A cleared forestland in Gbarpolu County/ James Harding GiahyueMonrovia – The Land Rights Law (LRL) is a milestone legal instrument, but if “gaps” within the law are not bridged and its “contradictions” to the Community Rights Law (CRL) of 2009 with Respect to Forest Lands not addressed, the law could undermine Liberia’s land reform process. This is according to two policy briefs by the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) released last Thursday in Monrovia. The policy brief on land rights calls for public awareness on new land ownership rights, especially on the provisions on the protection of rural communities. “It is a crucial step in creating an environment where the Land Rights Law…will be effectively implemented,” it says. “In the Community Rights Law it broadens it, but in the Land Rights Law there will be in the future competing claims to the land,” said Jonathan Yiah, SDI’s lead campaigner on community forest rights, during the release of the policy briefs.

Source: Front Page Africa March 11, 2019 20:14 UTC