The move follows the lifting in October of the United Nations Security Council’s three-year ban on Liberian timber exports.
Liberia’s government passed legislation within a UN 90-day deadline that will ensure a transparent, accountable government-controlled forestry sector.
Richie Grear, the government’s forest bureau spokesperson, said: “All the mechanisms are being put in place to ensure that logging activities restart.”
Revenues from timber accounted for 50% of the country’s export earnings before the UN Security Council imposed sanctions in July 2003, claiming the money was used to fuel armed conflicts in the country.
The government has implemented new legislation on logging to ensure revenue would benefit the whole country.
“It is principally geared towards sustainable forest management and more developmental benefits to the communities where logging activities would be carried out,” said president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.
