Mr Siakor is the Director of the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI), a Liberian non governmental organization. SDI works on natural resources management and governance issues with a particular focus on promoting equity in the sharing of benefits derived from resource exploitation.

SDI and Mr Siakor have been valuable partners of IUCN’s Forest Conservation Programme, working on critical issues related to forest concession review and reform, as well as initial efforts to introduce the African Forest Law Enforcement and Governance process in Liberia.

“Silas and SDI have contributed substantially and with passion to getting local people and communities involved in the ongoing forest sector reform processes in Liberia”, said Stephen Kelleher, IUCN Senior Programme Officer who works with Silas and SDI in Liberia. “This award recognizes a steadfast commitment to the environmental, social and human rights linkages that must be addressed if forest sector reform in Liberia is to succeed and benefit all people of Liberia, including rural communities”.

Mr Kelleher is currently in Liberia working with SDI to organize a study tour of representatives from Ghanaian civil society and government to Liberia. The objective is to share their experience on forest law enforcement and governance with a broad group of Liberian stakeholders.