Liberia hopes to turn its forests, once dubbed "blood timber" and felled to buy weapons, into a new asset through a combination of protection and controlled harvesting, a government official said on Tuesday.
ANTANANARIVO — Liberia hopes to turn its forests, once dubbed "blood timber" and felled to buy weapons, into a new asset through a combination of protection and controlled harvesting, a government official said on Tuesday.
"We have classified some areas that are suitable for commercial logging and some which are suitable for protection," John Woods, the director of Liberia's Forestry Development Authority, told Reuters in an interview.
"We have proposed about 1.1 million hectares (2.7 million acres) for protection. That is about 12 percent of our territory," he said on the sidelines of a conservation conference in Madagascar.
The impoverished west African nation's hardwood forests were pillaged during a brutal 1991-2002 civil war that spilled into neighbouring countries.
The so-called "blood timber" generated cash used to buy the arms to fuel the conflict and led to U.N. sanctions on Liberian timber sales in 2003 which are expected to be lifted soon.
The man who probably profited the most from the country's forests, former Liberian President Charles Taylor, was flown out of Sierra Leone on Tuesday for trial on war crimes charges in the Netherlands.
"All timber concession agreements under the previous government have been declared null and void," Woods said.
He said the government planned to manage the resource on a sustainable level.
"We are planning to harvest a maximum of 750,000 cubic metres (26.5 million cubic feet) of timber per year. That should bring in annual revenues of about $100 million. Of this the government should get about $15 to $20 million," said Woods, a Canadian-trained natural resource economist.
"We estimate that the forestry industry should sustain about 7,000 jobs," he added. But he said under the new administration's drive for efficiency his own department was being cut to 350 people from around 510 currently.
Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf earlier told the conference in a pre-recorded video message the government was aiming for a $30 million fund to protect its rainforests, which still covered about 50 percent of the Liberian territory.
Liberia is home to hundreds of bird species and rare mammals such as the pygmy hippo.
Founded by former American slaves in the 19th century, the country is attempting to rebuild from years of vicious conflict under Taylor that left it destitute and ruined.
Source: Reuters
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