Pursuing community forestry in Liberia

Abstract

This article examines the current situation with forest governance in Liberia. From 1990-2003, Liberia suffered a painful civil war funded, to a large extent by revenues from illegally harvested timber in an extreme example of a natural resource curse. Drawing upon the resource curse literature, the paper offers a case study of forest policy reform in Liberia, focusing on the historic development of tensions over land tenure, three C's policy of commercial, conservation, and community forestry, and examines current conditions of community engagement.