Paynesville — President George M. Weah has made a repeated call on Liberia's donor partners and the international community to support the country's ambitious climate agenda, the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
President Weah called on the partners to work with relevant NDC sectors to exert their best efforts to mobilize the necessary climate finance needed to implement the country's NDC-related projects; while pledging his government's commitment towards its full implementation.
President Weah's statements were contained in a speech delivered on his behalf by Foreign Minister Dee Maxwell Saah Kemayah at the official launch of the NDC Implementation Plan at the Paynesville City Hall outside Monrovia.
The Liberian leader stressed the urgent need for concrete steps towards achieving the goals laid down in the NDCs, because according to him, no country today, including Liberia, is immune from the increasingly devastating effects of climate change.
The President said: "You will all be aware that Liberia continues to experience the adverse consequences of this phenomenon, which is characterized by disruption in the agriculture sector, an increase in coastal erosion, and perennial flooding in various urban communities."
Continuing, he said, "This situation is of grave concern to my Government because even though we are one of the least emitters, we continue to suffer disproportionate devastation in some of our most important sectors, such as fisheries, forestry, and energy".
Liberia's ambitious revised NDC, as trumpeted by President Weah during his address at the United Nations General Assembly last September, is intended to reduce its Green House Emission by 64 percent by 2030.
The NDC takes into consideration nine climate-sensitive sectors of the country. They include Agriculture, Forestry, Coastal Zones, Fisheries, Health, Transport, Industry, Energy, and Waste as well as cross-cutting targets for urban green corridors. The Government says to successfully implement the NDC over its projected two-year time frame, it needs more than US$400 million.
The revision is in line with the Paris Agreement which mandates countries that are parties to revise or update their NDC every five years.
The President noted that the ratification of the Paris Agreement by the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) led government immediately upon its assumption of office in 2018 was a demonstration of the government's highest political commitment to ensure that Liberia is among the comity of nations working together in addressing climate change, with focus on mitigation, adaptation, technology transfer, gender, capacity building, and, more importantly, predictable and sustained finance.
A call to action
Liberia hosts the largest portion of the Upper Guinea Forest which spans across much of West Africa. It also has an extremely rich biodiversity of flora and fauna - thanks to its tropical forests.
Sadly the country is highly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change and environmental instability due to its extreme poverty and high dependence on climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, forestry, fisheries, energy, and mining.
In his address, the President called on the officials of his administration to take charge of the bankable projects embedded in the NDC.
"I, therefore, call on all officials of my Administration to develop and take charge of the bankable projects embedded in the NDC Implementation Plan, and urge you to work with the Environmental Protection Agency of Liberia in ensuring that our commitments in the NDC's are implemented to the fullest," he declared.
Speaking earlier, the Executive Director of the EPA, Prof. Wilson Tarpeh, praised the Government of Liberia (GoL) through the leadership of President Weah for the "tremendous strides" in the implementation of the different climate change processes, especially as it relates to the ratification of the Paris Agreement and the crafting and revision of the country's NDC.
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With the launch of the IP, Prof. Tarpeh noted that the EPA and relevant stakeholders will be able to quantify the different programs and progress made along the way.
Liberia's Revised NDC was driven nationally with the recruitment of an NDC Coordinator who coordinated all activities with the partners and reported thru several international channels informing the global community of the progress being made with the revision process, he said.
Despite the disruption by COVID-19, he noted that the country was able to complete and submit an ambitious NDC in terms of reducing emissions by 64% below the projected 'business as Usual' by 2030 on basis of conditionality and non-conditionality.
The event was attended by over 400 people including pro-environmental institutions and organizations, foreign embassies, civil society, and students.
