Mandate:

 Ensure sustainable forests and associated resources management;
 Allocate Contract/Concession areas for commercial purposes predicated on Environmental Impact Assessments and Socio-Economic Surveys;
 Ensure compliance of terms and conditions of all contracts, forest laws, Public Procurement and Concession Act, and all forest regulations and approved code of harvesting policies;
 Track logs and other forest products and maintain a centralized Chain of Custody System;
 Issue waybills for movement of forest products, export permits and make sure all taxes are assessed and paid;
 Approve Annual Coupes, conduct pre/post harvest inspections and verify concession boundary lines;
 Collaborate with private initiative in support of third-party voluntary forest management and chain of custody certification;

The Commercial Department is composed of three divisions namely:
1. Contracts Administration
2. Chain of Custody
3. Environmental Impact Assessment

Achievements:

1. Conducted Contract Administration Workshop;
2. Prepared pre-qualification, prospectus and bid documents;
3. Supervised checkpoint staff for effective monitoring and control of sawn timber and non-timber forest products entering Monrovia;
4. Participated in negotiations on Government of Liberia and SGS Chain of Custody Management Contract;
5. Conducted EIA and socio-economic surveys targeting six TSC and three FMC areas;
6. Participated in National Tree Planting Day and World Environmental Day Programs;
7. Reviewed and advanced comments on Government’s policy and legislative framework as well as the Draft Environmental Impact Regulations;
8. Participated in nationwide vetting of the Ten Core Forest Regulations and Forest Management  Strategy.

                      PROGRAM  ACTIVITIES

The Commercial Forestry Department (CFD), one of four technical departments of FDA, has several responsibilities, paramount among which is the formulation of guidelines, policies and regulations in accordance with the National forestry Reform Law for the successful restart, continuation and professional monitoring of commercial forestry activities.
The Department with its corps of Technicians is mandated to ensure that best Timber Harvesting Practices are implemented by logging contract holders to achieve the objectives of sustainable forest management.
To achieve the foregoing, the Department has planned the following activities for implementation:
• Developed necessary and requisite procedures to regulate activities in the forest sector.
• Design programs to educate relevant government agencies and non-governmental partners, and the general public on the National Forestry Reform Law and other FDA reform measures.
• Working periodically with technicians of the other departments at the central and regional levels to ensure the application, enforcement and monitoring of logging activities within contract areas.
• Conduct periodic refresher training of field staff at all levels to cope with development in the act of sustainable forest management (SFM).                      
• Design a mechanism for quality control of forest products through a systematic grading process in accordance with international acceptable standard (ATIBT).    

• Established a Chain of Custody System to track illegal movement of any forest resource or product.
• Establish a collaborative and participatory relationship with potential contract holders, government agencies, and affected communities, to effect the principle of sustainable forest management.
• In conjunction with the Research and Development Department, identified Timber Sales and Forest Management Contract areas for inventorization.
• Prepare and finalize bid documents to commence and continue the bidding process for Timber Sales and Forest Management Contracts.
• Working to allocate up to 2.0 million hectares of forest into Timber Sales and Forest Management Contracts with at least 500,000 hectares allocated per year as consistent with the land use suitability study for the three Cs.
• Working with relevant government agencies to develop and implement a mechanism to allocate and share the land rental benefits from forest contract areas for forest communities.
• Develop a program to conduct a general public awareness campaign on all basic aspects of forest  laws and regulations
• Develop and implement policies and regulations to modernize the wood –processing industries.
• Develop strategy (regulations) for value-added processing and export of non-timber forest products (NTFPs).
• Formulate appropriate Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) regulations to ensure the compliance of logging contract holders with sound and internationally acceptable environmental practices.   

              PROJECT INTERVENTION AREAS

In order to expeditiously implement the program activities of the Department, the following project areas need intervention from our international partners:

• Build the capacity  of field staff at   all levels through training to cope with the trend of development in the act of sustainable forest management (SFM)
• Assist in designing a mechanism for quality control of forest products through a systematic grading process in accordance with international acceptable standard (ATIBT).
• Assist the established chain of Custody System to identify and track illegal movement of any forest resource or product.
• Support FDA to work with relevant government agencies to develop and implement a system to allocate and share the land rental benefits from forest contract areas for forest communities.
• Support the development of strategy (regulations) for value-added processing and marketing of non-timber forest products (NTFPs)
• Assist in the formulation of appropriate environmental impact assessment ( EIA)  regulation to ensure that logging contract holders comply with sound and internationally acceptable  environmental practices.

  A NUMBER OF COMMERCIAL TREE SPECIES 

            FOUND  IN  LIBERIA’S  FORESTS

                        CLASS “A” SPECIES

SCIENTIFIC NAME                                            TRADE NAME

1.  Entrandrophragma utile                                    Sipo/Utile

2.    Tieghemelia hechalii                                         Makore/Baku

3.    Entandrophragma cylindrical                           Sapelle

4.    Entandrophragma condollei                             Kosipo

5.    Khaya anthotheca                                            Khaya, Acajou

6.    Lovoa trichiliodes                                            Lovoa, Dibotuo

7.    Herietia utile                                                    Niangon, wishmore

8.    Guarea cedrata                                                 Framire

9.    Terminalia ivorensis                                         Aningre

10.  Aningeria robusta                                             Abura

11.  Halea ciliata                                                      Abura

12.  Triplochiton scloroxylon                                 Wawa, Samba

13.  Tetraberlina tubmaniana                                  Tetra, Sikon

14  .Brachystegia leonesis                                       Naga, Akumo

15.  Didelotia idea                                                   Didelotia Broutuo

16.  Lophira alata                                                    Ekki, Azobe

17.  Chlorophoa  ragia                                             Iroko, Odoum

18.  Terminalia superba                                          Frake, Afara

19.  Canarium schwienfurthii                                 Aiele , Canarium

20.  Gibertiodendron, preussii                                Limbali

21.  Nauclea diderrichii                                           Kusia, Bilinga