Danesious Marteh, a sports’ reporter with privately-owned Frontpage Africa newspaper was on September 2, 2010 assaulted by three foreign-based players of the national soccer team for photographing them.

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Monrovia, Liberia – President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has signed a proclamation extending by fifteen (15) days the Fifth Regular Session of the 52nd National Legislature of the Republic of Liberia.

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The orator of this year’s Flag Day celebration has called for the changing of the country’s motto from “The Love of Liberty Brought Us Here” to “The Love of Liberty Brought All Here”

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Your Excellency!

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Special Remarks by H.E. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf at the 163rd Flag Day Program at Monrovia City Hall

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Liberia: Memo to the President – Depersonalize National Development AllAfrica.com Granted; but you need not lose sight of the fact that all Liberians, particularly elected officials of Government, have pivotal stake in the country's …

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The Liberian Journal

From a National Icon, to a Political Bastard: Where Did Weah, or Liberians Go … The Liberian Journal George Weah remains arguably the most influential Liberian of this generation-Like him or not, Weah's uncommon soccer prowess ignited a new kind of …

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A conference room

By: Saki Golafele

A one day national stakeholders conference on lessons learned and best practices on REDD (Reduce Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) development in Liberia was recently held in Monrovia, Liberia on the 10^th of August, 2010. The conference, which was organized by the REDD technical working group in Liberia, supported by FFI (Fauna & Flora International) and funded by NORAD, brought together important stakeholders currently engaged in the REDD initiative at the international, national, county, and local community levels. The conference covered various thematic areas including forest management, community consultation and participation, policy development and resource management and planning as well as benefit sharing and governance. Besides REDD, REDD+ was also considered.

The conference was officially launched by Hon. Christopher Neyor, advisor to the President of Liberia on Energy, Environment and Climate Change. In his launching, he read a portion of a letter written by President Sirleaf to the President of Norway stating  Liberia’s position in the REDD process and Liberia’s readiness to present her R-PP (Readiness Preparedness Proposal) by October of this year. Hon. Neyor also presented a paper on the National Climate Change Management Arrangement which he outlined the entire structure of the REDD management team in Liberia.

Several other key individuals spoke at the conference including a Paramount Chief from the South Eastern region, Elizabeth Jellay who lamented that their children are not benefiting from the forest resources. She also said that Monrovia is not the only place for decision making and that indigenous people have the right to be part of the decision making process.

After listening to Paramount Chief Jellay, Hon. Christopher Neyor was moved and immediately listed Madam Jellay as one of Liberia’s representative to the forth coming climate change conference in Cancun, Mexico, this year. Madam Jellay will represent the traditional council of Liberia at the conference. Several other key speakers spoke including Jessica Donovan-Allen, Technical Director of Conservation International, who presented papers on Policy Options: Economic Analysis for Low Carbon Economy and Dr. Nouhou Ndam, Chief Technical Advisor for REDD, FFI Liberia. Dr. Ndam spoke on risk analysis for REDD. Others who also presented papers were Urias S. Goll of FFI’s Conservation and Leadership Program, Kumeh S. Assaf of EPA and REDD Secretariat, Jane Dunlop of FFI-Indonesia and Yurfee Shaikalee of Action Against Climate Change. These three speakers presented papers on Consultation and Participation which highlighted issues such as consultation mechanism, capacity needs assessment and civil society engagement in REDD initiative. Mr. Shaikalee, on his part, recommended that civil society representation  be felt in the REDD process.

The conference also considered topics such as Economic Development and Resource Tenure Security, Benefit Sharing and Governance, and Monitoring, Reporting and Verication (MRV).

At the end of the conference, the facilitator, Pindarous Allison, led the participants to draft a resolution which will be presented to the Government of Liberia for onward presentation to her international partners.

REDD is a climate change mitigation program, which is an effort to create a financial value for the carbon stored in forests, offering credits for developing countries to reduce emissions from forested lands and invest in a low carbon economy to ensure sustainable development. Since 2005 at the Montreal conference, UNFCCC have had extensive discussions on the scope of REDD. Those discussions began with RED (i.e., limited to deforestation only) and expanded to REDD and REDD+ with consideration of forest degradation, and then broadened to further consider forest conservation, sustainable forest management, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicates that the forestry sector, mainly through deforestation, accounts for about 18% of global greenhouse emissions, making it the second largest source after the energy sector. In many developing countries, including Liberia, deforestation, forest degradation, forest fires and slash and burn practices make up the majority of carbon dioxide emissions. There are many causes of forest degradation and they vary from place to place. They include, among other things, poor forest management practices in production forests, forest fires, overgrazing, over harvesting of fuel wood and other non-wood forest products, illegal cutting of timber, forest pest outbreaks and forest disease.

