Government of Liberia strategizes on Climate Change regime.
Liberia's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and partners have ended a two-day Learning and Design Exchange Multi-level Climate Governance and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) National Implementation Pathways strategy in Kakata, Margibi County.
The Environmental Protection Agency organized the event, which was held in Kakata City from April 12 to 13, 2024, with support from the Government of Canada through NOVA Sphere.
It was meant to share information on climate change and its effects on Liberia, emphasizing the three transformative pilots being implemented under the MRV Project.
The two-day event also identified the roles of national stakeholders and developed the next steps for national implementation of the Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) of Climate Actions.
MRV refers to the multi-step processes that involve measuring the amount of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions reduced by a specific mitigation activity, such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), over a period of time and reporting these findings to an accredited third party.
At the end of the gathering, the project lead coordinator of the MRV for Climate Action in West Africa, Isaac N. Kannah, emphasized the need for the Government of Liberia to help build a system that will be able to manage climate change in Liberia.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1]
Mr. Kannah disclosed that plans are underway to engage with people at the community level, but they are first interacting with high-profile personalities at the government and institutional levels.
He warned that Liberia does not have any law or legal framework to guide the carbon market, as such, anyone can trade into carbon business.
He wants the Government of Liberia to setup framework and mechanism to safe guide the process.
Kannah asserted that it is not possible to penalize someone for breaking climate change procedures when the government has no laws in place.
"So this is a learning and design exchange meeting; we brought high-level stakeholders from the Government Ministries, Agencies, and civil society organizations to look at how well Liberia can position itself in a way that it takes actions to address the issue of climate change," he said.
He explained that when it comes to climate governance in Liberia, the country has some serious constraints, such as a lack of a structured climate governance system. Therefore, he said the Government of Canada, through NOVA Sphere, is funding this project to support countries (Liberia, Ghana, Gambia, and Togo) in building their climate MRV systems.
"We have been here for the past two days to brainstorm and come up with the best method and strategy that we can use as a country to develop our climate governance system. For example, the potential climate law in Liberia, which the Government of Canada will be funding, is a project that will help develop climate laws that will govern how we use our climate because we don't have laws governing our climate."
He noted that although climate change is not a strange thing to Liberia, the country is relatively new to the governance aspect of it, noting that questions on how to manage climate change and invest in Green Climate are still new, saying, "This is why we are finding it difficult actually to operate in this system, but all those that are here today are knowledgeable to what we are here to discuss and the Environmental Protection Agency EPA leads on climate issue in Liberia."
Bomi County Representative and Chairman of Science and Technology at the House of Representatives, Sam P. Jallah, pledged the House's support for the EPA and its partners in protecting and developing the environment.
He promised that, as Chair of Science and Technology, he would ensure that issues related to the EPA are taken seriously at the lower House.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
However, The Bomi County lawmaker called on the EPA and other institutions to always include beneficiaries of their projects in the planning activities, stressing that if a project is involved in the project, they stand to take ownership of it.
"One of the things I have come to learn is that you can form a very good policy, but if the people who the policy will affect are not involved, that project will not work," he said.
For their part, FDA and EPA representatives lauded the participants for the gathering. They added that the meeting will give them (the government) a broad idea of what must be done as the country progresses towards climate change mitigation.
The two-day event brought together community leaders, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Liberia Land Authority (LAA), Forestry Development Authority (FDA), and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), among others. Editing by Jonathan Browne
