Monrovia – The Liberian Senate on Tuesday, June 12, concurred with the House of Representatives on the ratification of the Paris Climate Change (PCC) Agreement.
Report by Henry Karmo, [email protected]
The Senate took the decision in response to the recommendation from its Foreign Affairs and Judiciary Committees.
The decision is in compliance with Article 34 (f) of the Liberian Constitution of 1986, which mandates the Legislature to approve treaties, conventions and such other international agreements. The Plenary of the Liberian Senate during the 53rd Legislature received for concurrence from the House of Representatives the UNFCC Paris Agreement.
The Committees in their recommendation to plenary said, after reviewing and critically analyzing the Paris Agreement, Liberia stands to benefit financial and technological support in maintaining low climate resilience through effective adaptation and greenhouse gas emission reduction.
The agreement, by ratifying, assists Liberia as a developing country to adapt to the effects of climate change and access funding from the adaptation fund, Green Climate Fund and other funds pledged by developed countries in mitigating the effects of climate change.
In the joint committees’ recommendations among other things stated that they have done a thorough examination of ratifications by 178 countries of the 195 countries and realized Liberia is amongst the 17 countries that have not ratified. “This is not the place for Liberia as a signatory to this Agreement and adaptation since 2015.”
The Committees also claimed to have done due diligence of the content of Paris Agreement on the climate change and realized that its adaptation will bring immense benefits to protecting Liberia Green Forest, which is the largest in West Africa.
“The Committees, therefore, recommends to plenary of the Liberian Senate to concur with the House of Representatives by ratifying the Paris Agreement.”
A UNDP report on climate change states that it poses significant risks to Liberia in reaching its goals for sustainable development and climate action. The UNDP report also states that strong governance will be key in building the enabling and transformative institutions necessary to protect the people of Liberia from sea level rise and other climate impacts, propel development gains to reduce hunger and poverty so that no one is left behind and protect peaceful climate-resilient economic and social development.
Liberia faces significant risks as a result of climate change owing to the fact that there is a high level of dependence on climate-sensitive activities, such as rain-fed agriculture, which makes the country vulnerable to climate variability and change – higher temperatures, more extreme weather events such as heavy rains, and rising sea levels.
The impacts are felt on the population in terms of loss of livelihood, income and settlement. The economy is challenged due to a decline in productive capacity, especially in the agriculture sector. Huge infrastructure investments along the coast (seaports, hospitals, schools, hotels, etc) are also at a huge risk of being destroyed by sea erosion.