Community members here in Tartweh and Drapoe chiefdoms are fuming over a range of what they claim are violations of Liberian laws by the country’s forest management body the Forestry Development Agency….
deforestation
New Farming Approach is Luring Farmers Out of the Forest
As the changing climate impacts more and more people worldwide, there are renewed efforts to protect the planet’s forests. Trees soak up the carbon that is the worst factor in causing climate change. Liberia’s forest is one of the largest remaining. But millions of Liberians rely on the forest’s bounty for their survival. As the…
Farmers Say Food Crisis is Looming From Climate Change
The impacts of climate change are no longer possible to ignore. Wildfires in California and Australia; devastating flooding in Asia, make headlines every day. Rich countries battle over plans to solve it.Meanwhile poor countries like Liberia are on the frontlines, facing rise sea levels, higher temperatures, more extreme weather that are threatening people’s health and…
Radio Panel on Community Land in Nimba Country
A community representative, civil society actor and local land administrator discuss customary land rights in Nimba County, Liberia. The panel was sponsored by New Narratives with funding from the America World Jewish Service (AJWS)….
NEW NARRATIVES LIVE PANEL DISCUSSION ON GBARNGA
A civil society actor, paramount chief and land administrator discuss customary land rights in Bong County, Liberia. This story was a collaboration with New Narratives as part of our Land Rights and Climate Change Reporting Project. Funding was provided by the American Jewish World Service. The funder had no say in the story’s content….
Barconnie and Harmonville Community Forest Struggles with Conversation
When the Forest Reform law was passed in 2006, Liberia’s 51 community forests were offered a chance to conserve or commercialize their forests in logging and other deals with companies.44 chose the money. But conservation groups persuaded seven to pursue conservation – protecting their forest resources and promoting biodiversity.It’s not been an easy road. Varney…
Buchanan Seaside Communities Beg for Rock Wall
BUCHANAN, Grand Bassa – Forty years ago Atlantic Street was one of this port city’s busiest streets, humming with stores and chop shops. Today it is almost deserted. The encroaching shoreline has swallowed up structures and is threatening to take out the street itself. Bobby Gibson’s father used to run a popular store known as Gibson…
Buchanan Seaside Communities Beg For Rock Wall To Protect Them for the sea
Coastal erosion caused by climate-induced rises in sea levels and intense tropical storms have already destroyed the homes of hundreds of Liberian families and put critical fisheries at risk. Nine of the country’s fifteen counties sit along the sea coast putting 60 per cent of the population at threat and causing tens of millions of…
This Gas Station Violates the EPA’s Wetland Protection Policy. Why Won’t the Agency Shut it Down?
MONROVIA-It has been four years since a gas station and minimart owned by George Kailondo, the businessman and politician with the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change political party, were constructed on SKD Boulevard in Paynesville. The building, constructed on wetlands protected by the Liberian government under an international agreement to help save an important and…
One Year Since President Weah Declared Rape a National Emergency Activists Say Nothing Has Changed
MONROVIA – It was a year ago that President George Weah declared rape a national emergency. His announcement came in response to a crime that shocked the nation: a fifteen-year-old boy had raped a three-year-old girl, using a razor blade to commit the crime. By Mae Azango with New Narratives That followed years of cries…
Rescued From Bush School, Girls Detail Female Genital Cutting; Mother Pursues Justice
In the last few years the Liberian government has enacted a range of efforts to combat violence against women and girls. A new domestic violence law, a National Road Map and President George Weah’s announcement of a two million dollar national emergency fund, have done little to stop the violence. It continues right under the…
Defence Strikes Blows in Liberia War Crimes Trial
FINLAND — The defence team in the trial of Gibril Massaquoi, the former RUF commander accused of committing war crimes in Liberia, has had some wins in the concluding weeks of the trial in Tampere, Finland. Since it resumed in Finland, after three months hearing testimonies in Liberia and Sierra Leone, the trial has narrowed to…
Witnesses Tell Court Massaquoi Killed Family
By Joaquin Sendolo with New Narratives MONROVIA, Liberia – The Finnish court hearing the war crimes case against former Revolutionary United Front commander Gibril Massaquoi heard from two witnesses on Wednesday who said they saw Massaquoi murder their relatives during the Liberian civil war. The witness, now 47, detailed the crimes he said he witnessed…
Finnish Court Visits Alleged Massaquoi War Crime Sites
VOINJAMA, Lofa County – The trials of alleged war criminals taking place in the US and Europe became very real for villagers in Lofa County last week as the judge in the war crimes trial of Gibril Massaquoi in Finland arrived with prosecutors and the defense lawyer to see firsthand the scenes of atrocities alleged to…
Prosecution Alleges Gibril Massaquoi Directed Witnesses in War Crimes Trial
TAMPERE, Finland – Prosecutors in the war crimes trial of Gibril Massaquoi alleged Friday that the defendant tried to influence witnesses in the case. State Prosecutor Tom Laitinen told presiding judge Juhani Paiho that a cleaner at the prison where Massaquoi was being held in pretrial detention found handwritten notes in the restroom of the…
Finland Begins Hearing of Sierra Leonean Accused of War Crimes in Liberia
TAMPERE, Finland – The trial of Gibril Massaquoi, a Sierra Leonean former rebel commander accused of committing war crimes in Liberia, began on Wednesday in the Finnish city of Tampere. By Saila Huusko, with New Narratives Massaquoi, 51, entered the Pirkanmaa District Court shortly after 10 am local time, wearing a gray pinstripe suit and a face…
Liberian War Criminal Kosiah Rejects Swiss Court Conviction; Claims Plaintiffs Lied
MONROVIA – Alieu Kosiah, sentenced last week to 20 years in prison for atrocities committed when he was a commander of the rebel group Ulimo during the Liberian civil war, has lashed out at the justice activists who helped bring the case against him. By New Narratives staff and Anthony Stephens, Power TV/FM In a WhatsApp…
Prosecutor Pushes Court to Convict, Jail and Sanction Kosiah
BELLINZONA, Switzerland – Alieu Kosiah should be convicted of all the war crimes charges he faces, jailed for a maximum 20 years and then barred from entering Switzerland for 15 years, prosecutors said on Monday in their final argument four days to the end of the historic trial. Chief prosecutor Andreas Müller told the Swiss…
Court Hears Kosiah’s Defense Against ‘Liars’ and ‘Manipulators’
BELLINZONA, Switzerland – War crimes suspect Alieu Kosiah delivered a forceful rebuke to six plaintiffs who brought the war crimes case against him here in the Swiss Federal Criminal Court on Monday. He slammed the plaintiffs and their lawyers for “staging their testimonies” and “lying on him”. Kosiah’s anger at being on trial here was focused…
Kosiah Killed People “for Common” Plaintiff Tells War Crimes Trial
BELLINZONA, Switzerland – Alieu Kosiah killed a man for refusing his order to carry looted goods in the Kolahun region of Lofa County in 1993, a witness told the Swiss Federal Criminal Court prosecuting the former rebel commander on Thursday. Kosiah killed a man named Musa Kpandeh because he refused to transport looted generator parts, cocoa,…
New Narratives and Okay FM discuss NN’s investigation on the Kailando gas station built on wetlands and forestry disputes
Join OkFM host and New Narratives Fellow Varney Dukuly as he discusses forestry and wetlands challenges in Liberia with Bonathan Walaka, Secretary General of the National Union of Community Forest Bodies and former Mines Minister Eugene Shanonn plus New Narratives’ Anthony Stephens and Mae Azango. This story was a collaboration with New Narratives as part of our…