The EU-funded project “SUSTAIN - Sustainable Forest conservation in southeastern Liberia” valued at $3.64 million United States Dollars has been launched through the Forestry Development Authority (FDA), the Forestry Training Institute, and partners, specifically the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation, the Society for the Conservation of Nature of Liberia, and Universal Outreach Foundation. The regional event occurred at the Sapo National Park (SNP) in Jalay Town, Sinoe County on March 13, 2025.

Speaking on behalf of the FDA Managing Director, Mr. Rudolph Joseph Merab Sr., Madam Nora Garmai Bowier, Deputy Managing Director for Community, Conservation and Carbon, told the citizens of Sinoe County, specifically those hailing from Jalay Town and surrounding towns, and delegations who came to launch the SUSTAIN project that she appreciated the European Union
for funding the SUSTAIN project that focuses one Sapo, Grebo-Krahn, and Proposed Kwa National Parks.

“Sapo National Park is Liberia’s first national park to be established. These parks were established to preserve Liberia’s plants and animals species, some of which can’t be found anywhere else in the world,” she noted.

However, Madam Bowier admonished citizens of Sinoe to in her words ‘eat some and keep some’ for the future generations to come. She said destroying the forest by illegal miners with different kinds of foreigners that are helping to destroy the park with illegal mining is not good.

According to her, there are efforts to put the issues under control in the SNP, and the FDA is happy that the European Union is supporting the Forestry Development Authority through the Government of Liberia and partners to increase the number of communities ecoguards, support joint patrols around the park and build infrastructure. “These are things the SUSTAIN project will be implementing,” she indicated.

Madam Bowier also noted: “Another one is to support the co-management of the park, which is very important. Communities are encouraged to work with FDA to overcome the challenges we are facing. The responsibility will also rest on the communities because the FDA can’t do it alone. Most of the Sapo National Park is under threat, but the FDA needs the cooperation of the communities to remove those illegal miners from the various parks.”

She cautioned the communities to work with the FDA to protect the park, not considering petty cash to destroy the park. According to her, getting minerals (gold) to support their families while the communities remain empty in time to come; in the end, there will be no forest left for the communities due to illegal mining.

“Taking the community livelihood very seriously, the government is working very hard to bring better livelihood for its citizens. Knowing that youths need jobs, the government is working toward that employment opportunity in various ways. Balancing conservation with development, you can’t tell the people to keep their forest and not improve their livelihood,” Madam Bowier said.

She continued: “To gain from our forests through carbon credits is to protect our forests. We can benefit a lot from our forest when we keep it. The SUSTAIN project will establish Village Saving and Loan schemes and women Conservation Enterprises in the communities around and provide agriculture support and livelihood programs.”
For Conservation Enterprises and ecotourism, she wants the FDA and the communities to work together and dialogue on preserving the forest. She said this is not an easy job because there will always be issues, but we as Liberians need to stick together with one voice and focus on protecting our forest to find the balance between conservation and community livelihood. “

In addition, the Deputy Managing Director for Administration and Finance, Mr. Victor W. Kpaiseh, said the SUSTAIN project launch is one of the best programs he attended. He appreciated Jalay Town community for agreeing to keep their forest for today and future generations. “The community proved that they are prepared for conservation and we are ready to keep our forest. We who see to eat all stand to lose all” he stated to the people of Jalay Town in Sinoe County.

Mr.  Kpaiseh stated that it’s good to be prepared for generation contention, when you eat all today, be prepared for the generation to come to condemn you because what was for them you ate all. Jalay Town community will show examples of keeping some by proving to keep their forest and partners come to see the community in terms of conservation.

Mr. Kpaiseh told the community to discourage everyone who came to destroy their forest, pleading with them to be the first to discourage them. He told the community not to sit to shift the blame on the government, he said FDA yesterday were Mr. Harrison Karnwea, Darlington Tuagbe, Moses Wogbeh, C. Mike Doryen and today new leadership is on board and they came here at the time and you saw them, they have gone and you are still here mining your forest, this community is for you time to time.

