Climate Pollutants kill millions

An official of the Environmental Protection Agency or (EPA) has disclosed here that Short Live Climate Pollutants or (SLCP) are responsible for the death of millions of people around the world.

Mr. Levi Piah, technical advisor to the executive director of the EPA, says short live climate pollutants are mainly from incombustible diesel fuel, methane, and black carbon.

According to him, climate and clean air coalition has cultivated an idea cooperative environment for partners to collaborate on projects, while mutually supporting greater SLCP reduction goals at home.

He said the coalition is strengthening its role to providing partners with the tools to share experience on policies, regulations, quantification of impacts, and on how to overcome implementation challenges.

The EPA official spoke Wednesday, October 14, 2015, during one-day national environmentalcoordination workshop, , brought together officials of government, line ministries and agencies to discuss the way forward in mitigating climate pollutants.

Mr. Piah narrated that the SLCP is a pollution that lasts a day or decade in the atmosphere, while contributing to climate change with about 30-40 GHS emission. ”With the formation of the national SLCP coordination unit at the EPA in August this year, the unit is moving forward with the establishment and concretization of the national SLCP advisory board, and the national SLCP mitigation committee”, he said, saying that these two groups are essential toward the overall achievement of the institutional strengthening project goal.”

The officer-in-charge or OIC at the EPA, said Liberia became party to the climate and clean air coalition in February 2014 after reviewing the work of the coalition and following its track record, adding that the coalition was established by the United NationsEnvironment Program or(UNEP) in 2012 with the goal of reducing short live pollutants that have adverse effects on climate, health, energy, and agriculture, bedrock of any growing economy.

He told participants at the workshop five countries initially participated in the formation of the coalition, including Bangladesh, Ghana, Sweden, United States, and Canada. Piah said since joining the coalition in 2014, Liberia has actively participated in all coalition meetings, including the UN Assembly Conference in 2014.

The EPA executive added that in May this year, the EPA received small scale funding from the regional office for Africa for institutional strengthening against short live climate pollutants in Liberia.

The national coordinator for SLCP, Jefferson P. Dahn,disclosed the climate clean air coalition or CCAC was established in 2012 by five member countries as a voluntary work that every country enters into free of charge and leaves if so desire.

Dahn said the general goal of the CCAC is to reduce short live climate pollutants from diesel fuel, methane, and black carbon, saying it is also intended to enhance capacity and mobilize support, while improving scientific understanding of SLCP impacts and mitigation strategy in Liberia.

By Lewis S. Teh