IDH - the sustainable trade initiative

South East Landscape, Liberia

Prevent deforestation and improve livelihoods through inclusive oil palm ourgrower models

In South Eastern Liberia, we link the establishment of community oil palm farms to forest protection to ensure deforestation is avoided while communities have new income sources. We do this in partnership with the government of Liberia, palm oil company Golden Veroleum Liberia and the local community. By 2020, the program aims to develop over 8,000 hectares of sustainable outgrower oil palm farms and protect 70,000 hectares of forest. Further, we will support the community in ensuring food security though income diversification, gaining access to markets and agricultural inputs.

Liberia has large tracts of untouched tropical forest, which are now under threat of deforestation due to migration and population growth. Communities living in and around forests depend on them for food, fuel and fiber.

To develop its economy, the government of Liberia has granted concessions to a number of international companies to grow oil palm, for instance to Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL) with concessions in south eastern Liberia near Sapo National Park. The concession agreement requires GVL to also develop outgrower oil palm, which means introducing oil palm production to the local community.

IDH, the Liberian government and GVL are collaborating to develop inclusive community outgrower schemes with benefit sharing structures for communities and tying these to forest protection. IDH’s role includes, but is not limited to the following:

Co-develop the community oil palm outgrower model with strong production, protection and inclusion elements.
Build a national-level multi stakeholder coalition made up of the relevant public, private and civil society actors that will support the program.
Attract funding from PPI Fund and development finance institutions, contract implementing partners

GVL partnered with IDH and the Liberian Forestry Development Authority to raise capital for investing in community oil palm farms, and leveraging on the investment to incentivize forest conservation. This is part of IDH’s Production Protection Inclusion approach. The partnership will introduce Production–Protection Agreements (PPAs), as a form of public–private–community forest protection governance. Through these PPAs, the communities, the Forestry Development Authority and GVL agree to conserve and actively monitor and manage community owned forests and biodiversity, in exchange for access to investment capital raised and technical assistance to establish community oil palm farms and diversify income sources. The investment model includes an annual conditional income paid to the community, which is conditional to compliance with the Forest Protection plan.

The partnership’s first round investment will be for 4,000 hectares of community oil palm farm land spread over 6-8 communities in the south east of Liberia, leveraging at least 20,000 hectares of HCV/HCS forest conservation. Key investors include the Investment Fund for Production Protection that was launched at the World Economic Forum in January 2017, and GVL as the concession holding company.

Title	Type	Year
Oil palm and forest protection with Golden Veroleum Liberia	Article	2017
Liberia Community Poster	Article	2017
Conveners Guide for Building Landscape Coalitions	Report	2017
IDH Landscapes Forum Report	Report	2017

The Little Book in Spanish

3 Apr 2017

The Little Sustainable Landscapes Book, which was launched at the COP21 in Paris, is now available Spanish, making it available for a large audience base, primarily in Latin America, where it is most relevant.
Conveners Guide for Building Landscape Coalitions

30 Mar 2017

EcoAgriculture Partners and IDH present a “How to... guide” for promoting effective coordinated private, public and civil sector investments in sustainable natural resources management.
GVL, government and IDH reach out to communities for forest protection in Liberia

30 Mar 2017

The Government of Liberia, the palm oil company Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL), and IDH are reaching out to rural communities in a series of workshops to engage them in our collective forest protection and livelihoods improvement program. The program, which is structured in a public-private and community partnership and involves investing in community oil palm outgrower farms, requires the free, informed and prior consent (FPIC) of the community. To explain the investment opportunity and to ensure a strong FPIC-based decision making process, the partners have developed a community poster and FAQ booklet.

Community Oil Palm Outgrowers Liberia

The Oil Palm Outgrower Scheme in Liberia is anchored in the Liberian oil palm concessions, as a joint program between oil palm companies, the government of Liberia (GoL) and the local community with the goal to improve community livelihoods.