WHEREAS GEF SGP has established and provided funding for a project being; Promoting Forest-Landscape Restoration in Lake Piso Multiple Use Reserve through Agro-ecological Farming System. An analysis of Liberia?s forest conducted in 2013 (FAO, 2014) showed that forest covered two-thirds of Liberia's land surface, of which less than half (44 percent) was considered degraded; followed by agriculture (13 percent of the land surface); and savanna (11 percent)


The Environmental Protection Agency of Liberia (EPA) is committed to ensuring that Liberia achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and has domesticated ten (10) SDGs including SDG 15.3. The country ii currently involved in the Land Degradation Neutrality Target Setting Program after submitting a formal Letter of Interest at COP13, held in Inner Mongolia, China. The Government of Liberia, in collaboration with its partners, has begun taking steps to address the issue of land degradation in Liberia. A national land degradation inception workshop was conducted in Match 2019 in which the management and use of land, forest, environment and related natural resources in Liberia were discussed and a national consensus was derived at on achieving a land degradation neutral Liberia.

Liberia was also involved in Restoration Opportunity Assessment Methodology (ROAM) and did restoration opportunity assessments in the cross-boundary protected areas including Gola Forest National Park, Wonegizi Proposed Protected Area, East Nimba Protected Area, Grebo-Krahn National Park and Sapo Natioal Park. The assessments and follow-up projects were implemented between 2019 to 2022. Based on the reports from the above assessments, there are indications land degradation is spreads all over Liberia. Lake Piso Multiple Use Reserve (LPMUR) is not exempted.

There are three types of major ecosystems in LPMUR landscape including:

1)Aquatic ecosystems: These mainly consist of all the waterbodies and wetlands
including lakes, rivers, rivers, swamps and ponds;
2)Marine/Coastal ecosystem, including ocean and beaches, and
3)Terrestrial ecosystem, which is subdivided into forest, mountain and dryland/savannah
ecosystems.

Of the three ecosystems mentioned above, the terrestrial ecosystem is severely affected
by land degradation which affects about 28 villages with the total human population of
about 40,000 people. The LPMUR area falls between 6.909572582298154 ?
11.301231608992573 northwest to 6.5834735261548 -11.029322294458757.

This project hopes to contribute to national effort in addressing land degradation problems in affected landscapes in Liberia, including the LPMUR landscape, where the site this project is located. One of the main drivers of the land degradation pr oblem is the aged-old traditional farming, shifting agriculture. This type of farming has left patches of grassland, as footprint in many places in this landscape. Another major driver is intentional burning of the mosaic patches of woody savannah fields during the dry season of every year. The project hopes to produce at least 50,000 seedlings of fruit and forest tree species to be available to CSO for helping farmers to fight land degradation specifically towards climate change mitigation. The intent is to empower farmers in various communities in the Lake Piso region by building their capacity to demonstrate forestland restoration in their communities. With success story, the result of this action can be replicated in other communities where land degradation is critical problem for land users in Liberia.