Environment in Liberia Essay ⋆ Environment Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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The Republic Of Liberia was originally founded and settled by black American settlers and freed slaves in the mid-19th century, with a structure of government mirroring to a great degree that of the United States. In the late 20th century, the country suffered through a series of civil wars, with a peace agreement signed in 2003. Despite the fact that the United Nations (UN) maintains a presence in Liberia, the situation remains volatile. Because the war and political strife drained so many resources, the country is still in the early stages of rebuilding its infrastructure and finding its path to economic recovery. Tens of thousands of Liberians were killed during the conflict, and at least 238,500 Liberians remain in other countries, unwilling to return to their homeland.

Liberia’s rich natural resources include iron ore, timber, diamonds, gold, and hydropower, and the country exports both timber and rubber. Less than four percent of the land is arable. However, 70 percent of the workforce is engaged in subsistence agriculture. Eighty-five percent of Liberians are unemployed. At least 80 percent of Liberians live in poverty, and 46 percent are undernourished. With a per capita income of only $900, Liberia is one of the 20 poorest countries in the world. The UN Development Programme’s Human Development Reports do not rank Liberia on standard of living issues due to insufficient data.

Bordering on the North Atlantic Ocean, Liberia has a 579 kilometer coastline and 15,050 square kilometers of inland water resources. Liberia shares land borders with Guinea, the Cote d’Ivoire, and Sierra Leone. The terrain of Liberia is generally flat with rolling coastal plains that give way to plateaus and low mountains in the northeast. Lagoons, mangrove swamps, and river-deposited sandbars characterize the coastline. Elevations vary from sea level to 1,380 meters at Mount Wuteve.

The tropical climate is hot and humid. Winter days are hot, but nights are cool to cold. Summers in Liberia are wet and cloudy with frequent heavy showers. From December to March, Liberia experiences the harmattan, hot dusty winds that blow in from the Sahara Desert, creating environmental damage.

Liberia’s population of 3,042,004 experiences many of the health problems that beset other poor African nations, including a high HIV/AIDS prevalence rate (currently 5.9 percent). The HIV/AIDS epidemic has killed 7,200 people, and at least 100,000 more have contracted the disease. Around 62 percent of the population has access to safe drinking water, but only 26 percent (7 percent in rural areas) have access to improved sanitation. Consequently, Liberians also have a very high risk of contracting food and waterborne diseases that include bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever, in addition to schistosomiasis – caused by contact with contaminated water – and Lassa fever, caused by contact with infected aerosolized dust and soil. In some locations, Liberians are also at high risk for contracting malaria and yellow fever.

These environmental hazards negatively affect Liberians by producing lower than normal life expectancy (39.65 years) and growth rates (4.91 percent), high infant mortality (155.76 deaths per 1,000 live births) and death rates (23.1 per 1,000 population). Liberian women give birth to an average of 6.8 children each. The low literacy rate (41.6 percent) for females makes it difficult to dispense birth control and other health and environmental information.

The long years of war negatively affected environmental infrastructures, either destroying or damaging the energy, water, sanitation, waste management, and housing sectors. Liberia’s other environmental problems are generally centered in the rain forest and along the coast. In order to finance the war, Liberia’s forests were stripped of some of their most valuable timber, resulting in soil erosion and a loss of biodiversity. Along the coast, waters were heavily polluted from oil residues and the dumping of raw sewage.

In 2006 a study of scientists at Yale University ranked Liberia 109 of 132 countries on environmental performance, roughly in line with the relevant income and geographic groups. Low scores were assigned in the categories of environmental health and biodiversity and habitat. Just over 36 percent of Liberia is forested, but the rain forest is depleting at a rate of 2.0 percent per year. Only 1.7 percent of land area has been protected. Of 193 mammal species found in the rain forest, 17 are endangered, as are 11 of 146 bird species. Bush meat is being consumed by Liberians and exported to neighboring countries.

In 2002 Liberia enacted the National Environment Policy, the Environment Protection Act, and the Environment Protection and Management Law. By the end of the following year, the Environment Protection Agency Act was operational and charged with implementing and enforcing the existing body of environmental legislation and working with other government agencies and the public to plan and implement new policies and programs. The Forestry Development Authority-established in 1976 – and the Division of Wildlife and National Parks – created by the 1988 Wildlife and National Parks Act – work closely with the Environmental Protection Agency on environmental issues. In 2003 the Liberian government created a Protected Forest Area Network designed to prevent further destruction of land and ecosystems.

Liberia participates in the following international agreements on the environment: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, and Tropical Timber 94. Agreements on Environmental Modification, Law of the Sea, and Marine Life Conservation have been signed but not ratified.

Bibliography:

Timothy Doyle, Environmental Movements in Minority and Majority Worlds: A Global Perspective (Rutgers University Press, 2005);
Kevin Hillstrom and Laurie Collier Hillstrom, Africa and the Middle East: A Continental Overview of Environmental Issues (ABC-CLIO, 2003);
Valentine Udoh James, Africa’s Ecology: Sustaining the Biological and Environmental Diversity of A Continent (McFarland, 1993).