Liberia: forests as a challenge and an opportunity

The imposition of UN sanctions on Liberian timber helped shut down Liberia's highly corrupt timber sector and bring an end to its long civil war in 2003. As part of its overall effort to support reform and reconstruction in Liberia, the U.S. Government in 2004 established the Liberia Forest Initiative (LFI), a cross-cutting approach to forest sector reform intended to build transparency, sustainability and good governance in the management of the three branches of Liberian forestry: the commercial sector, conservation, and community forestry. The effort quickly attracted strong support from the international community, including the World Bank, FAO, IUCN, EC, CIFOR, and Fauna and Flora International. LFI now functions as an informal multidonor partnership, working closely with Liberian authorities and civil society to implement far-reaching reforms and establish conditions that could permit the lifting of UN sanctions. The LFI partnership has achieved significant successes in terms of multi-donor coordination, consensus building, engagement with host country authorities, and interaction with civil society, some of which may serve as a model for action in other countries.