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.