Monrovia – In the wake of severe flooding that hit Monrovia and its environs in recent days, the Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of Liberia, Nathaniel S. Blama has disclosed that coastal cities are badly threatened by the impact of climate change in Liberia.
Report by Gerald C. Koinyeneh, [email protected]
Mr. Blama said the EPA and its partners have identified coastal erosion as one of the major drivers to the impact of climate change in the country.
He indicated that the country has realized the lack of climate information system to forecast the weather.
Addressing a news conference on Wednesday, July 25 to announce the ratification of the Paris Agreement by the Government of Liberia, he explained that the signing of the agreement by the President and its subsequent printing into handbill puts Liberia in the position to develop programs and projects that will adapt to the impact of climate change and to mitigate the impact of climate change.
The Paris Agreement was subsequently published into handbill by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, July 17, 2018.
It is the world’s first comprehensive climate agreement between nearly 200 countries designed to mitigate greenhouse gas emission. Its central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change.
Speaking further, the EPA boss lauded President Weah, the legislators and officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for ratifying, signing and printing of the Paris Agreement into handbill.
Displaying the agreement, he disclosed that copies will be distributed to stakeholders and policy makers within the coming days.
As a least developed country, Blama said that Liberia stands to benefit more from fund appropriated by the global community for countries that sign unto the Paris Agreement.
According to him, industrialized counties have done things to impact the environment and said they are under pressure to give support to a poll funds for least developed countries that are badly affected and impacted by climate change.
He noted that while the country has an interim determinant, it would now develop a National Determined Contributions (NDC) that will outline Liberia’s contributions to reducing emission.
He disclosed that the ongoing coastal defense project in New Kru Town, Bushrod Island, which was recently launched by President Weah, is a result of the Paris Agreement and said Liberia is now on its way of accessing additional support to build resilience to ‘our coastal cities.’
Said Blama: We worked with UNDP a few years back when I was here. We developed a project called the early warning system that is being monitored by the Ministry of Transport. That Early Warning System is almost near completion. But it didn’t yield the desired result.”
He, however, stated that the project will be built upon by developing a climate information system that will forewarn Liberians.
Meanwhile, in the wake of the recent flood in some parts of Monrovia and its surroundings, Blama clarified that the EPA work, among other things, is to prevent flooding, while when there is a flood, it is the responsibility of the Disaster Commission address.
He noted that the clarification comes in the wake of incessant questions he had to answer while out of the country as to what the EPA was doing to address the inundation that hit Monrovia in recent days.
He, however, informed the public that the EPA has been proactive, asserting “when we took over, we made a proposal of US$100, 000, which would enable us in conjunction with the Ministry of Public Works and other institutions make minor intervention in critical areas”
“We wanted to get people to mann the wetlands to prevent people from dumping dirt there. Wetlands are natural flood plain system put in place by God. When you build in the waterways and on wetlands you will experience flooding. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that,” he intoned.
Sadly, he said the project was never bought because “things were tight in government and foreign partners didn’t also provide support for the project.”
But with the ratification of the Paris Agreement, a Climate Information System will be set up to determine in advance the quantity of rain that would fall and areas that will be impacted to enable the EPA make timely interventions.”
He further noted that the agreement will help the country to improve food production and agriculture activities because the Climate Information System will help farmers determine the erratic rain pattern, adding that Liberia is proud to be among the comity of nations to adopt the Paris Agreement.