BONN, Germany…. Dr. Emmanuel Urey Yarkpawolo, Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency of Liberia (EPA), is leading Liberia’s delegation at the Sixtieth Session of the Subsidiary Bodies (SB60) of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC) in Bonn, Germany, which started on June 3.
On the margins of the meeting, Dr. Yarkpawolo was invited by The Global Mangrove Alliance to present Liberia’s perspective on the protection, conservation, and restoration of mangroves in Liberia.
Dr. Yarkpawolo informed the gathering that Liberia’s Mangrove Forest is under severe threat due to human-induced activities, namely using firewood to dry fish and encroachment for human settlement in coastal urban communities. These threats have led to Liberia losing 26% of its mangrove ecosystems and a decline in carbon stock from 12 to 8.9 metric tons since 2000.
He highlighted that three of the country’s Ramsar (wetlands) sites comprise mainly primary mangrove forest ecosystems, namely Lake Piso and Marshall.
Dr. Yarkpawolo also underscored that Liberia’s mangrove ecosystem is identified as a major component in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the fight against climate change, as communicated in Liberia’s Revised Nationally Determined Contributions in 2021. Additionally, Liberia intends to improve the protection and conservation of its mangroves by 30% to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1,800 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030.
Furthermore, Dr. Yarkpawolo informed the gathering that Liberia’s Revised Nationally Determined Contributions will address the enhancement of coastal carbon stock by restoring 35% of degraded coastal wetlands and mangrove ecosystems by 2030.
Dr. Yarkpawolo shared that Liberia’s participation in the carbon and non-market-based mechanisms will be anchored in the development and enactment of a regulatory framework in fulfillment of the operationalization of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. He disclosed that Liberia will establish two marine and coastal protected areas.