Roots and returns: How value-added timber can create jobs and keep Liberia's forests standing

Half of Liberia’s population lives within two and a half kilometers of a forest. For most of these families, the forest is not scenery. It is the pharmacy, the grocery store, and the paycheck. Seven out of ten households collect forest products to eat or sell, and around 40,000 workers are formally employed in a sector contributing 10% to GDP.

The forest is not a backdrop to Liberian life. It is at the heart of the economy.

Yet Liberia also has one of West Africa’s highest deforestation rates, losing over 30,000 hectares of forest each year. And here lies the central paradox: despite holding the last great stronghold of the Upper Guinea Forest—covering 69% of its landmass—much of the value slips away before it can build a future. Every unprocessed log export is a lost job, a lost skill, and a lost reason to keep the forest standing.

The Ghana Moment: Seeing the Potential Made Real

In early 2026, a Liberian delegation led by the Forest Development Authority (FDA) traveled to Ghana for a South-South Knowledge Exchange, hosted by the Ghana Forestry Commission and supported by the PROGREEN Trust Fund, a multi-donor initiative backing sustainable land and forest management across developing countries. There, they saw firsthand how private operators working within a clear regulatory framework had turned investment into steady employment for local communities.

One lesson stood out: this model found success where government-owned mills had struggled. The takeaway for Liberia is clear — government as enabler, private sector as operator. But that model only works when the fundamentals are in place first: clear rules, secure land tenure, and communities that see real, documented returns.

More Value, Not More Logging

It is not about cutting more trees. It is about doing more with trees that are sustainably harvested. Domestic processing multiplies the value of each tree harvested and creates jobs at every step: log graders, sawmill operators, kiln technicians, and transport workers.

These are entry points into a formal economy for communities that currently have few of them. With the right training and support, workers can move from manual roles into more technical positions, building skills and income over time. Retention remains a real challenge—workers often leave after a year or two for urban opportunities. Solving that requires investing in housing, infrastructure, and vocational pathways alongside processing facilities.

One private processing facility visited in Ghana — foreign-owned but employing a predominantly local workforce — reported direct employment of over 2,000 people, with women making up around 40% of staff. One facility. Two thousand jobs. Forty percent women. That is the benchmark Liberia is working toward.

A community employed in a well-regulated, traceable timber value chain has a direct economic stake in keeping the forest productive and intact. When communities are excluded from the benefits of managing their own land, forests lose their most durable line of defense. Green jobs, done right, are also a conservation strategy.

Six Priorities for Getting the Basics Right

A facilitative state. The FDA as enabler, not operator—setting clear rules and resolving bottlenecks while the private sector leads commercial operations.
Transparent rules and secure land. PPP frameworks and long-term leases—aligned with national land laws and Community Forest Management Agreements to safeguard community rights.
Direct and enforceable benefit-sharing. Communities living beside concessions must see documented, regular, fair returns. Without this, there is no social license—and without social license, there is no stability.
A market-led strategy. Start with the buyer and work backward—species selection, equipment, and logistics should follow validated demand.
Legality and traceability as non-negotiables. Traceability means verifying exactly where harvested wood comes from, ensuring it originates in regulated, sustainably managed areas. Without it, illegal logging enters the supply chain, buyers lose confidence, and premium market certification remains out of reach.
Infrastructure and skills together. Roads, power, ports, and vocational training are not optional add-ons. They determine whether the sector retains workers and builds lasting livelihoods, or churns through them.

People and Nature at the Center

Done right—with reforestation requirements, strict harvesting controls, and community benefit-sharing embedded in law—value-added timber processing directly counters the deforestation Liberia is working to reverse and creates the conditions under which communities not only see tangible benefits from their forests but are recognized and supported as their rightful stewards.

Growth should focus on sustainable plantations and community woodlots on degraded land, not on pushing further into primary forest. Liberia holds most of what remains of the Upper Guinea Forest, a globally irreplaceable ecosystem, and that distinction must shape every policy decision that follows.

The Central Question

Can a country build a forest economy where the people most dependent on trees become their most committed protectors? Liberia is working towards exactly that—by building a system where a standing forest is also the most economically rational choice.

The Ghana learning exchange confirmed what the Liberian delegation already suspected: the basics come first. Get the rules right. Build trust. Keep communities at the center of every decision.

That is not just good forest policy. It is the only kind that lasts.

Liberia's forest economy is also part of a wider imperative. With over 1.2 billion young people in developing countries set to reach working age in the next decade, creating more and better-paid jobs is one of the most urgent challenges of our time. The World Bank Group is committed to making job creation an explicit aim across its portfolio — investing in the infrastructure, skills, and private sector partnerships that move people up the ladder of aspiration and out of poverty for good. In Liberia's forests, that mission is rooted in the ground.

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This blog draws on a South-South Knowledge Exchange between Liberia's Forest Development Authority and Ghana's Forestry Commission, supported by the World Bank's proposed Liberia Sustainable Forest Economy Project (LiFE-P), which works to improve forest management, strengthen value chains, and generate jobs across Liberia's forest landscapes.