He promised that the FDA would stand with the community, and please protect the forest. Thanking the EU Ambassador for wanting to see the forest better, madam Ambassador, Liberia is for you and Dr. Annika and the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation, thank you for the hard work and the Sapo Ecolodge, admonishing partners to work with the forest community. Engaging the Legislators, the MOJ, MOD, LIS, and other Law Enforcement institutions to help clear the forest of illegal miners, specifically in the protected areas in Liberia.

For her part, the European Union Ambassador to Liberia, H.E. Nona Deprez, said she was very impressed with the Sapo National Park and the Sapo Ecolodge and the atmosphere there. She thanked the people of Sapo for conserving their forest, stating that conservation is not an easy task, most especially people will need to send their children to school. 
According to her, sometimes you want to choose to take care of your forest or not because the sustainability is in the forest and the illegal mining activities are strongly there, while the temptations to listen to some people that come from Monrovia giving you wrong information regarding your forest will encourage you to join in the forest to destroy it, only because they want you to get easy and fast money in the forest through illegal mining.

She said sustainability is about your children and children’s children, as the forest belongs to the present generation and the future generations to come.

The EU Ambassador also emphasized taking care of the forest for the present and future generations; noting, “Because you want your children to benefit from a healthy environment with forest that is rich with biodiversity and provide goods and services.”
According to her, the forest provides us with safe drinking water, as well as the cultural heritage of our forest that provides opportunities for us. Hence, she wants the communities to take ownership of this project, stressing that the project is not a WCF project or an EU project, it is a Liberia project, most especially the forest communities in southeastern Liberia.

The EU Ambassador said the European Union will not in any way support deforestation in Liberia, emphasizing that cocoa farming or anything relating to deforestation, child labor, or human trafficking can do great damage to the forest.
Meanwhile, she said the EU has a new regulation called the EU free Product Regulation. It means the EU does not want to contribute to deforestation in Liberia. Bluntly, she said cocoa farmers who want to sell cocoa resulting from deforestation to the EU will not work because the EU is discouraging deforestation.

She wants the FDA to get those illegal miners out of the park to save the park because the miners are increasing day by day and the FDA and other Law Enforcement Agencies need to remove them from the park.

The EU Ambassador encouraged the government, NGOs, and local communities to work together for the enforcement. She toured other towns and villages in the Southeast close to the Proposed Kwa National Park, including Judue Town, Sinoe County, Kumah Town, and Tojallah Town, Grand Gedeh County, and visited public schools that are in very deplorable conditions.

During the event, the Country Director for Wild Chimpanzee Foundation, Dr. Annika Hillers, said they started two new EU-funded projects, the NaturAfrica TGKS transboundary project, focusing on the Tai-Grebo-Krahn-Sapo landscape in Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia, project and the “SUSTAIN - Sustainable Forest conservation in southeastern Liberia” project in partnership with the SCNL and the Universal Outreach Foundation.
She said project partners are very much grateful and also privileged for the support from the European Union wanting everyone to work together to protect Liberia's future.
The project is working in Sapo National Park, Grebo-Krahn National Park and Proposed Kwa National Park. Dr. Hillers said local communities are playing a key role in the implementation of the project activities.

“This project will continue to implement the community ecoguard and auxiliary programs, biomonitoring, conservation enterprises, agriculture, livelihood, scholarships, and village saving and loan schemes, and community-based ecotourism will play a very important role in the project. It will also promote infrastructure development for both, the communities and the FDA. However, due to the recent government decision to remove an additional 34,000 ha from Proposed Kwa National Park in favor of mining, the construction of a guest house at ITI, Rivercess County, which should have been run by a group of local women who switched from selling bushmeat to legal businesses, will no longer be possible. Likewise, the planned international research and training site is at risk considering the increasing mining activities,” Dr. Hillers said on behalf of the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation (WCF), which is leading the SUSTAIN project.