(pradd) – liberia - Land Tenure and Property Rights Portal

• Proper consultation is essential to ensure stability and sustainability.• Multiple stakeholders with diverse and conflicting interest all have an impact on the ASDM.• Stakeholders (miners, miners from different subsectors, foresters, landowners, land users, largescalemining companies, civil society organizations, etc.) should all participate in different aspectsto develop realistic laws and regulations.• Involvement of different stakeholders will create political commitment towards recognizingASM as a legitimate economic mining activity. This, in turn, would contribute to better politicalconditions to address issues of resource competition and other economic sectors.4. Monitor the implementation of an ASDM regulatory framework• At present there are several enforcement mechanisms to monitor the flow of rough diamonds,but no specific regulatory framework to guide the sector.• Monitoring the progressive implementation of a regulatory framework could serve as a proactiveevaluation tool to improve it.• Monitoring can provide prompt responses through clear and regular feedback on the progress ofimplementation.• As the regulatory framework ultimately needs to be enforced, monitoring can serve as a tool toprevent unrealistic enforcement standards or practices.• Unrealistic and inflexible rules, regulations, and standards of enforcement will only drive ASDMback into illegality.• Monitoring and enforcement should be kept separately to avoid abuse of power.• Optimally there should be an independent and representative body that monitors progress,comprised of the different stakeholders.• The diverse composition of such a monitoring group would contribute to the credibility of theevaluation process.5. Facilitate wide access to information about the legal framework• It is critically important to raise awareness of and guarantee access to information regarding laws andadministrative decisions relevant to the ASDM sector to miners and representative organizations.• Disclosure and access to information about the legal framework is as important as the existenceof legislation itself.• The transfer of information should be timely and in a manner that is accessible to the miners. Inother words, do not just hand out copies of laws. Make the most important points clear andunderstandable. This is especially important for the rules and regulations regarding licensing.• The process of information transfer can serve a dual purpose: government can listen to ASDMto respond to changing needs and realities while transferring knowledge and gaining credibility atthe same time.• This exercise can be used to build capacity, whether through training courses, workshops, orother methods. More complex regulatory issues could be explained to ASDM representatives.• These methods should be used as incentives to participate actively. If miners and otherstakeholders are involved in the process of developing the regulatory framework, it will increasethe sense of ownership, which will likely improve compliance.• This can also help to monitor progress and impacts of the changing regulatory regime.42 PRADD LIBERIA: A REVIEW OF THE LEGAL, REGULATORY AND POLICY FRAMEWORKGOVERNING ARTISANAL DIAMOND MINING IN LIBERIA