The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is holding a two-day stakeholders’ workshop on domestic mitigation actions and their effects, including associated methodologies and assumptions.
It is being held under the auspices of Liberia’s First Biennial Update Report (BUR-1) Project. The workshop runs from Thursday, January 31 to Friday, February in Monrovia.
BURs are reports to be submitted by non-Annex I Parties, containing updates of national Greenhouse Gas (GHG) inventories, including a national inventory report and information on mitigation actions, needs and support received. Annex I Parties include the industrialized countries that were members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1992, plus countries with economies in transition (the EIT Parties), including the Russian Federation, the Baltic States, and several Central and Eastern European States.
During the official opening, on behalf of the Executive Director of the EPA, Nathaniel T. Blama, Sr., a proxy, Elijah Whapoe, Manager, Planning & Policy, disclosed that the workshop was initiated by the desire to have stakeholders give themselves aid of nationalism as Liberia is developing the second stage of environmental report.
According to him, this is being done with the national environmental plan that will be developed to address environmental issues.
Mr. Whapoe added that the EPA intends to give technicians and policy makers the tools to make informed decisions.
Giving an overview of the Liberia’s BUR-1 Project, Dr. Charles Ansumana, Sr., National Project Coordinator, informed the participants that the objective of this project is to prepare and submit Liberia’s BUR–1 to fulfill national obligations to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC-Article 12).
He said the project proposal has been prepared as per requirements of the UNFCCC for BURs and based on Decision 17/CP. 8 – Guidelines for the preparation of BUR from Parties not included in Annex I to the Convention.
Dr. Ansumana mentioned that the project falls under support from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) for convention-related reporting and assessment, and is implemented on an agreed full cost basis requiring only in-kind contribution by GEF-eligible countries.
He added that the project is in conformity with objective 3 of the GEF-6 Climate Mitigation Strategy that focuses on fostering enabling conditions to mainstream mitigation concerns into sustainable development strategies.
BURs are submitted every two years, either as a summary of parts of the national communication in the year when the national communication is submitted or as a stand-alone update report. Such reports provide updates on actions undertaken by a Party to implement the Convention. Least developed country Parties (LDCs) and Small island developing States (SIDS) may submit the BURs at their discretion.
The main components of the project are Information on National circumstances and Institutional arrangement; The National inventory of the greenhouse gases (GHGs) for the year 2015; Information on mitigation actions and their effects; Constraints and gaps, and related financial, technical and capacity needs, including support received for preparation and submission of the biennial update report; Domestic measurement, reporting and verification; and Any other information relevant to the Convention.
Participants are from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), University of Liberia (UL), Forestry Development Authority (FDA), Rural Renewable Energy Agency (RREA), EcoGreen Environmental Consultants and Ministry of Transport. They include Dr. Eugene Shannon, former Minister of Lands, Mines and Energy.
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