The School of Environmental Studies and Climate Change at the University of Liberia (UL) has launched a Postgraduate Diploma and Certificate Program in Climate Action. Delivering brief remarks at the launching ceremony on Friday, November 8, 2024, UL Acting President Dr. Al-Hassan Conteh thanked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and NovaSphere for their support to the UL, especially in the direction of Climate Action. Dr. Conteh reminded the participants that the UL had been concerned with climate action long ago, but the focus was mostly placed on the environment, resources, and ecology, as he described the areas of study as the epistemology that was driven by many UL faculty then. The University acting President emphasized the importance of the postgraduate program and the National University Climate Action Laboratory (NUCAL) to students interested in the study of climate action. He expressed optimism that the UL, through the Board of Trustees, will take all the necessary steps to support and sustain the program following a presentation to them the same day. Meanwhile, EPA Executive Director Dr. Emmanuel K. Urey Yarkpawolo, who served as chief launcher at the program underscored the importance of the EPA working with other institutions to protect the environment by enforcing environmental laws. He said that effort led to the establishment of the bachelor, postgraduate, and graduate programs at the UL to support the goals of providing quality tertiary education to Liberians. “This is the EPA’s way of supporting the UL in our capacity building with huge support coming from the people and Government of Canada,” Dr. Yakpawolo acknowledged. He assured the UL authorities of the EPA’s continued collaboration and support to achieve the University’s full mandate. “Going forward, we expect this to continue, we are in touch with universities from Switzerland and other developing partners concerning the ideas of providing opportunities for knowledge sharing, students and faculty exchange programs which the UL is going to benefit,” Dr. Yakpawolo assured. The EPA boss pledged his agency’s commitment to fostering more collaboration with the UL, disclosing that the EPA is going to establish a national data center with support from the International Environmental Agency (IEA) in all parts of Liberia to enhance the process of gathering and reporting data locally and at the level of the IEA. “These are all research academic programs that require us to continue to work with the UL so that in the end, we will not have too many international consultants coming to Liberia,” Dr. Yarkpawolo said.
Instead, he noted, more Liberian students and professionals will be going international to offer consultancy. The two Co-Directors of MRV for Climate Action/Nova Spherer, Prof. Scott Muller and Prof. Lisa Marroquin expressed satisfaction with the implementation of the project by their Liberian counterparts. In separate remarks, they expressed pleasure to partner with the EPA and the University of Liberia in this effort. Prof. Muller said the launch of the Postgraduate program and the dedication of the NUCAL laboratory is not a donation, emphasizing that the project is as a result of a bilateral effort that is focused on implementation and collective action. For her part, Prof. Morroquin thanked the EPA and the UL for showing immense interest in the project, as she pledged her expertise to support climate action in Liberia. LINA