In its sitting yesterday, Thursday 21 December, the National Assembly voted to suspend the debate on the Forestry Bill 2017, and referred the draft to the Select Committee on Forestry before it is tabled again.
The Bill was tabled by the Minister of the Environment, Climate Change and Forestry, Mr. Lamin B. Dibba, who was seeking for the amendment and substitution of the Forestry Act with this new draft law.
However, following the debate which highlighted issues that needed more consultation with the stakeholders, the deputies finally decided, in a vote, to refer the Bill to the Select Committee to work closely with the officials of the ministry in order to review it before tabling it again.
