By Layli Maparyan, Ph.D. (President, University of Liberia)
On Saturday I participated in the October Big Day, an international bird-counting event sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology where citizen-scientists and ornithologists alike go outdoors and identify and count all the birds they see, recording their observations in a global database called e-Bird.
I was with the Society for the Conservation of Nature in Liberia (SCNL) Bird Watching Club, and a colleague from their partner organization, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).
Birdwatching is one of my favorite activities, and taking time to be outdoors with this group every month is a form of recreation I always look forward to. Today, we were making history, because it was the first time that the SCNL Bird Watching Club was participating in a Cornell Lab global bird count.
One of the things that I learned while we were walking around is that west African countries are under-represented in global bird counts. As we walked around UL’s Fendall Campus counting birds, first in the grasslands along Bentol Road and then around Fendall wetlands, I was very proud of the ecosystem value in our campus land.
This value is two-fold: first, there is inherent climate conservation value, given Liberia’s status as one of the few remaining rainforest nations in the world, and, secondly, there is the ecotourism revenue potential that will benefit UL, Liberia, and the world, once it is realized. Yet, if we don’t develop Fendall campus carefully, neither of these values will be realized.
One of my first Birdwatching outing with the SCNL Bird Watching Club in January, just a few days after my inauguration, we visited the Fendall wetlands and counted 27 different species of birds, some of them rare. It was at that moment that I decided that Fendall Wetlands would become a preserved birdwatching area for both conservation and ecotourism purposes.
It was clear that UL has an opportunity to conserve biodiversity, create an important environmental learning experience in line with our educational mission, and launch a revenue-generating ecotourism enterprise at UL.
This tripartite approach for the development of UL’s land at Fendall conservation, education, revenue-reflects my vision for developing the University City at Fendall.
All three considerations must always be taken into account with any project. While not all projects will be conservation projects, nor will all projects generate revenue, the impact of any venture on all three variables must be considered. If revenue is to be generated, environmental sustainability and biodiversity preservation must be built in.
If a project is conservation oriented, the interrelationship between the conservation activity and the revenue-generating potential of Fendall land must be taken into account. And regardless of whether the project is oriented towards conservation or revenue, an educational component must be built in, because education is the paramount value of UL.
A fourth factor is also important: people. Stated a different way, community. UL is fundamentally an education community, students and faculty supported by staff and administrators. As we develop the University City on Fendall land, other stakeholders will expand the meaning of community, while students, faculty, staff, and administrators remain at the center.
As the University City at Fendall grows into the live-work-play community that we envision, development must be simultaneously conservation-oriented, revenue-minded, educational, and human-centric. By “human centric” I mean designed with intentionality around human wellbeing and harmonious social relations.
It must be a community where people thrive and where human diversity is respected and supported. To thrive, humans need nature, prosperity, lifelong learning, and each other.
UL’s properties are a huge asset to the University, to Liberia, and to the world. Much of their value is currently underrealized, and I plan to change that.
To all who aspire to be part of it, these values must guide their participation: environmental sustainability and conservation of biodiversity, the ability to generate revenue for the University and advance the lived experience of prosperity for more people, contributing something of value to UL’s educational mission, and a bonafide commitment to human thriving and social harmony. Then, and only then, will Liberia have the shining University City worthy of its name.
