Monrovia, Liberia, September 1, 2026– The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of Liberia has reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening collaboration with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), as both institutions explore opportunities to advance environmental governance, institutional capacity, and sustainable development in Liberia.

A team from GIZ visited the EPA recently as part of efforts to introduce new members of its Liberia team to key government partners and discuss areas of ongoing and future collaboration.

GIZ is Germany’s main development cooperation agency and works with governments and other partners around the world to support sustainable development. In Liberia, its interventions include areas such as environmental protection, climate change, natural resource governance, responsible mining, institutional strengthening, and capacity building.

During the meeting, EPA Executive Director Dr. Emmanuel K. Urey Yarkpawolo outlined some of the significant progress made by the Agency, including recent acquisition of its own headquarters, which he described as an important institutional milestone for the EPA.

He noted that the equisition of the EPA Headquarters has further strengthened the Agency’s operations and provided a more suitable environment for staff to effectively carry out its environmental protection mandate.

Despite the progress, Dr. Yarkpawolo identified several challenges confronting environmental management in Liberia. These include enforcement, inadequate logistical support, mangrove degradation, forest degradation, and illegal mining activities.

He stressed the need for stronger institutional capacity and continued collaboration with development partners to address these challenges and improve environmental governance across the country.

The EPA Executive Director also emphasized the importance of environmental protection to Liberia’s national development agenda, referencing Pillar Five of the ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development, which focuses on sustainable development.

Another key area highlighted by Dr. Yarkpawolo was the EPA’s ongoing effort to digitalize its Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) processes.

He said the digitalization of ESIA activities will help the EPA improve efficiency and speed up the processing of environmental assessments while making the system more effective and responsive.

The initiative is expected to support the Agency’s efforts to strengthen environmental regulation as development and investment activities continue to increase across Liberia.

For their part, the GIZ delegation said the primary purpose of the visit was to introduce new members of the GIZ team in Liberia to partners and institutions with whom the organization works.

The delegation also touched on some areas of their work plan and outlined areas of collaboration with the EPA and other government institutions, particularly in capacity building and strengthening environmental governance.

GIZ said it will continue working with the EPA, as well as the Ministry of Mines and Energy, particularly on issues connected to Liberia’s extractive sector.

The discussions also touched on newly extracted minerals and the need to ensure that emerging developments in the mining sector are accompanied by appropriate environmental standards and safeguards.