Monrovia — The Environmental Protection Agency in Collaboration with Conservation International and the Swedish Embassy has held a one-day High-level Stakeholders Engagement on Single-Use Plastic to find the mean of eradicating the proliferation of the use of plastic.
The event that was held at the Monrovia City Hall on Wednesday was attended by government officials and development partners.
Speaking at the event, the Executive Director of the EPA Professor Wilson Tarpeh praised the development partners for their support in fighting to eradicate single-use plastic.
According to him, the issue of single-use plastic is something that the government of Liberia had shown strong interest in.
He added that in Nairobi, Kenya last year, the government signed up to eradicate the use of plastic in Liberia.
"Our mandate at the EPA is that we encourage the possibility of having an environment that is safe and clean," Mr. Tarpeh said.
Mike Izava Olendo is the Director of the Blue Ocean Program from the Conservation International Liberia.
He told FrontPage Africa that from the dialogue, both the government and partners hope to achieve a consensus on marine policy and plastic policy, as well as single-use plastic policy.
"After this dialogue, we hope to create a mechanism on how to reduce the impact of plastic on our environment and form a plastic policy of Liberia," Olendo said.
He added that the issue of behavior change is something that needs to be looked at in dealing with the eradication of plastic in Liberia.
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He said four years after the Blue Ocean conference, there has been some awareness of single-use plastic but there has been no policy instrument to guide or ban the use of single plastic.
Jefferson F. Nyandibo is the Manager for Multilateral Environmental Agreements and National Focal Point UNFCCC
He said: "We are here to reawaken our commitment made as a country during the Blue Ocean conference and we are going to make sure that we collaborate with other countries around the world on the use of single-use plastic," he said
According to Nynafibo, the issue of awareness is lacking in the fight to eradicate the proliferation of single-use plastic in the country.
He said: "If anything that is lacking is awareness. People need to know the harm for settle things that they do. And once they get to know they will take preventive action."
Jenkins F. Flahwor is the Program Officer for Environmental Climate Change and Natural Resources at the Swedish Embassy in Liberia.
He told FrontPage Africa during the event that the high-level stakeholder engagement is the outcome of the Blue Ocean conference that was four years ago.
He promised to support the government of Liberia in addressing the issue that affects the environment.
"Our role is supporting the government of Liberia with development priority and how they can address these critical environmental issues," Mr. Flahwor said.
