The Gola-Foya Forest Panorama and surrounding forests proceed to grapple with long-standing improvement challenges, notably the poor roads community.
By SCNL Government Director, Mr. Michael Garbo
The Gola-Foya Forest Panorama and surrounding forests are part of the Higher Guinea Forest, that are wealthy in biodiversity and contributing to local weather mitigation.
These infrastructural deficiencies considerably hinder entry to healthcare, schooling and markets for forest-dependent communities in Gbarpolu and Grand Cape Mount Counties.
The Society for Conservation of Nature of Liberia (SCNL) acknowledges these urgent challenges and stays actively engaged in ongoing discussions with worldwide companions, authorities establishments, and native communities to handle them.
Enhancing highway entry and fundamental providers within the Gola-Foya panorama necessitates collaborative efforts, with the Authorities taking a management function.
This requires strategic planning, useful resource mobilization and partnerships that successfully stability conservation with group improvement.
It’s important to acknowledge that no single establishment can sort out these nationwide challenges, the Forestry Improvement Authority (FDA) and the Authorities of Liberia(GoL) bear major obligations on this regard.
In gentle of this, SCNL strongly condemns the FDA unjust portrayal of SCNL in its evaluation report, which claims that “SCNL has produced no seen improvement advantages regardless of selling forest conservation” within the Gola-Foya panorama. Such assertions don’t precisely mirror SCNL’s 16 years of sustained dedication, funding, and conservation efforts within the area, which the FDA is conscious of.
SCNL has persistently engaged with authorities entities, native communities, and conservation stakeholders to preserve forests, assist group initiatives, and uphold Liberia’s nationwide and international conservation commitments.
Notably, SCNL is supporting the Authorities to deliver below conservation over 230,000 hectares of forests and has employed practically 400 youths in income-generating actions, together with ecoguards, ecobrigades, group mobilization officers, analysis assistants, group liaisons, and many others.
Furthermore, SCNL has made important contributions to native infrastructure and group welfare, together with supplying 60 bikes to the area to boost native transportation, renovating and electrifying six colleges and clinics with photo voltaic vitality, erecting 19 hand pumps, setting up a regular concrete bridge between SLC and Kongbor and establishing a revolving fund of over 15 million Liberian {dollars}, offering entry to loans for native ladies.
SCNL stays passionate and absolutely dedicated to conservation in Liberia and can leverage all accessible assets to defend this mission.
On the identical time, SCNL is opened to significant and constructive dialogue that addresses the challenges going through the Gola-Foya panorama.
‘‘We urge the FDA to chorus from unfairly concentrating on companions in pursuit of agendas that don’t in the end profit forest communities, as we don’t see what was left behind for the locals by earlier logging and mining firms besides open mines, degraded lands and advantages for few. As an alternative, we advocate for fostering collaboration rooted in respect, transparency, and shared duty. As a signatory to most Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs), the Authorities should uphold its commitments and maintain the positive aspects made by funding companions such because the EU, UN, USA, UK, Sweden, GEF, Norway, and Rainforest Belief amongst others.’’
‘‘We anticipate that administration businesses just like the FDA will be certain that the GoL meets its 30×30 targets and doesn’t hinder progress. It’s regarding that no new protected areas have been established prior to now eight years, together with below the present administration,’ SCNL added.
