By Tokpa Tarnue-tarnue82@gmail.com
VOINJAMA, Liberia- It is almost a year now since inhabitants of over twelve towns around the Wonegizi Proposed Protected Forest signed a consent document to stay out of the forest, some 149 miles/240 kilometers northeast of Monrovia. .
Prior to the signing of the document, these inhabitants squally depended of the forest for their survivor.
This practice according to them old-man Kollie Joseph, who is the landlord of Dabu town in Voinjama district, has been in existence from the days of their forefathers.
“We grew up as children and saw our parents living on the forest but one thing I can remember at that time is that they used the forest wisely” he told a team of reporters recently.”
According to the 97 years old landlord, the forest during those days provided almost all of the medications they needed when people were ill.
“Look my son, those days as soon as you go behind a house, you will get those leaves we used for medication but for now you have to sometimes spend days or maybe a week and even at that to find the real one is a serious problem” landlord kollie continued.
“For government to say that she wants to protect the forest for me is a very good thing because the medicine we got from the forest those days is what making some of us still around today my children”. He concluded.
Esther Jallah another elderly woman of Dabu town however thinks that protecting the forest will keep her daughter out of business.
“My daughter has been involved in selling bush meat for the past 10 to 15 years to take care of all ale children I talking about sending them to school and taking care of their health issues as well my children so government have to look for other ways that some of us can survive than we can leave the forest” the 65 years old Esther Jallah lamented.
Authorities at the Forestry Development Authority the (FDA) have said that 30% of the Liberian forest by law is put aside for conservation and that a total of 1.2 million hectors of the forest is off limit to human activities while 400, 000 hectors of the forest is protected and pointed out that there are three national parks