Liberia

CHALLENGE
 

An emerging body of analytic work has demonstrated the linkage between poverty, armed conflict, and weak state governance. States which exemplify this nexus of human vulnerability and state failure are often referred to as ‘fragile states’-- those failing, whether for lack of capacity or political will, to perform core functions of delivering basic services and protecting the security of its citizens.

CHALLENGE

Artisanal and small scale mining (ASM) is an important source of income for millions of poor people around the world. The past decade has seen increasing numbers of individuals and households turn to ASM, and this trend is likely to grow in the face of high mineral prices, population growth, poverty and climate change. Because ASM activities contribute to poverty reduction in remote rural areas, efforts to simply eradicate the activity tend to fail.

The government of Liberia has demonstrated a strong commitment to improve forest governance in the country, by implementing a number of important forest sector reforms including new forest legislation, the establishment of a chain of custody (CoC) system to monitor and control commercial logging, and the Liberian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative which tracks financial receipts between the government and forest operators.