuring the success of the inventory.   Mr. David emphatically reminded technicians that the success of the NFI 2018 is a must. “The first ever inventory conducted in Liberia occurred under the German Forestry Mission between 1964 and 1967, at which time merchantable timber species were the prime concern. This inventory is a national driven one as you are all diligent and proud sons and daughters of the land, whose abilities will no doubt be questioned because we are sure you will provide desired results to moving Liberia forward.” For his part, J. Negatus Wright, Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) Officer of the Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo Information Services (LISGIS), said: “This inventory is intended to take stoke of the plants and animal species within the Liberian forest. It is said that Liberia has about 42 to 43% of the remaining upper Guinea forest, this inventory will make us to know the actual percentage of the forest cover that Liberia has within the upper Guinea region.”           

Mr Wright added that the data that will be generated from the inventory, couple with other remote sensing data will be used to setup a baseline emission reference level, for Liberia. “From this process we will know some of the cure of diseases by traditional medicinal practitioners (TMPs), non-timber forest products, plants used for communication purposes, magical, aesthetics etc,” he noted.

Also Speaking during the training, Mr. Jesse Yuan congratulated participants for mustering the courage to be part of a process that provide data and attend forest use information for decision makers to drive development agenda of the country and improve the forest sector, “This study will provide baseline information upon which decision makers/government will use in the quest for sustainable management of forest resources,” Yuan added. Mr. Yuan who spoke on behalf of the FAO Representative in Liberia mentioned that FAO’s will provide necessary support in ensuring a more reliable and timely data availability from the NFI. In general, participants to the training were enthusiastic, and thanked their respective institutions, REDD+ Implementation Unit (RIU), the Management of Forestry Development Authority (FDA) and partners (Norway, World Bank, and FAO), and the government of Liberia for the opportunity given them to participate in the NFI.