Monrovia – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation is important in protecting Liberia’s forest sector.
At the end of a weeklong training organized by FAO in partnership with Forestry Development Authority REDD+ Project, FAO noted that reduction of emission is a significant stride that will strengthen Liberia’s capacity to combat climate change.
At the end of the training in Monrovia, the UN Food and Agriculture agency noted that it was important that GOL Staffs be strengthen on National Data Generation as a means of enabling them to help combat climate change.
During the event, the Monitoring Officer of REDD+ Project Isaac Nyaneyon Kannah said the initiative is important to reduce carbon dioxide emission in Liberia.
He described the project as a “war against climate change, which results from carbon dioxide emission.”
“Reducing carbon dioxide emissions as the result of deforestation and forest degradation is a global commitment, signed by countries including Liberia, at the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC),” Mr. Kannah said.
According to him, the project was specifically designed to help combat Climate Change, which remains a global concern.
He also emphasized the need to combat climate change globally through collective efforts.
He mentioned that integrated approaches to land use in balancing agricultural needs for production and food security with the sustainable management and conservation of forests is essential.
As a result, Mr. Kannah has called for the need to mitigate climate change.
He informed trainees that as part of the approach, the Forestry Development Authority remains grateful to FAO for providing the technical support to the Liberia forest sector project.
He called on government to put in place necessary policies to stop deforestation, describing forest as a cardinal source of production.
The training was facilitated by two forest experts from FAO Headquarters in Roma, Italy, Javier Garcia Perez and Yelena Finegold.
Making remarks during the close of the training, Javier Garcia Perez urged participants to take advantage of the opportunity for onward training program, following the exit of FAO and other partners.
Mr. Garcia Perez said the REDD+ program will continue to play vital role at the global level to strengthen countries capacity to better protect, manage and monitor their forests.
He further stated that the program will also advance forest-related investment in partners’ countries and support strategies as well as market access for forest deforestation- free agriculture commodities, as measure to halt deforestation.
The one week interactions highlighted two topics, “Estimation of Emission Factors and the Forest Cover Change Analysis.”
Approximately over thirty (30) technicians from the Forestry Development Authority and the Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS) participated in the weeklong exercise.
The first session of the training on Estimation of Emission Factors enable the data management team to acquire a broader knowledge on the use of Open Forest.
It also reviewed the estimation process to identify potential processing decisions, in advancing upcoming field data collection in Priority Area 2 of the project and the rest of the country; as well as to conduct a joint meeting with team leaders to identify the joint combination of emission factors and activity data.
At the same time, the second session place emphasis participants through the process of analyzing the sample data and generating activity data estimates.
The resulting stratified area assessment will be facilitated using a combination of Collect Earth and SEPAL tools, FAO said.
FAO further maintained that review of remote sensing functionalities in SEPAL will be presented for forest monitoring, including ‘mosaicking and image classification’ that will enable autonomous data access and processing.