Liberia – Institutional strengthening support

Phase I – Institutional Strengthening and Black Carbon Inventory Support – Complete  

In 2015, a cooperation agreement was signed between the UN Environment Programme and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of Liberia. This agreement launched institutional strengthening activities through the Coalition's SNAP Initiative to build human and technical capacity, improve planning and coordination on mitigation activities, and increase commitment among national stakeholders.  

A National SLCP Unit was established within the EPA charged with coordinating the project, and technical and financial assistants were recruited to support the implementation of activities including through the creation of a workplan. A National SLCP Advisory Board was also established, with members from relevant international organizations and government departments (including the Ministries of Transport, Agriculture, Health and Finance) to coordinate national data collection, take stock of ongoing mitigation efforts, and identify opportunities for additional action.  

An inception workshop was held in Monrovia on November 2015 to create awareness about SLCPs and build a national knowledge sharing platform that would facilitate the implementation of the project and support the inclusion of SLCP actions into national development policies and planning. Sectoral stakeholders were identified from national and subnational government, NGOs, private companies, and civil society. Barriers to mitigation were also identified along with priority mitigation sectors, including work in household energy, transport, and waste.  

The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) is conducting workshops to develop an integrated greenhouse gas, SLCP and air pollutant inventory using the LEAP-IBC model. The inventory will show for the first time the contribution of major source sectors to SLCP and air pollutant emissions in Liberia. Furthermore, EPA Liberia is considering how SLCPs can be integrated into climate change planning in the context of its revised Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). 

The West African nation of Liberia is increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, including rising temperatures, changing rainfall patterns, and extreme flooding during the rainy season. At the same time, levels of air pollution that exceed World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines remain a threat to the health of a population of almost five million people, particularly in urban centres such as the capital of Monrovia, and the large fraction of the population who cook using solid biomass fuels like wood. In 2015, the WHO estimated that air pollution was responsible for four thousand premature deaths, as well as other health risks such as respiratory problems and chronic disease. Short-lived climate pollutants contribute significantly to both of these issues, derived predominantly in Liberia from the household energy, transport, and waste sectors.