Liberia
All about the Liberia-EU Voluntary Partnership Agreement

Liberia has more than half of West Africa’s remaining rainforest. Forest covers about 43% of the country, some 4.3 million hectares.
During Liberia's civil war in the 1990s and early 2000s, timber revenues were misappropriated and used to sustain the conflict. In 2003, the UN Security Council imposed sanctions on timber exports from Liberia. These sanctions were lifted in 2006 following the country's efforts to reform the forest sector. These efforts included a comprehensive review of the regulatory framework, the development of a national timber traceability system to track timber production, and a transparent mechanism to collect all taxes according to chain of custody system data.
The Liberia-EU Voluntary Partnership Agreement entered into force on 1 December 2013, and Liberia is currently developing the systems needed to control, verify and license legal timber. It will use these systems for timber and timber products exported to not only the EU, but also other destinations worldwide. The systems will also apply to timber and timber products sold within Liberia.
VPA status
Detailed information on efforts by Liberia and the EU to tackle illegal logging through a Voluntary Partnership Agreement.
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Latest news
- Ghana and Liberia share timber legality lessons with Laos and the Republic of the Congo 25.01.2019
- Liberia and EU review VPA progress and challenges 04.03.2019
- With new government in place, Liberia meets EU to review VPA implementation 16.07.2018
- EU, China and Africa explore ways to work together in their forestry cooperation 20.04.2018
- Call for tender: Facilitation services for FLEGT VPAs in Ghana, Liberia, Republic of the Congo, Guyana 03.11.2017