–UNFCCC Focal Point Prof. Ben Karmorh
By William Selmah wselmah@gmail.com
Liberia’s Focal Point on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), Prof. Benkamin Karmorh says the country continues to face several critical issues including biodiversity loss.
This includes climate change, smuggling of ozone depleting substances, migrating birds, wetlands, and mainstreaming gender activities into the environment, according to the Liberian environment expert.
Prof Karmoh said tackling those problems requires massive public education and awareness, stressing that any communication strategy on protecting the environment in Liberia must be simplified to be able to make even those that cannot read and write, a part of the national effort to save the environment.
The UNFCC Focal Person was speaking in Monrovia recently at a one-day stakeholders’ workshop to validate a Communication and Awareness Strategy for Sustainable Environment and Natural Resource Management.
It was hosted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Prof. Karmorh also underscored the need to tailor such a strategy in a fashion that appeals to both policy makers and drivers.
He said the EPA is accomplishing a lot that deserves public knowledge and awareness.
“Since the EPA was established more than ten years ago, a lot has been undertaken and a lot more will happen,” Prof. Karmorh told stakeholders at the opening of the validation exercise.
He said now that the EPA has succeeded in developing a communication strategy, the prime concern should currently be reaching out to all of the country’s inhabitants, 70% of whom are not literate, 60% living in abject poverty and the vast majority surviving on natural resources.
“It is therefore important that as we validate this communication strategy, we bear in mind that we take the bottom to top approach, so that even those who cannot read and write can comprehend and form part of the national endeavor to protect the environment”, Prof. Krmorh emphasized.
Randall M. Dobayou, II, the Deputy Executive Director of the EPA, , who challenged media practitioners to take ownership of the task of creating the much needed awareness on the environment.
“If you assume this responsibility, you make the work of the EPA easier,” he said.
Mr. Dobayou also used the occasion to similarly call on the public to consider the environmental challenges facing their country as a collective responsibility.
He spoke of the timeliness of the validation of the community strategy; especially coming on the heels of recent environmental devastations including flooding which cut off the main highway connecting Monrovia and its suburbs to the Roberts International Airport as a result.
The intent of the communication strategy is to provide in-depth information on environmental and natural resource management to policy makers, rural dwellers on the fringes of natural resources, concessionaires, government, and civil society actors, among others.
Its implementation will provide public space for debate and dialogue among stakeholders.