Liberian Local communities Caught between
the Scissorsensuring environmental and social
sustainability of natural
resources contracts and concessions-the
Case of Firestone, Arcelor
Mittal and Geblo logging co
PIELC 2011, Eugene, Oregon
March 4, 2011
About Us
 Green Advocates is a non-governmental
organization based in Monrovia, Liberia;
 Green Advocates was founded in 2000 for the
purpose of protecting the environment,
advancing human rights protection and advocacy
through sound environmental practices, and
giving a voice to local communities
 Green Advocates is Liberia’s first public interest
environmental institution
 At Green Advocates I serve as the coordinator for
the Rights and Business Initiative (RBI)
Rights and Business Initiative
• The Rights and Business Initiative (RBI) is
centered around monitoring, researching
documenting and reporting on the impact of
business on a cocktail of rights issues
• - human rights, environmental rights, access
rights, labor rights, housing, tenure rights,
etc…
• businesses tend to approach rights issues
through their corporate social responsibility
(CSR) programmes selectively based on what
the company voluntarily chose to address
Rights & Business Initiative Cont..
• A rights based approach requires businesses
to respect all rights;
• they must not have the option of picking and
choosing to deal with only those issues with
which they feel comfortable.
• RBI covers three thematic programs-contract
and concession monitoring, Danger zone/Safe
Zone and Multistakeholder dialogues
Rights and Business Initiative
• My task today is to talk about ensuring
environmental and social sustainability of
natural resources contracts and concessions
• the Case of Firestone, Arcelor
Mittal and Geblo logging co
Background
• Large amounts of Liberia's resources (natural
and financial) have been lost through
procurement, concession, contract and
licensing practices
• that have not met internationally accepted
standards.
• For decades, Liberia’s natural resources have
been managed through a grant of large scale
industrial contractual rights to multinational
companies with very little benefit trickling
down to the people.
Background Cont…
• The sector has also been characterized by a
lack of participation of civil society and local
communities in decision making process
leading to the award of these large scale
contracts
• equity in the sharing of revenues generated
from these grants.
• Information regarding the terms of contracts
made with agents of the extractive industries
remains difficult to access.
Early Efforts
• In 2003, through a vigorous lobbying by Green Advocates in
partnership with several civil society organizations, the
United Nation Security council imposed an embargo on the
export of timber and mandated the Government of Liberia
to reform the timber industry.
• Green Advocates campaigned vigorously for the
implementation of the United Nation mandate.
• In furtherance of that mandate, in 2004, the National
Transitional Government of Liberia (NTGL) appointed Green
Advocates as a member of the Forest Concession Review
committee to review all timber concessions.
Early Effort Cont…
• Committee found no concession holder
demonstrated legal compliance.
• The Committee recommended detailed
reform of the forest sector
• Recommended that each and every existing
forest concession is cancelled.
Early Effort cont…..
• Drawing upon the lesson learned from the forest
Concession Review process
• the newly elected Government established a
Contract Review Commission to review all
Procurements, contracts and concessions
agreements.
• Through the set up of the Commission, the
government agree to improve controls over the
granting of concessions and contracts,
• implementing a basic procurement system
through the establishment of the Public
Procurement and Concessions Commission.
Early Effort Cont…..
• investment incentive agreements.
• mineral sector agreements
• the oil sector
• the agricultural sector “Rubber & Palm oil”
• the scrap & iron purchase agreements,
MINERAL SECTOR AGREEMENT
• Under the MINERAL SECTOR AGREEMENTS
the commission reviewed (43 agreements,
accepted 37, recommended 2 for
renegotiation and rejected 4.
• summary findings:
• Mining Law should include transparency
provisions regulating the licensing process;
• the diminished legislative oversight in
ratification process
Mineral Sector Cont……
• publication and ensuring public access to
concession documents,
• ensuring executive implementation and
enforcement of concessions and contract
terms,
• ensuring legislative oversight of the contract
and concession implementation process
• following up on cross sector coordination of
concession implementation and enforcement.
Mineral Sector
• Accompanying the serious implementation challenges
has been an award of an avalanche of natural
resources contracts and concession
• ranging from the forest, mining, agriculture, service
and oil sector
• amounting to billions of dollars in new investment
packages in all shapes, forms and sizes
• potential implications for human rights and the
environment.
• Explaining the trickle-down effect or how those
investments benefit the average Liberian has proven to
be a daunting task
Sustainability of mining and Forest
Sectors
• The sustainability of the forest and mining
sectors is based on the term of the contract,
social agreements and the position of the
Environment