-As Liberia, EU Sign 11th Aide Memoir on Forest Products Trade & Governance
By Alaskai Moore Johnson, alaskaijohnson@gmail.com +231-777-889-870 / +231-886-631-025
IPNEWS – The Board Chair of Liberia’s Forestry Development Authority (FDA), Mr. Phillip C. Parker, IV, is optimistic that by the end of December 2026, the FDA and the EU will have all the mechanisms in place to begin the issuance of licenses on the Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT).
It is taking this long because the EU wants to be absolutely sure that every log and “some forest products” leaving Liberia for the EU will have met all the necessary laws and regulations of the West African nation. There are many technical and legal processes to be in place before reaching this milestone.
The FDA’s Board Chair made known his “ambitious” desire Monday, June 24, at the conclusion of the 11th Liberia-European Union Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) on FLEGT 11th Joint Implementation Committee (JIC) Meeting, which was a week-long event held at the Monrovia City Hall.
“I hope that I will be able to focus the attention of the FDA and the EU to accomplish reaching the issuance of FLEGT licenses by December 31st, 2026. I pushed that at this JIC; we will see how we can be able to accomplish and meet that goal,” the FDA board chair said.
It is noted that during the JIC discussions, while the EU confirmed that the VPA has provided a basis for dialog and cooperation, increased tax collection, strengthened benefit sharing and increased transparency, traceability and legality checks, it expressed regrets that after 10 years of implementation of the VPA, legality system is not yet fully operational and that there is still a long way to go.
So, it has now taken the Liberian Government a little over 11 years and it is yet to get its house in order to begin the issuance of FLEGT licenses. To help speed up the processes to meet the 2026 plan, it has been proposed that both parties meet twice a year to review previous discussions and to see progress made. Each of the last JICs has been sponsored by either member. This 11th JIC was sponsored and hosted by the EU. The 10th was shouldered by the Liberian Government.
11th JIC
The Liberian Government, through the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) along with its board of directors and the European Union Delegation to Liberia, concluded the 11th Joint Implementation Committee (JIC) meeting to oversee the implementation of the FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) between Liberia and the EU by both co-chairs — Mr. Phillip C. Parker, IV and EU Ambassador to Liberia, Ms. Nona Deprez — affixing their signatures to the 11th Aide Memoir.
The meeting, which was held in Monrovia from June 17-24, 2024, was co-chaired by Parker and Deprez. For the technical discussions, the co-chairs were supported and represented by Mr. Rudolph Merab, Managing Director of the FDA, and Montse Pantaleoni, Team Leader of the Green Team at the EU Delegation.
During the opening of the weeklong meeting, Amb. Deprez thanked the support team for the preparations done for this year’s JIC and looked forward to collaborating to strengthen the forest sector, ensuring its long-term sustainability, improving its governance and unlocking its economic, environmental and social potential. She took stock of the implementation of the VPA and reflected on a decade-long VPA partnership during which Liberia and the EU strengthened their dialogue to allow honest and frank discussions on forest sector successes, challenges, and delays. Among other things, she acknowledged that there is still much more to do to meet the objectives set so far and emphasized the need for continued hard work. She even mentioned that the EU is also focused on climate change, biodiversity, sustainability and securing supply chains. The EU diplomat stressed that EU’s consumers no longer want their consumption to lead to deforestation elsewhere. The Ambassador also reminded that carbon finance, conservation funding and FLEGT-VPA are linked as legal reforms and transparency systems play a role in addressing these challenges.
Also, in his opening remarks, FDA Board Chair Parker called for positive actions to accelerate the reaching of three major VPA objectives: the full implementation of the timber legality assurance system, the implementation of legal reforms to enhance forest governance and the issuance of Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) licenses. He emphasized to participants that the issuance of FLEGT licenses must be a priority as the VPA had entered into force more than 10 years ago.
Representatives from other Ministries, government agencies and forest sector stakeholders were given the opportunity to make remarks.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) recognized the EU-Liberia partnership to protect forests and communities and recalled its mandate to uphold laws on forest protection and management. Justice Minister Cllr. N. Oswald Tweh mentioned the close collaboration his ministry has with the FDA to strengthen and enforce laws, including the compliance and enforcement handbook, the compliance roadmap and efforts to facilitate the payment of forest communities’ 30% share of land rental fees.
Civil Society Organizations (CSO) expressed their satisfaction for inclusion of their issues into this JIC’s agenda and called for consistent bi-annual JIC meetings and more regular updates within multi-stakeholder meetings.
