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Environmental NewsGeneralLiberia news

EPA wants robust action plan in NDCs sectors

The national focus person on Capacity Building Initiative for Transparency at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Mr. Arthur Becker, has stressed urgent need for a robust action plan within the nine Nationally Determined Contribution (NDCs) sectors in the implementation of the Measurement Reporting and Verification (MRV) System of the EPA.

He notes that the System is now a cardinal focus of the government that is making efforts to measure up on all targets that are indicated in the nine sectors of the NDCs.

Speaking on Monday, January 10, 2022, in Monrovia at a one-day refresher training on the functionality of the MRV System, Mr. Becker explained the 2015 NDCs had five sectors namely; Agriculture, Energy, Waste, Transport and Forestry but it was revised and four additional sectors were included such as Fishery, Coastal Zones, Health and Industry.

He said these are sectors that cannot be overlooked relative to the environment.

Speaking on behalf of EPA Boss, Professor Wilson Tarpeh, stressed that Liberia as a country must take up the challenge of meeting its NDCs targets because the MRV platform serves as a report card to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Mr. Becker:  “We hope that this refresher training widens the understanding of technicians so that they can complement our efforts that we were able to ensure ideas and targets set up with the NDCs at the sectorial level.”

 “This is a continuous process, because five years from now, we will be reviewing our progress to add [to] those areas that will need improvement with the MRV System platform.”

The head of the environmental science program at the University of Liberia Graduate School, Dr. Charles Asumana, giving an overview of the refresher training, said the existing institutional arrangements of the MRV system needs to be strengthened and maintained so that parties can improve in the frequency, quality of the content of the report.

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He said there is a need to address the national coordinating process that underpins not only the availability of the national capacity to yield more technically robust reports but also the ability to meet the frequency of submissions.

“We must support technicians’ ability to report relevant information in the Measurement Reporting and Verification (MRV) of the national report; climate change reduction is a must and it must start with reporting on our MRV Platform”, Dr. Asumana stressed.

“We are also charged with the responsibility to ensure that these technicians understand the relevance and institutional arrangement of the climate MRV System and, to expose them to key MRV procedural issues, we have a goal to achieve a sustainable reporting mechanism and it must be accomplished.”

He reminded that no more flexibility is given to least developed countries, as all countries are now charged with the responsibility to report on their NDCs sectors through the MRV System.

Speaking on behalf of Conservation International (CI), the lead implementer of the Capacity Building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT) project Mr. Nelson Jallah, lauded participants for taking off time to sit in the training to enhance their capacities.

However, he urged participants to take seriously the knowledge acquired and pass it on to their respective sectorial hubs for proper implementation as well as to help build the capacity of others for the growth and development of Liberia.

This capacity-building chain process of the MRV, he said will contribute immensely to reporting on Green House Gas Emissions Inventory.

Making remarks on behalf of the participants, Mr.  Monyan Flomo of the Ministry of Mines and Energy described the MRV training as impactful, adding that he as an individual can boast of imputing data into the MRV system, something he previously had no idea of.

 “I am going today to give back to my department at the Ministry, the Energy department what I have been thought, this spirit of knowledge sharing will smoothen our work as a department”, Flomo assured.

 A female participant, Madam Vermon Lloyd from the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) said the training has been fruitful and beneficial in terms of building their capacities in data collection and finding solutions to mitigating climate impacts on the ecosystem.

She explained that the training enables line ministries and agencies to establish hubs that are charged with the oversight responsibility to collect data as per institutional functionalities.  

Madam Lloyd stressed a need for collective execution of duties so as to have profitable results, adding, “Coordination makes work easier”.

The term MRV originally came from the Bali Action Plan (BAP); in Bali, Indonesia, the basic understanding of the BAP is that climate change mitigation actions, mainly Greenhouse Gas emissions reduction shall be implemented accordingly.

The training was held under the auspices of the Environmental Protection Agency in collaboration with Conservation International with funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF).https://thenewdawnliberia.com/epa-holds-esia-licensure-training-for-independent-evaluators/ Editing by Jonathan Browne

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The New Dawn is Liberia’s Truly Independent Newspaper Published by Searchlight Communications Inc. Established on November 16, 2009, with its first hard copy publication on January 22, 2010. The office is located on UN Drive in Monrovia Liberia. The New Dawn is bilingual (both English & French).
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