Liberia

Background

Learn more about the Liberia-EU VPA, which aims to address illegal logging, improve forest governance and promote trade in legal timber products.

Liberia’s forest sector

Forests are important contributors to Liberia’s formal and informal economies. For many communities, forests are critical to livelihoods. However, some of their practices, including slash-and-burn agriculture, charcoal production, and artisanal logging, constitute major drivers of deforestation.

During Liberia’s civil war in the 1990s and early 2000s, timber revenues were misappropriated and used to sustain the conflict. As a result, in 2003, the UN Security Council imposed sanctions on timber exports from Liberia. The UN lifted sanctions in 2006. Forest governance remains a challenge as relevant capacities are not yet in place.

China is now the main importer of Liberian timber, but both Liberia and the EU expect that VPA implementation will strengthen the standing of Liberian timber products on the EU market.

What is a VPA?

A Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) is a legally binding trade agreement between the EU and a timber-exporting country outside the EU. A VPA aims to ensure that all timber and timber products destined for the EU market from a partner country comply with the laws of that country.

In addition to promoting trade in legal timber, VPAs address the causes of illegality by improving forest governance and law enforcement. A major strength of VPAs is that they look beyond trade to consider governance, development and environmental issues.

Stakeholders in Government, the private sector and civil society develop VPAs through a participatory process. A VPA is, therefore, a vehicle for addressing the needs of different stakeholders and for including many people who have never had a voice in decision-making.

VPAs are a key component of the EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan of 2003. Liberia is one of six tropical countries that have ratified and are implementing VPAs. Nine more are negotiating VPAs with the EU, while others have expressed interest in negotiating a VPA.

How a VPA promotes legal timber trade

A VPA partner country that has implemented a timber legality assurance system and other VPA commitments can issue verified legal timber products with FLEGT licences. The advantage of this is that FLEGT-licensed products automatically meet the requirements of the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR), which prohibits EU operators from placing illegally harvested timber and timber products on the EU market.

The EUTR entered into force in 2013. It requires EU operators to perform due diligence checks to ensure the timber products they place on the EU market are legal. FLEGT-licensed timber meets the due diligence requirements under the EUTR.

A VPA partner country can only issue FLEGT licences through a timber legality assurance system that the EU and the partner country have agreed on, developed and tested. Before a country can begin FLEGT licensing, the EU and the partner country must confirm that the country’s timber legality assurance system works as described in the VPA. Confirmation by the two parties means that the system is robust and will issue FLEGT licences only to legal timber products.

While FLEGT licensing is an important goal, it is not the end point of a VPA process. Governance reforms, legislative and policy reforms, impact monitoring, improvements to the timber legality assurance system and other activities continue.

Through progress on VPAs, the implementation of the EU Timber Regulation and dialogues with other important timber market, including China, the EU and its VPA partner countries are contributing to a growing global movement to stop trade in illegal timber and timber products. Australia, the United States and Japan also seek to restrict the placing of illegal timber on their markets. The process to achieve FLEGT licences may therefore help VPA partner countries such as Liberia meet the legality requirements of markets beyond the EU.

VPA status

2013
1 December: VPA entered into force
1 December: VPA ratified
2011
11 July: VPA signed
9 May: VPA agreed
2009
March: Negotiations started

Flore de Preneuf, PROFOR

LTTC forest concession, River Cess County, Liberia. After logs have been felled and skidded out of the forest, workers cut, scale and re-tag them.

The Liberia-EU VPA

The Liberia-EU Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) is a legally binding trade agreement. It aims to ensure that Liberia produces and exports only legal timber and timber products by improving forest governance and law enforcement.

VPA negotiations

Liberia and the EU negotiated the terms of the VPA through a cooperative process: both parties share the goals of eliminating illegality and fostering good forest governance.

VPA negotiations started in March 2009. The negotiations involved representatives of Liberian civil society organisations, community organisations, the private sector, and Government ministries and agencies. As a result, significant national ownership and stakeholder engagement were achieved and the VPA reflects a broad consensus among stakeholders.

The negotiations concluded in May 2011. The EU ratified the VPA in May 2012 and Liberia did so in December 2013. Liberia and the EU are now implementing the commitments laid out in the VPA text and annexes.

VPA commitments

Liberia commits to developing a timber legality assurance system so it can issue verified legal timber products with FLEGT licences. Once this system is operational, Liberia commits to export to the EU only FLEGT-licensed timber products.

