New illegal logging threatens Liberia’s forests amid vague ban

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The country’s Forestry Development Authority says it has banned production of this type of timber, but campaigners say it has done little to publicize the ban or prevent traffickers from exploiting this loophole. Kpokolo stacked in a container in Lofa County in 2019. Image courtesy Civil Society-led Independent Forest Monitoring; kpokolo in a forest clearing in Gbarpolu County, Liberia in 2022. Image courtesy The Daylight.“Block wood” or kpokolo, meaning “thick and heavy” in the local Kpelle language, is also processed on-site in the forest, but it differs sharply in size and class from timber destined for local use.

“We have ordered all our checkpoint staff members to stop the issuance of waybills for all sawn timbers with a thickness above two inches because this is the dimensional range of thickness that is prone to illegal exportation,” Kamara told the newspaper. “Any statement needs to explain exactly what is being banned and why. Otherwise, it will be open to challenge, either by people arguing they didn’t know was banned, or by outright legal challenge,” Young added.But no attempts have been made to auction the seized wood as mandated by law, and the case against the alleged traffickers hasn’t moved forward.

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