By Joseph O. Sayon
Liberia’s Forestry Development Authority in collaboration with the Society for the Conservation of Nature(SCNL)has ended a one-day validation workshop on the draft comprehensive and well structure Park Management Plan for the effectively operations of the Gola Forest National Park (GFNP).
The workshop was attended by indigenous citizens of Gbarpolu and Grand Cape Mount Counties where the Gola Forest National Park is situated.
The Management Plan when completed, will be used over the period of five years to govern activities at the Gola Forest National Park which was legislated in 2016 by the government of Liberia through the National Legislature.
The one-day validation workshop was organized by the Forestry Development Authority in collaboration with the Society for the Conservation of Nature of Liberia (SCNL) with support from Rainforest Trust, United states Agency for International Development (USAID) through the West Africa Biodiversity and Climate Change (WABiCC) and the World Bank.
The workshop afforded citizens of Gbarpolu and Grand Cape Mount Counties the opportunity individually to scrutinize the draft GFNP management Plan to ensure that the document suit the reality in managing the park.
Speaking at the start of the validation workshop Friday, April 26, 2019, Society for the Conservation of Nature of Liberia (SCNL) Executive Director Michael F. Garbo said that it is important for citizens of the two counties to contribute to the development of the plan as they are the direct beneficiaries of the document.
Mr. Garbo noted that it will be unfair for such significant document to be finalized without the inputs of the indigenous people who the plan will affect.
“You can’t do document for people behind them, we want everyone to make their inputs”, he asserted. “Everything that we for living starts from the forest”.
“We have come here today to discuss what we all have put together” Garbo continues.
He assured them that following their inputs on the draft management plan final copy will be shared with the donor community for possible funding to begin proper management of the national park for the benefit of all communities and the country at large.
In remark, Rainforest Trust Africa Coordinator, James P. Lewis said his organization was very pleased for the validation of the GFNP management plan and expressed his entity’s commitment in supporting the full implementation of the document.
According to him, the World was watching when in 2016, Liberia passed into law the Gola Forest National Park Act.
James Lewis: “Any decision taken here today will go down in history”.
Forestry Development Authority (FDA) Technical Manager Blama Goll, who represented the Managing Director assured citizens of Gbarpolu and Grand Cape Mount Counties that whatever inputs they make will be considered.
He said the document is clear and that the ideas of all the participants will make the document viable.
Speaking on behalf of the local chiefs, Porkpa District Paramount Chief Jamiatu A. Watson said to citizens of both Counties that the government made no mistake in establishing the Gola Forest National Park in their area.
Madam Watson insisted that besides conservation, the creation of the Park has many benefits that will transform the living condition of citizens from the two counties.
As part of the validation process, the lead consultant for the drafting of the Gola Forest National Park management plan, Dr. Samuel Kofa gives summary of various chapters of document after which participants divided themselves into groups to critically look at the GFNP management plan to make inputs.
The Gola Forest Management plan contains 105 pages and about 11 chapters that have detailed explanation about how the park will be managed for the next five years.
The sub-regional validation workshop is the first and will pave the way for the conduct of the National validation workshop in Monrovia on April 30, 2019.
About Gola Forest National Park
The 219,609-acre Gola Forest National Park, which is only the second national park in the country. It is located in Gbarpolu and Grand Cape Mount counties, along the border with Sierra Leone, where the park creates a transboundary complex of protection with Sierra Leone’s Gola Rainforest National Park.