Before FLEGT licensing can begin, however, the EU and Liberia must confirm that Liberia’s timber legality assurance system is working and meets the requirements set out in the VPA, through a joint evaluation of the system. The joint evaluation must satisfy the Liberia-EU Joint Implementation Committee that the system is ready to issue FLEGT licences, meaning the system is robust and credible enough to ensure it licenses only legal products.

Liberia also commits to implementing legal reforms, publicly disclosing information about the forest sector and making other improvements to forest governance. The EU and Liberia jointly commit to monitor the social, economic and environmental effects of the VPA.

VPA implementation

A Liberia-EU Joint Implementation Committee oversees implementation of the VPA. Records of discussions are made public. The Liberian team includes representatives of Government, civil society and the private sector. At the national level, the Forestry Development Authority coordinates implementation.

The VPA includes a framework for overseeing, monitoring and evaluating implementation of the VPA and its economic, social and environmental impacts.

Key dates in Liberia’s efforts to tackle illegal logging

Liberia has made some significant efforts to address illegal logging since 2006 when the UN ended sanctions on timber exports. However, much remains to be done to meet the objectives agreed to in the VPA. Efforts have included a comprehensive review of the regulatory framework, and the development of a national timber traceability system to track timber production and collect revenues. Liberia was also the first country to include timber revenues under the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

1990s
Illegal logging rampant during Liberia’s prolonged civil war.
2003
The UN Security Council imposes sanctions on all timber exports from Liberia.
2006
Liberia enacts the National Forestry Reform Law.

The UN lifts sanctions, opening the way for Liberia to rebuild its forest sector.
2008
Liberia becomes the first African country to achieve Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative compliance, including on timber revenues.
2009
The EU and Liberia begin negotiating a VPA.
2011
The EU and Liberia agree and sign the VPA.
2012
The EU ratifies the VPA.
2013
Liberia ratifies the VPA.
2014
First meeting of the Liberia-EU Joint Implementation Committee.
2015
Second meeting of the Liberia-EU Joint Implementation Committee.
2016
Third and fourth meetings of the Liberia-EU Joint Implementation Committee.
2017
Fifth meeting of the Liberia-EU Joint Implementation Committee.
2018
Sixth meeting of the Liberia-EU Joint Implementation Committee.
2019
Seventh meeting of the Liberia-EU Joint Implementation Committee.
2020
Eighth meeting of the Liberia-EU Joint Implementation Committee.
2022
Nineth meeting of the Liberia-EU Joint Implementation Committee.
2023
Tenth meeting of the Liberia-EU Joint Implementation Committee.
2024
Eleventh meeting of the Liberia-EU Joint Implementation Committee.

European Forest Institute

First meeting of the Liberia-EU Joint Implementation Committee

Liberia’s timber legality assurance system

Under the VPA, Liberia committed to develop a system for ensuring the legality of its timber, through an inclusive multistakeholder process. The timber legality assurance system described in the Liberia-EU VPA has five components:

Legality definition:The legality definition identifies the aspects of a VPA partner country’s law for which the timber legality assurance system verifies compliance.
Supply chain controls: Supply chain controls ensure that timber products verified as legal remain legal throughout the supply chain. They also prevent verified legal products being tainted by unverified products entering the supply chain.
Verification of compliance: Verification of compliance involves checks that all the requirements of the VPA legality definition and supply chain controls have been met to ensure that timber products are legal.
FLEGT licensing:A FLEGT licensing authority will issue FLEGT licences for timber products after confirmation of legality by the verification mechanism. FLEGT licensing cannot begin until a joint evaluation of the timber legality assurance system by Liberia and the EU confirms that the system works as described in the VPA.
Independent audit: The independent audit regularly checks that all aspects of the legality assurance system work properly. An annex to the VPA provides terms of reference for the auditor. The auditor produces reports for the Joint Implementation Committee and the public.

The Forestry Development Authority is still developing and updating the timber legality assurance system and has created new departments to manage the timber legality assurance system and issue FLEGT licenses.

About the VPA Africa – Latin America Facility

The VPA Africa – Latin America Facility supports the implementation of the EU FLEGT Action Plan with a focus on Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs). The Facility contributes to combating illegal logging and strengthening forest governance while encouraging sustainable economic development in countries that produce or process timber and export to the EU. The Facility is hosted by the European Forest Institute (EFI) and was established in November 2019.

Disclaimer

This website has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this site are the sole responsibility of the European Forest Institute and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of funding organisations.

The VPA Africa-Latin America Facility is no longer hosted and managed by the European Forest Institute. This website was archived on the 31st of October 2024 and is no longer being updated. For more information, please contact ipf.info@efi.int.