Liberia has just emerged from a brutal civil war that lasted for more than a decade. In addition to all the other problems it caused, the war led to large-scale abuse of the environment, including the destruction of forests and the contamination of rivers.
Liberia is also experiencing other threats to its eco-system -- a rise in sea levels, increasing temperatures, and erratic weather patterns characterized by early or late rains. Authorities have also reported increasing beach erosion, tropical storms and desert encroachment.
The Liberian government has appealed for international help with these problems, including the preservation of its forests. In this second part of our five part series on Africa and climate change, reporter Chinedu Offor spoke with Ben Turtur Donnie, the executive director of Liberia’s Environmental Protection Agency. He told Chinedu why the international community should come to the aid of his country, “Liberia is the shining star; it’s an excellent example of what a forest is supposed to look like. So we do succeed in creating more forest protected areas and conserving our forests to show that West Africa has something too show to the rest of the world.”
