By Stephen N. Tokpah
(Freelancer)
The Executive Director of the Liberia Environmental Protection Agency, Emmanuel Urey Yarkpawolo, has revealed that there is a growing national concern about illegal, unregulated, unsustain and unreported extraction of natural resources in a crude miner that continues to destroy and degrade not only the land areas but major water bodies in Liberia.
He said is particularly concerned about the use of mercury to mine gold facilitated by the increased number of dredges in the various waters.
“Mercury is a long-lasting chemical that can affect all of us. For example, when we mine gold using mercury, the mercury spreads in the water. The fish live in the water and get their food. The mercury enters the fish. When we eat fish, mercury enters our bodies. This can cause damage to our kidneys, cause deafness, cause blindness, and cause women to give birth to children with all kinds of brain problems. The same thing happens to those who smell mercury while using it to mine gold. Honorable Superintendents and Development Superintendents, Ladies and Gentlemen. There have been instances where local authorities in the counties are contributing to the detrimental use of mercury in our waters,” Dr. Yarkpawolo added.
He expaliedn that “Sometimes, these miners who are ripping huge money with little or nothing left with the communities will give small money to the local authorities to permit them to mine When our inspectors went there to identify these illegal miners, the local people hid them and prevented law enforcement officers from enforcing the law.”
The Executive Director of the EPA described the situation as unfortunate, adding, “We are asking the county superintendents to help us prevent this bad behavior and save our people.”
Dr. Yarkpawolo disclosed that Liberia is a signatory to most of the international environmental agreements, the convention to conserve biological diversity, climate change, desertification, wetlands, and many others.
“We have demonstrated the political will over the years to ensure we work to fulfill the objectives of these agreements that we are party to,” he stated in Gbarnga, Bong County, on August 21, 2024, at the opening ceremony of a two-day Climate Action Planning Forum organized by EPA and its partners for Superintendents and other locals.
He continued, “The EPA as a statutory government agency cannot do it alone to protect and manage the environment.”
The Act Creating the EPA identified The Ministry of Internal Affairs as an arm of government responsible for the custodian of the resources.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs is the oldest government ministry within the Republic of Liberia. Internal Affairs Ministry is the premier Ministry of Government.
He pointed out, “This means we have a statutory mandate to work with you closely in assisting the EPA to achieve its mandate. Without your collaboration, cooperation, and support, it will be difficult or impossible to achieve our statutory function to protect and manage the environment and the sustainable use of our resources to meet the needs of this generation and the future generation.”
The EPA is further mandated by the Act Creating the EPA 2002 to set up or establish County and District Environmental Offices to work in the direction of protecting and managing the environment.
The EPA has been in existence for almost 21 years, but unfortunately, we have not been able to establish county offices in all the 15 political subdivisions of the country.
The EPA, under my leadership, had established four county offices in Bentol- Montserrado, Cestoes- Rivercess, Bopolu- Gbarpolu, and Robert-spot-Grand Cape Mount. We were able to achieve this work as part of our 100-day deliverables under Joseph Nyumah Boakai’s administration. Today, we have Grand Kru and River Gee counties remaining for the establishment of their county offices. We anticipate completing the final decentralization of EPA’s County Offices before the end of next year, depending on the availability of funds.
He told the gathering that Liberia is a party to all the Climate Change Agreements, The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol, the Doha Amendment, and the most talked about, The Paris Agreement.
The Paris Agreement mandates parties to formulate a national climate change action plan which is often referred to as the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), something which Liberia’s Climate Change Plan mandates that Liberia intends to reduce her greenhouse gas emissions by 64% by 2030 provided the availability of support both locally and internationally in fighting climate change.
Liberia’s NDC mandates that we work to reduce the high level of vulnerability of our country to the impacts of climate change, noting that they have identified adaptation actions in nearly all the climate-sensitive sectors, namely, agriculture, health, waste, forestry, coastal resources, etc.
According to Dr. Yarkpawolo, achieving Liberia’s Climate Action Plan will require strong, dedicated, and committed local and international partnerships.
The Liberia EPA Executive Director noted that the Government of Canada, through Novasphere, has identified Liberia as a strategic partner in working together to fight climate change in Liberia in order to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement.
“Liberia’s partnership with the Government of Canada through Novasphere commits technical and financial support by the Government of Canada to tackle or remove all those obstacles/hindrances that are impeding Liberia’s desire to fulfill her obligation under The Paris Agreement. With the support of the Government of Canada, we have, for the first time in the Republic of Liberia, established a National University Climate Change Laboratory on the Capitol Hill Campus of the University of Liberia,” he stressed.
The Laboratory will train Liberians in climate modeling, greenhouse gas accounting, greenhouse gas management, Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification of Climate Change activities in the country, and the usage of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Guidance courses.
The Laboratory will assist the Government of Liberia in generating the needed report that is required to open up the carbon market in Liberia, adding that the Carbon market is intended to use resources, mainly forest resources to capture carbon in the fight against climate change and in return Liberia hopes to generate the needed revenues to promote her economic development.
Dr. Yarkpawolo thanked the Government of Canada for the technical and financial support they continued to render the EPA in the fight against climate change.
He further used the occasion to call on all well-wishers to support the governance of climate change and sustainable use of natural resources in Liberia.
The EPA Executive Director noted that they will continue to solicit strong partnerships both locally and internationally in the execution of the sole mandate.
Dr. Yarkpawolo lauded various superintendents, mayors, and others who continue to assist the EPA in the execution of its mandate in the country.
He further admonished the local leaders to continue to demonstrate the strength and courage to help protect and manage forests, rivers, creeks, wildlife, wetlands, and other endowed natural heritage of the country that God had blessed Liberians with to take our people out of poverty.
