The corridors of the Kakata City Hall filled with the sound of greetings, pulled back chairs, and the quiet anticipation of something significant.
Government institutions, development partners, and civil society organizations convened for a high-level validation workshop that marked a major milestone to strengthen biodiversity finance architecture.
At the moment, Liberia forests, rivers, and ecosystems remain among the richest and most diverse in West Africa; yet the financial systems meant to protect them are thinly stretched and in need of reform.
The one-day session focused on validating the “Nature Positive; Nature Harmful Subsidies; Incentives Assessment and the Biodiversity Expenditure Review (BER),” a step to address that challenge.
UNDP Project Manager and National Coordinator of BIOFIN Liberia, Emmanuel Massaquoi, underscored the importance of the workshop to national development; a significant step toward a Nature Positive Future.
“This validation workshop marks a significant step forward in strengthening Liberia’s biodiversity finance architecture. The deliberations underscored the importance of aligning financial policies and public expenditures with sustainable environmental outcomes. Your contributions are invaluable as we move toward finalizing these two critical reports, which will guide national action and inform key policy reforms,” Massaquoi said.
He said the active engagement of stakeholders from government, development partners, and civil society demonstrates a shared commitment to finalize the two critical reports, which will build a nature positive future and guide national actions and inform key policy reforms.
The workshop was a moment of alignment.
Representatives from the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, the EPA, FDA, MoA, MME, MoPW, civil society groups, and development partners, feel that Liberia must finance its nature more intelligently; more sustainably, and more urgently.
Key technical findings presented
The session featured detailed technical presentations, group work, and plenary level analysis that allowed stakeholders thoroughly reviewed and validated the methodologies, data, and recommendations in both reports, that could reshape biodiversity financing.
Darlington S. Tuagben, Lead Consultant, presented the major findings of the Subsidies and Incentives Assessment, outlining financial mechanisms that either support or undermine nature positive outcomes and incentives that can be redesigned to promote positive environmental outcomes.
Andy S. Gbatu, UNDP Biodiversity Finance Analyst, presented the Biodiversity Expenditure Review; a meticulous mapping of national biodiversity expenditures, attribution rates, and gaps in the sectors.
Gbatu highlighted national spending patterns, gaps, and opportunities for more efficient biodiversity related investments.
Both Tuagben and Gbatu painted a detailed picture of how Liberia currently finances, or unintentionally undermines its biodiversity goals.
Their presentations sparked energetic discussions among participants, huddled in small groups over worksheets, cross checking data, debating attribution rates, and validating assumptions.
They engaged in robust group work sessions to validate Biodiversity Attribution Rates (BAR) and refine expenditure data, ensuring that the final documents accurately reflect national realities and priorities.