MONROVIA – The Environmental Protection Agency of Liberia (EPA) has embarked on a month-long nationwide environmental compliance monitoring to ensure that proponents permitted by the Agency are following the Environmental Protection and Management Law of Liberia (EPML).
The exercise which is inconsistent with the core mandate of the EPA and its five-year strategic plan is intended to bridge a three-year gap in environmental monitoring and compliance and puts proponents permitted by the EPA in compliance with their permit conditions.
During the environmental compliance monitoring exercise, the Department of Compliance and Enforcement will evaluate environmental audits and monitoring reports and bring into compliance all undertakings that require an environment.
To achieve this, the EPA dispatched the first three teams of environmental compliance officers as well as environmental scientists in southeastern and northern Liberia to kick off the process. The teams are expected to enforce, document, report issues of environmental violations, and conduct random environmental quality data analysis (water, soil, air, biodiversity) of some projects across the country.
The team is also tasked with the responsibility to ensure all ‘Class B and C Mining’ license holders adhere to the EPA’s permitting process to EPA regulatory regime and measures developed to mitigate the negative ecological footprint of their projects.
The month-long environmental compliance monitoring would ensure the expansion of all sectors under EPA’s regulatory regime. are covered and as well ascertained the level of compliance by all project developers under the regulation of the EPA.
The exercise will also strengthen and create awareness of the EPA’S permitting process as well as awareness of the need for sustainable development for now and for successive generations to come.