Liberia’s forests were plundered to fund war and profit a few,but deforestation deal with Norway offers a way for natural resources to transform livesThe “paradox of plenty” debate tends to focus on fossil fuels and minerals. Countries that are wealthy in these resources are often – paradoxically – kept financially poor, with the proceeds of natural wealth largely profiting political elites, and foreign companies and commodities traders,rather than being used strategically to bring whole populations out of poverty.[br]What is often overlooked is that forests too can be a curse not a blessing for countries that are wealthy in them. Across the Amazon, the Congo basin and many parts of south-east Asia, or rainforests enjoy been stripped out at a dizzying rate to line the pockets of foreign logging companies and their supporters in government. Forest communities – often among the country’s poorest – are robbed persistently of the resources they rely on for life and livelihood.
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Source: theguardian.com