The UNDP CBFM team was on a field mission from November 11 to 18 to monitor project sites in Lofa County. The monitoring team visited Yandohun, Yormbu, Kailahun, and Lukasu to engage project beneficiaries.

UNDP and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in partnership with the Forestry Development Authority (FDA), are implementing the four-year project, “Community-Based Forestry and Protected Area Management (CBFM),” funded by the Swedish Embassy.

The engagement of the four communities is aimed at protecting the Foya Proposed Protected Area (FPPA). The project enlisted 27 Eco-guards in the landscape, who patrol the FPPA with FDA rangers to mitigate illegal wildlife activities. 

Technicians were contracted through the Society for the Conservation of Nature of Liberia (SCNL) to train beneficiaries to grow lowland rice, mitigate climate change, and prevent illegal wildlife activities. 

The team discussed the project with the four communities of Yandohun, Yormbu, Kailahun, and Lukasu. After the group discussions, the team visited selected individual farmers in the four locations. The communities expressed appreciation for the project and applauded the Swedish support. 

In Yandohun, the community members were happy with the Project’s contribution to the food situation. 

“We are happy because we got food from the rice, we planted…. We gave every community member some food in August 2024, and have expanded our farm to 5 hectares from 3 hectares last year. We have also given seeds to 50 members from the neighboring Kamatahun community”, said Mr. Wallace Boakai, the Chairperson of the rice group in Yandohun.

“We are happy with the cocoa, and we want to plant more because it can help us in the future,” says Abdul Kawah, an Eco-guard from Yormbu community who has planted 45 cocoa seedlings. 

Under this project, lowland rice production has reached approximately 300 people, (156 women and 144 men) in Lofa County. 

The project also works closely with 27 Eco-guards (13 women and 14 men) in Lofa who support the FDA in bio monitoring and sensitizing the communities about forests’ value to the community and the nation. 

Liberia has an estimated forest area of 6.6 million hectares with enormous biodiversity. It faces several threats and challenges including deforestation where residents heavily rely on the forests for firewood and hunting.

Now in its third year, the Community-Based Forestry and Protected Area Management (CBFM) project aims to boost biodiversity conservation and improve the livelihoods of forest fringe/Forest-Dependent Communities and Groups in Liberia.

It seeks to strengthen the management of community forests and protected areas in Liberia through improved governance of community forest management bodies, capacity building of forest regulatory institutions, empowerment of national CSOs/NGOs and Forest and Farm Producer Organizations, integrated natural resources management, and the promotion of sustainable livelihood incentives for forest-fringe communities.