The Environmental Protection Agency of Liberia with support from the government of Canada through NovaSphere has organized a two-day National Validation meeting for County Climate Change Baseline Report in Gbarnga, Bong County.
The meeting, which brings together local and national leaders and stakeholders in the environment and climate change sectors, runs from 21 August 2024 to 22 August 2024.
The meeting was attended by County Superintendents, County Development Officers, City Mayors, County Educational officers from the fifteen counties of Liberia, and officials from other government line Ministries and Agencies. The local and national leaders, along with climate change experts witnessed PowerPoint presentations by the authors of the county climate change baseline reports before crisscrossing the reports in Question-and-Answers sections – using the occasion to make injections into the various baseline reports.
At the meeting, EPA’s Liberia Executive Director, Dr. Emmanuel K. Urey Yarkpawolo, highlighted growing national concerns about illegal, unregulated, un-sustained and unreported extraction of Liberia’s natural resources in cruel manners that continue to destroy and degrade not only the land areas but major water bodies.
He expressed concerns over the use of mercury to mine gold, facilitated by the increased number of dredges in the various waters across Liberia.
“Mercury is a long-lasting chemical that can affect all of us. For example, when we mine gold using mercury, the mercury spreads in the water. The fish live in the water and get their food. The mercury enters the fish. When we eat fish, mercury enters our bodies. This can cause damage to our kidneys, cause deafness, cause blindness, and cause women to give birth to children with all kinds of brain problems. The same thing happens to those who smell mercury while using it to mine gold. Honorable Superintendents and County Development Officers, Ladies and Gentlemen. There have been instances where local authorities in the counties are contributing to the detrimental use of mercury in our waters,” Dr. Yarkpawolo lamented.
Sometimes, these miners who are making huge money with little or nothing left in the communities will give small money to the local authorities to permit them to mine. When our inspectors go there to identify those illegal miners, the local people hide them and prevent law enforcement officers from enforcing the law.
Prof. Yarkpawolo described the situation as unfortunate, adding, “We are asking the county Superintendents to help us prevent this bad behavior and save our people.”
The EPA Executive Director also revealed that Liberia is a signatory to most of the international environmental agreements: the Convention to Conserve Biological Diversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Wetlands, and many others, and the country must take steps to commit to these instruments. “We have demonstrated the political will over the years to ensure we work to fulfill the objectives of these agreements that we are party to.” Dr. Yarkpawolo affirmed.
He believed the EPA could succeed in her workings within the counties only if county authorities like the Superintendents in the different counties collaborate, adding that the meeting would also pave the way for better communication and collaboration between the EPA and local authorities.
He continues: “The EPA as a statutory government agency cannot do it alone to protect and manage the environment. The Act Creating the EPA identified The Ministry of Internal Affairs as an arm of government responsible for the custodian of the resources. The Ministry of Internal Affairs is the oldest government ministry within the Republic of Liberia. Internal Affairs Ministry is the premier Ministry of Government. This means we have a statutory mandate to work with you closely in assisting the EPA to achieve its mandate. Without your collaboration, cooperation, and support, it will be difficult or impossible to achieve our statutory function to protect and manage the environment and the sustainable use of our resources to meet the needs of this generation and the future generation.”
He told the gathering for Liberia to achieve its vision for the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), which intends to reduce her greenhouse gas emissions by 64% in 2030, it will require support from both local and international partners in fighting climate change.
Dr. Yarkpawolo recounted that Liberia’s NDC mandates that the country take steps to reduce the high level of vulnerability Liberia to the impacts of climate change. He noted that they have identified adaptation actions in nearly all the climate-sensitive sectors, namely, agriculture, health, waste, forestry, and coastal resources.
According to Dr. Yarkpawolo, achieving Liberia’s Climate Action Plan will require strong, dedicated, and committed local and international partnerships.
The Liberia EPA Executive Director noted that the Government of Canada, through Novasphere, has identified Liberia as a strategic partner in working together to fight climate change in Liberia to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement.
“Liberia’s partnership with the Government of Canada through Novasphere commits technical and financial support by the Government of Canada to tackle or remove all those obstacles/hindrances that are impeding Liberia’s desire to fulfill her obligation under The Paris Agreement”, The EPA boss said.
He however, disclosed that with the support of the Government of Canada, the EPA has, for the first time in the Republic of Liberia, established a National University Climate Change Laboratory on the Capitol Hill Campus of the University of Liberia.
The Laboratory according to the EPA boss, will assist the Government of Liberia in generating the needed report that is required to open up the carbon market in Liberia, adding that the Carbon market is intended to use resources, mainly forest resources to capture carbon in the fight against climate change and return Liberia hopes to generate the needed revenues to promote her economic development.
Moreover, Dr. Emmanuel K. Urey Yarkpawolo lauded various Superintendents, Mayors, and other stakeholders who continue to assist the EPA in the execution of its mandate in the country.
He further admonished the local leaders to continue to demonstrate the strength and courage to help protect and manage forests, rivers, creeks, wildlife, wetlands, and other endowed natural heritage of the country that God had blessed Liberians with to take our people out of poverty.
For his part, Mr. Isaac Kannah who is the team lead for MRV Climate Action in Liberia said the event is to review a climate chance baseline that was developed some time ago for the fifteen counties in Liberia.
He said “We are here for a few objectives, one is for us to look at how we can integrate climate change issues into national development, secondly we developed a county climate change baseline report for all the fifteen counties and we want for you our Superintendents and counties leaders to have a say into these reports because we will soon have the national validation of the counties baseline reports.
Over time most of the climate change reports we have had have been done at the national level, but for this one, it is the first time we are coming to have it at the county level”.