EPA Hosts UNGA Dialogue -Showcases Liberia’s Commitment to Climate Protocols

MONROVIA – Liberia is using its Security Council seat to make an argument it learned the hard way. Forests, rivers and minerals can finance war, or they can underwrite a lasting peace. The Environmental Protection Agency’s side event in New York today puts that lesson before diplomats and climate negotiators. It pairs a UN under-secretary-general with a Liberian woman who has lived through climate disaster. The EPA hopes the session will unlock fresh climate finance for rural communities that guard the forests. Yet dialogues in Manhattan hotels rarely reach the farmer in Lofa or the fisherman in West Point. As THE ANALYST reports, Liberia’s credibility will rest on how it manages its own forests and concessions.

The Environmental Protection Agency of Liberia (EPA) will today, Wednesday, September 23, host a high-level diplomatic dialogue in New York titled “The Nexus between Climate, Conflict, and Natural Resources: Pathways to Peace, Resilience, and Sustainable Development.” The event takes place on the margins of the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

According to a press release signed by Danise Love Dennis-Dodoo, Head of Media and Corporate Communications at the EPA, the dialogue will bring together global leaders, development partners and climate negotiators. It will be held at the Westin New York Grand Central, 212 E. 42nd Street, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

Security Council Seat As Platform

The dialogue coincides with Liberia’s 2026–2027 term as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), a role the EPA says the country has approached with a firm commitment to a just and peaceful world. Liberia is using its diplomatic presence at the Assembly to show how environmental stewardship and natural resource governance can serve as foundations for peacebuilding.

The gathering also underscores Liberia’s alignment with major multilateral environmental agreements. These include the Paris Agreement, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

Speakers And Program

EPA Executive Director Dr. Emmanuel K. Urey Yarkpawolo will welcome participants, after which Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti will formally open the proceedings and set out the session’s objectives. United Nations Under-Secretary-General Haoliang Xu, Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), will then deliver the keynote address.

Xu’s address is titled “Climate Change as a Threat Multiplier and Global Security Imperative.” Guests will also view a documentary on Liberia’s natural capital, offering a look at the forests, rivers and landscapes that sustain livelihoods across all 15 counties.

Global, Regional And Local Voices

A high-level panel on global, regional and national trends will follow, moderated by Francine Pickup, UNDP Deputy Assistant Administrator and Deputy Director of its Bureau for Policy and Programme Support. The panel brings together voices from international governance, climate finance, diaspora investment and grassroots experience.

Dr. Ali Daud Mohamed, Kenya’s Special Envoy for Climate Change in the Executive Office of the President and a former Chair of the African Group of Negotiators (AGN), will discuss integrated approaches that bring climate resilience, peacebuilding and natural resource governance together. Antwi-Boasiako Amoah, Chair of the AGN and Director for Adaptation, Climate Resilience and Risk Management at Ghana’s Environmental Protection Authority, will offer African perspectives on climate security, with a focus on the Sahel and West Africa.

Jeanine Milly Cooper, Chief Executive Officer of the Liberia Carbon Markets Authority, will examine how carbon markets and climate finance can deliver meaningful benefits to communities while protecting forests. Colorado State Representative Naquetta Ricks, President of the African Chamber of Commerce Colorado, will reflect on Liberia’s experience and the opportunities its natural resources offer, including the diaspora’s role in climate-resilient investment.

Oretha Juah Bestman-Yates, a Liberian climate change survivor, will give a personal testimony on how climate change is affecting the lives and livelihoods of ordinary Liberians. Her account is expected to bring the human face of the crisis into a room dominated by officials and experts.

The program will close with a round in which each panelist offers one practical recommendation for world leaders, development partners and investors. A question-and-answer session with participants will follow.

Resources, Peace And Livelihoods

According to the EPA, Liberia’s forests, rivers, minerals and coastline support families and communities in every county. The agency says more than two decades of peace have shown how closely people’s well-being is tied to the land and resources around them.

Through the dialogue, the EPA says it hopes to share Liberia’s experience, learn from partners across Africa and beyond, and encourage collaboration that helps turn climate challenges into shared opportunities for peace and prosperity. The agency also aims to mobilize the climate finance needed to reduce the country’s environmental vulnerabilities.

The EPA’s Mandate

The EPA is Liberia’s principal environmental regulator, established by an Act of the Legislature in 2002. It is responsible for pollution control, biodiversity conservation, climate resilience and sustainable natural resource management.

The agency also leads Liberia’s implementation of multilateral environmental agreements. That work includes the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement through the country’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), the CBD through the expansion of protected forest networks, and the UNCCD through sustainable land management frameworks.