Liberia: The Forestry Development Authority (FDA) in Liberia launched a project to monitor illegal logging in Rivercess County. Under the project, which is being executed by Green Advocates International with funding from Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), local forest community members would be trained to monitor illegal logging in Rivercess County.
Green Advocates International would mobilise semi-illiterate local forest communities to use GIS-GPS community mapping tools in implementing the project. The project builds on more than five years of work by Green Advocates International in empowering local communities in the country with the appropriate tools, technology, knowledge, skills and expertise to help communities protect their rights and resources.
The group Lead Campaigner Cllr. Alfred Brownell said that local communities would be trained to gather and record Global Position System (GPS) reference information using touch screen Hand Held Computers (HHC) relating to illegal logging. Brownell disclosed that the GPS reference data would be use to produce a map of the illegal logging activities and reference areas.
Cllr. Brownell added that the project would provide a platform to aid in forest monitoring and remote verification of forest management activities in forest communities and to facilitate series of consultative dialogue for local communities to use maps and to campaign for forest law enforcement actions by FDA to curb illegal logging and illegal bush meat activities.
Source: allafrica.com
