South East Landscape, Liberia

For each landscape in Liberia, IDH engages a partner to develop a spatial development plan on county level. This high-level plan envisions the spatial development of a county in a sustainable and holistic way considering factors such as forests, agricultural spaces, and wildlife corridors. This should be a guideline for all future interventions or investments that influence the land use in the county. To work out this high-level plan, IDH engages a local partner to develop the Participatory Land Use Plan (PLUP) on district level, which is one administrative level lower than the county. As a result, the PLUP is more detailed and specific to district characteristics, taking into account water use, land cover by vegetation, cultural traditions, community facilities and market linkages.

In 2019, the first Participatory Land Use Plan in Southeastern Liberia was developed with the people of Kpanyan Statutory district (within Sinoe County). The plan lays out the numerous factors of land use in Kpanyan, including:

1. Biophysical characteristics of the district such as vegetation, soil types, climate, water ways, flora and fauna and crop capability
2. Socio-economic characteristics such as demographics, income sources
3. Cultural and governance characteristics, such as community forest, sacred forests and governance mechanisms in the district (on jurisdictional, communities and forests)

These factors are compiled and form a preliminary image of the current land use of the district. Hereafter, different stakeholders were invited to reflect on the land use plan of their district taking into consideration the biophysical situation, including its limitations and opportunities. When the draft PLUP is validated by the relevant stakeholders, the PLUP is finalized.

Following a break due to the Covid-19 pandemic, seven other districts in Southeastern Liberia including Wedcarba, Jedeppo, Dugbe, Jaedae, Putu and Chedepo completed their land use plans in 2022/ 23. These PLUPs together cover more than 700,000 hectares of land.

Communities to play a central role in forest management in Southeast Liberia

Out of the seven districts in Southeast Liberia, stakeholders from across four Statutory Districts signed Production Protection and Inclusion (PPI) Compacts covering an estimated 378,587 hectares of land, 85% of the total area is classified as “dense forest” under their land use plans. Through the compacts, stakeholders will commit to taking collective actions to better manage and protect their forest and natural resources. The signatory parties include the local government, women and youth leaders, community forest management bodies, community land development and management committees, private sector, and NGOs.