Liberia is part of international agreements and the UNFCCC effort to combat climate change. As part of her effort, Liberia has been involved with approaches to adaptation to climate change using a multi-dimensional process, integrating components such as awareness raising, priority setting, sound planning, capacity building and research. Some which are still apart from the process and need to be included are technology development and transfer and resource mobilization. Before this conference, series of stakeholders’ engagements or consultations have occurred at the international, national, county and local levels. The Government of Liberia and her international and local partners and civil society organizations are heavily engaged in the REDD process to ensure Liberia’s readiness for REDD implementation.

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A conference room

By: Saki Golafele

A one day national stakeholders conference on lessons learned and best practices on REDD development in Liberia was recently held in Monrovia, Liberia on the 10^th of August, 2010. The conference, which was organized by the REDD technical working group in Liberia, supported by FFI (Fauna & Flora International) and funded by NORAD, brought together important stakeholders currently engaged in the REDD initiative at the international, national, county, and local community levels. The conference covered various thematic areas including forest management, community consultation and participation, policy development and resource management and planning as well as benefit sharing and governance. Besides REDD, REDD+ was also considered.

The conference was officially launched by Hon. Christopher Neyor, advisor to the President of Liberia on Energy, Environment and Climate Change. In his launching, he read a portion of a letter written by President Sirleaf to the President of Norway stating  Liberia’s position in the REDD process and Liberia’s readiness to present her R-PP (Readiness Preparedness Proposal) by October of this year. Hon. Neyor also presented a paper on the National Climate Change Management Arrangement which he outlined the entire structure of the REDD management team in Liberia. Several other key individuals spoke at the conference including a Paramount Chief from the South Eastern region, Elizabeth Jellay who lamented that their children are not benefiting from the forest resources. She also said that Monrovia is not the only place for decision making and that indigenous people have the right to be part of the decision making process. After listening to Paramount Chief Jellay, Hon. Christopher Neyor was moved and immediately listed Madam Jellay as one of Liberia’s representative to the forth coming climate change conference in Cancun, Mexico, this year. Madam Jellay will represent the traditional council of Liberia at the conference. Several other key speakers spoke including Jessica Donovan-Allen, Technical Director of Conservation International, who presented papers on Policy Options: Economic Analysis for Low Carbon Economy and Dr. Nouhou Ndam, Chief Technical Advisor for REDD, FFI Liberia. Dr. Ndam spoke on risk analysis for REDD. Others who also presented papers were Urias S. Goll of FFI’s Conservation and Leadership Program, Kumeh S. Assaf of EPA and REDD Secretariat, Jane Dunlop of FFI-Indonesia and Yurfee Shaikalee of Action Against Climate Change. These three speakers presented papers on Consultation and Participation which highlighted issues such as consultation mechanism, capacity needs assessment and civil society engagement in REDD initiative. Mr. Shaikalee, on his part, recommended that civil society representation  be felt in the REDD process. The conference also considered topics such as Economic Development and Resource Tenure Security, Benefit Sharing and Governance, and Monitoring, Reporting and Verication (MRV). 

At the end of the conference, the facilitator, Pindarous Allison, led the participants to draft a resolution which will be presented to the Government of Liberia for onward presentation to her international partners.

REDD (Reduce Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) is a climate change mitigation program which is an effort to create a financial value for the carbon stored in forests, offering credits for developing countries to reduce emissions from forested lands and invest in a low carbon economy to ensure sustainable development. Since 2005 at the Montreal conference, UNFCCC have had extensive discussions on the scope of REDD. Those discussions began with RED (i.e., limited to deforestation only) and expanded to REDD and REDD+ with consideration of forest degradation, and then broadened to further consider forest conservation, sustainable forest management, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicates that the forestry sector, mainly through deforestation, accounts for about 18% of global greenhouse emissions, making it the second largest source after the energy sector. In many developing countries, including Liberia, deforestation, forest degradation, forest fires and slash and burn practices make up the majority of carbon dioxide emissions. There are many causes of forest degradation and they vary from place to place. They include, among other things, poor forest management practices in production forests, forest fires, overgrazing, over harvesting of fuel wood and other non-wood forest products, illegal cutting of timber, forest pest outbreaks and forest disease.

Liberia is part of international agreements and the UNFCCC effort to combat climate change. As part of her effort, Liberia has been involved with approaches to adaptation to climate change using a multi-dimensional process, integrating components such as awareness raising, priority setting, sound planning, capacity building and research. Some which are still apart from the process and need to be included are technology development and transfer and resource mobilization. Before this conference, series of stakeholders’ engagements or consultations have occurred at the international, national, county and local levels. The Government of Liberia and her international and local partners and civil society organizations are heavily engaged in the REDD process to ensure Liberia’s readiness for REDD implementation.

View full post on Ceasefire Liberia

The Liberian Journal

Liberian Judiciary Commits To National Visioning – Liberia RISING 2030 The Liberian Journal Chief Justice Johnnie Lewis says the Judiciary branch of Government is committed to a long-term growth and development strategy of Liberia, named Liberia …

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