The Kpanyan Community Land Development and Management Committee (CLDMC) made history in 2019 by becoming the first community to gain formal ownership of their traditional land in the South East of Liberia, under the 2018 Liberian Land Rights Act. The 21 communities of the Kypanyan District collaboratively set aside significant areas of highly biodiverse forest of over 40,000 hectares for long-term protection. They also embraced sustainable agriculture interventions to improve food security, diversify income streams, and adapt to climate change. By engaging a diverse set of stakeholders, the local government, private sector, and other NGOs, the Kypanyan CLDMC managed to expand their forest conservation plans under the Production, Protection, and Inclusion (PPI) Compact Coalition while ensuring participation and support of local communities. Inspired by the work of Kpanyan CDLMC, seven other districts in Southeast Liberia followed suit and took similar steps to register their Customary Land rights and developed sustainable land use plans, stretching over 700,000 hectares of mostly forested land.