Gbehzohn Declaration

Read the Gbehzohn Declaration

On 28 February 2023, the Liberian Forest Development Authority and the Liberian Land Authority invited more than 70 stakeholders, representing over 25 national, international, and community-based organizations from the forest conservation and land sectors, to a dialogue in Buchanan, Liberia to reach agreement on a harmonized rights-based approach to the establishment of protected and conserved areas (PCAs) while ensuring compliance with the Land Rights Act of 2018. 

Liberia is, by far, the most densely forested country in West Africa; hosting about 40% of remaining Upper Guinean rainforest. The biodiversity of the Liberian forest is rich with endemic or endangered species, creating conservation concern of global priority.  The majority of this biodiversity rich landscape is customarily owned and managed by local communities with government estimates suggesting that there are 680 communities alone inside the government’s ten priority areas for conservation (among which Sinoe County is a particular focus), consisting of 158,029 people who depend on the forest for their social, cultural and economic survival. The importance of the forest to these communities cannot be underestimated. 

The 2018 Land Rights Act (LRA) gave local communities the rights over their customary land and resources, and recognised conservation as a viable land-use category of community owned land to be encouraged and enabled. This conferred a generational opportunity for Liberia to pilot a new respect for and protection of customary land tenure as well as innovative models for biodiversity conservation that build upon the histories, skills, and knowledge of local communities to manage their lands under conservation principles.

The Gbehzohn Declaration was a major milestone in the recognition of customary landowners rights to their lands, specifically in relation to protected areas, as well as the significance of their contribution to the climate and biodiversity crisis’.  The major decisions of the dialogue, which are captured in a resolution document referred to as the Gbehzohn Declaration, include:

• Commitment to the promotion of a rights-based approach that recognizes local communities as central to advancing the conservation of Liberia’s biodiversity;
• Recognition that customary ownership of land creates an entitlement to the community rather than just an opportunity to benefit from the activities on their land;
• Commitment to undertake land formalisation and respect the right to FPIC (free, prior, informed, consent) of affected communities before the commencement of any new protected areas and other area-based conservation initiatives;
• Recognition that Liberia can meet its 30% national forest conservation target and other international commitments through various innovative means that goes beyond the creation of government-controlled protected areas;
• Emphasis on the importance of mainstreaming gender in all interventions related to the creation and management of PCAs and in the land formalization process;
• Recognising that community ownership of land designated for conservation within customary areas does not require possession of a separate deed. However, organizing the communities through the land formalisation process is expedient to protect their customary tenure rights.