Managing Agricultural, Mining and Forestry Concessions to Improve Revenues and Minimize Conflicts: the Liberia System

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1 Managing Agricultural, Mining and Forestry Concessions to Improve Revenues and Minimize Conflicts: the Liberia System ICGFM DC Forum Luncheon September 7, 2016 Bob Reschke Vice President for Programs, IBI

2 The USAID-Governance and Economic Management Support (GEMS) Project was implemented to increase human and institutional capacity in Government of Liberia Ministries, Agencies and Commissions (MACs). The USAID-GEMS project had five objectives: Objective 4: Management of natural resource concessions is more efficient, effective, and transparent through the introduction of management and oversight tools including the utilization of automated ICT-based systems.

3 Concessions Concessions, specifically natural resources concessions, are large parcels that the government leases to investors or concessionaires first for exploration of a specific natural resource on specific terms and conditions, then for exploitation of the natural resource Examples: Mining, Forestry, Oil, Gas, Agriculture Specific Land Parcel, Start Date, End Date Terms and Conditions Obligations

4 National Concessions Cadastre Minimize Issuance of Overlapping Concessions Avoiding Conflict Increasing Revenue Improving Planning Multiple MACs Decentralized Paper-Based System Concessions Information Management Systems (CIMS) Launched September 17, 2015 Document and Workflow Management Store and Process Tabular Report Data

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6 CIMS Benefits to the Government of Liberia Enable full compliance with key Government of Liberia statutory and policy mandates. Provide data resources and information technology tools for use by Concession-Related Entities to carry out their work in an efficient and effective manner. Simplify required concession planning activities and the review of concession applications. Provide information and tools for evaluation of geographic conflicts among concession areas and for examining and resolving questions of land rights associated with existing or proposed concession areas.

7 CIMS Benefits to the Government of Liberia Support environmental and social impact analysis and overall environmental protection. Provide a resource for more effective monitoring of concessions and ensuring compliance with Government of Liberia laws and all terms of concession agreements. Allow access to Concession-related information by Government of Liberia MACs, concessionaires, local officials, and the general public to promote transparency and data sharing. Streamline the review and approval process.

8 Overlapping Concessions Map

9 Benefits of CIMS Data Integration Queries come in various forms users want information, but the formats in which they want the information vary with requester and request. CIMS provides flexibility in responding to requests. Lists of Various Types Documents, Concessions, etc.-- online and hard copy Charts Summary Statistics Cross- Tabulations

10 Key Information (Attribute searches) Number of active concessions per sector (Forestry / Agriculture / Mining); Number of EPA permits per sector (Forestry / - Agriculture / Mining); Number of active forest concessions expiring next year; Number of CFMA applications that FDA received this year; Number of active concessions in Nimba county

11 Key Information (Attribute searches) Number of agriculture concessions in Nimba county; Number of forest concessions in Nimba county; Number of active FMC; Export the search result to: MS Excel, PDF and View in Map

12 CIMS Sample Document Search

13 CIMS Sample Company Search

14 List of Agricultural Concessions Code Name Type Commodities Status Start Date Expiry Date Area AC-01 Sime Darby Agriculture Oil Palm Active 30-Apr Apr ,000 Ha AC-02 Golden Veroleum Agriculture Oil Palm Active 1-Aug Jul ,000 Ha AC-02 Golden Veroleum Agriculture Oil Palm Active 1-Aug Jul ,000 Ha AC-02 Golden Veroleum Agriculture Oil Palm Active 1-Aug Jul ,000 Ha AC-02 Golden Veroleum Agriculture Oil Palm Active 1-Aug Jul ,000 Ha AC-02 Golden Veroleum Agriculture Oil Palm Active 1-Aug Jul ,000 Ha AC-03 Liberian Forest Agriculture Oil Palm Active 21-Dec Dec-57 8,000 Ha AC-04 LIBINCO Agriculture Oil Palm Active 1-Sep Jul-48 14,000 Ha AC-05 Maryland Agriculture Oil Palm Active 1-Aug Jul-45 8,800 Ha AC-06 Firestone Agriculture Rubber Active 12-Apr Dec-41 48,000 Ha AC-07 Liberia Agriculture Agriculture Rubber Active 1-Jan-66 1-Jan ,000 Ha AC-08 COCOPA Agriculture Rubber Active 1-Jan-49 1-Jan-29 71,000 Ha AC-09 Cavalla Agriculture Rubber Active 1-Jan-84 1-Jan-18 8,000 Ha AC-10 Salala Agriculture Rubber Active 1-Jan-59 8,800 Ha AC-11 Sinoe Agriculture Rubber Active 1-Jan-53 1-Jan ,000 Ha

15 Concession by County Comparison Chart

16 Forestry Concessions by Status and County FMCs and TSCs by County and Status County Active Inactive Total Bong Gbarpolu Gr. Bassa Gr. Cape Mt Gr. Gedeh Grand Kru Lofa Maryland Nimba River Cess River Gee Sinoe Total

17 Aging Report Numbers of Actions Time Period and Line Agency Date_Due Line_Agency Jan-16 Apr-16 Jul-16 Oct-16 Total FDA MoA Total

18 Local Community Empowerment Map Reference Shows the Area of the Concession in the Different Counties of Liberia Transparency and Accountability Conflict Avoidance Resource/Revenue Sharing

19 Community Forestry Management Agreements (CFMAs) Forest Development Authority Community Application Process to Gain Concession Approval Rights within their Jurisdictions Authority to Seek Concessionaires Main Actors in the Concession Process and Primary Beneficiaries

20 Sustainability CIMS Sustainability Depends on MAC Leaders Champion in NBC Director General Ciata Bishop Technical Sustainability Planned During GEMS MAC Super Users and CIMS Administrators What about Electricity? and Connectivity? and the Money??

21 Conclusions CIMS Provides Enhanced Efficiency and Transparency to the Critical Liberian Concessions Sector CIMS Allows For Effective Resource Planning CIMS Mitigates Conflict CIMS Generates Revenue for the Government while Allowing for Community Empowerment and Resource Mobilization CIMS is Sustainable

22 Thank You Questions?