“Our struggle for the environment is not about trees. It is a campaign for social justice and respect for human rights. It is about our right to have a healthy and safe environment.”

Liberia is emerging from a turbulent period in its history. Opinions are divided as to the origins of the civil war that devastated the country in the 1990s, but there is little doubt that the immense differences in wealth and life chances between its urban elite and rural populations played a significant part, as did mismanagement and corruption in Liberia's extractive industries. Recent international efforts have been focused on bringing discipline to these industries, and ensuring that they contribute to national development and good governance.

Prominent among Liberia's extractive industries is timber. Liberia still has signiificant stands of climax forest vegetation, with 4.5 million hectares of dense forest, covering 50% of the country's land mass and 45% of the remaining rainforest of the West African sub-region. Now that the UN embargo on timber exports has been lifted, Liberia is likely to come under enormous pressure to exploit its remaining stock. Responding to the new opportunities, the Government has revised its forestry law ('National Forestry Reform Law' of 2006).