FairFields Consulting

Landscapes level planning in Liberia:National Biodiversity Offsets Scheme

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Why Liberia: Remaining Upper Guinean forest

Liberia 42% Cote d’Ivoire 28% Ghana 16%

Guinea 8% Sierra Leone 5% Togo 1%

Liberia

Cote d’Ivoire Sierra Leone

Burkina FasoMali

Ghana

Guinea

Togo

Benin

FFI/FDA/RSPB Camera Traps in Wonegizi and Gola 2012/13

The Challenge: Conservation progress has been very slow

Less than 3% is protected

There is a lack of sustainable financing for the protected area network

Innovative solutions are needed, together with strengthening partnerships.

Opportunity: Lenders requirement for biodiversity offsets

Obstacles can be overcome by scaling up through a landscape approach

• Companies may lack resources, yet high transaction costs

• Finding and implementing offsets is challenging

• Long-term protection can be difficult

• Numerous small individual offsets don’t address issues related to habitat fragmentation- perverse outcome would be “islands of conservation

Opportunity: Linking offsets to PPAs

Lake Piso MURBong Mountain PPA

Margibi Mangrove PPA

Cestos-Senkwehn PPA

Grand Kru-River Gee PPA

Grebo Forest PPA

Sapo NP

Gbi PPA

East Nimba NR

West Nimba PPA

Wonegisi PPA

Wologizi PPA

Gola Forest PPA Kpo Mountains PPA

Foya PPA

Source: https://www.ibatforbusiness.org

Kouame et al. (2012)

FDA (2014)

Legend

Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs)

Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE) sites

Existing Protected Areas

Proposed Protected Areas

No longer part of Protected Area Network

Illustration - Mining Projects in the West and Gola PPA

IMPACTS Several Mining Companies in the north west result

in the loss of X hectares of moist evergreen forest, semi-deciduous forest , and associated species

other Species of Concern (including pygmy hippo, Zebra duiker)

OFFSET into GOLA a national high priority site

Companies contribute to the Gola Proposed Protected Area. This could form part of transboundary complex with Gola National Park Sierra Leone

44 Species of Concern (e.g. pygmy hippo, forest elephant, Zebra duiker, White-necked Picathartes, White-breasted Guineafowl)

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The Process

ESIA Credits Payment

PPAs

Private sector/EPA FDA/partners

Offset Methodology

Independent Trust

Conservation Trust Fund

Securing Liberian Forests through landscapes

REDD+

Biodiversity OffsetsExpanding the Protected Area Network in Liberia

Sustainable agriculture and alternative livelihoods

Land use planning and tenure reform

PES

Capacity building

Governance

Rights and interests

Assessment of forest resources

Conclusions

A National Offset scheme can:

• Optimize conservation area selection

• Addressing cumulative impacts of multiple projects

• Reduce transactions costs

• Increasing governmental/private sector partnership

• Multiple benefits, biodiversity, carbon and other services

Questions