Buchanan, Grand Bassa County – The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) along with several partners Wednesday launched the climate change knowledge sharing platform which is to be hosted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for easy access of data and information generated.
The design of the platform was completed in December of 2019 to synchronize existing climate information platforms used in other government departments and connect with other networks and research institutes.
The platform (http://ccksp.gnf.tf) is an activity under the National Adaptation Plan which is funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF).
Officially launching the platform, the Acting Executive Director of the EPA, Randall Dobayou II appreciated all the participants for being in attendance “especially in these trying times of the Coronavirus pandemic.” Adding that, it is a great day not just in the history of the EPA but rather Liberia in general.
“It is for all of us Liberians because it is a knowledge sharing platform exclusively dedicated to professional actors, students, policy experts, farmers, market women among others,” stated the EPA acting boss.
He furthered that the platform consists of resources that will help users to better understand climate change issues and how they affect gender, energy, fisheries among others including social economic activities.
“Infact on this platform there is even a space there called the kids corner where climate information is made very simple for our children,” he furthered.
According to Dobayou, he’s glad that the EPA along with partners have completed a ‘long’ journey considering limited capacity for knowledge management which was identified during a stock taking exercise for Liberia National Adaptation plan (NAP).
“In 2015, after we identify such need, we concluded that it was urgently necessary to develop a climate change knowledge management platform as part of our efforts aim at facilitating the expansion of knowledge and the building of capacity,” Dobayou explained.
Making remarks, the Acting Country Representative of Conservation International CI, Peter Mulbah stated that the platform is a good initiative and his institution sees it as a means of making everyone’s job easier in gathering and sharing information.
“When we were first served the invitation to come here, we saw it very important because in previous times we worked with the EPA to develop different knowledge management systems and we realize that there are a lot of organizations that have knowledge management systems on their website that are not functional,” stated Mulbah.
CI Acting Country Representative however revealed that along with the EPA, his institution is also working on the creation of another platform to help monitor the government of Liberia’s commitment to the Paris Agreement under the capacity building initiative for transparency project which is being implemented by his organization.
“Then we are also working on the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), those information will have to go somewhere where everyone will have access to and I think that’s the beauty of this system. We want to see a system that will interface with already existing or new systems that will be developed,” revealed Mulbah.
Also making remarks, the Team Leader of the Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development program at the UNDP, Dorsla Farcathy acknowledged and applauded the efforts of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the EPA in leading ‘this very important initiative’ to develop the knowledge platform.
“It serves as a repository of knowledge and gathers support in the medium to long term for adaptation plans. I also want to applaud the GCF for it’s continue support to Liberia’s NAP project which has enable the country to advance its adaptation planning processes and build capacity at the national and sectoral levels,” acknowledged Mr. Farcathy.
Farcathy however emphasized the need for inter-agency collaboration in sustaining and operationalizing the knowledge sharing platform.
“This is very important; so even as we launch the platform today, it is my hope that it will be used for the intended purpose. For us at UNDP, we will continue to remain a key partner to the government but when it comes to sustainability of the support we count on the national government to sustain that,” emphasized Farcathy.
The two-day event is being attended by national stakeholders, including local authorities and representatives from the relevant government line ministries and agencies, civil society organizations. Others include the private sector, youth and women organizations, universities and research institutions.