The United Nation Resident Representative, Stephen Rodriques, has revealed that disaster will be frequent and devastating across countries including Liberia if not mitigated.
Rodriques said the cause of his revelation is based on human actions and the rate at which the climate is changing thereby affecting the natural environment and bringing devastating outcomes to the earth.
He outlined some instances to serve as eye opener and clear picture to prove the bad news of how frequent and devastating disasters have been and will be in the nearest future, citing the increase in temperature of the sun, floods, drought and the fast moves of the sea to the land.
“The bad news is that, the rate at which climate is changing and the rate at which human beings through our own actions are destroying our natural environment, disasters will only be more frequent and more devastating,” Rodriques noted.
He further said that his statement is not based on speculations or opinion, but rather hard sciences that are practically in present day reality calling on the Liberian government to invest into the prevention of more disasters than watching it worsen.
“The positive news is that we can take actions to prevent disasters from happening and to mitigate the effects of disasters when they do happen and I do also want to encourage the government to make adequate budgetary allocation for the prevention of disaster,” the UN Representative urged.
Mr. Rodriques made the statement when the Governments of Liberia and Japan launched the “Building Resilience to Flooding and Coastal Erosion in Liberia Project” recently in Monrovia where the National Disaster Management Agency outlined major challenges and progresses since their establishment.
Meanwhile, the project is funded by the Government of Japan through the Japanese supplementary Fund and implemented by the United Nations Office for Special Project (UNOPS) which is expected to address some of the devastating impacts of disasters to Liberia.
The sum of U$1,891,138 has been placed into the implementation of the project which seeks to enhance the safety of flood and coastal erosion affected populations in Liberia with specific emphasis on equipping the National Disaster Management Agency with Vehicles, logistics and other material for timely and adequate services on all instances of disaster for the fiscal year of March 2022 to March 2023.
