The Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr. Emmanuel Urey Yarkpawolo, has announced that one of the agency’s most significant achievements in 2025 was the strengthening of environmental governance through enforcement, compliance, and institutional reforms.
Dr. Yarkpawolo said the EPA made a strategic shift toward science-based governance by completing and operationalizing a modern environmental laboratory. The facility is equipped to analyze water, soil, air, and marine samples, support oil spill and pollution investigations, and advance Liberia’s blue economy and marine research agenda. He emphasized that the laboratory represents more than infrastructure—it embodies credibility, trust, and national capacity, while reducing reliance on external laboratories and enhancing national ownership of environmental data.
The EPA also advanced Liberia’s readiness for carbon markets and nature-based finance. Key milestones included the development of Liberia’s Carbon Market Policy, supported by 45 nationwide consultations and 11 stakeholder engagements; strengthened forest, mangrove, and wetland conservation efforts; and engagement on Article 6 cooperation under the UNFCCC. Safeguards were enhanced to ensure transparency, benefit-sharing, and protection of national interests.
Dr. Yarkpawolo highlighted several enforcement and compliance measures: full implementation of the Environmental Protection and Management Law, nationwide compliance monitoring and inspections, and the commencement of an Organic Waste Management Center in Monrovia to improve urban sanitation and promote a circular economy. The EPA also supported the development of Liberia’s Net-Metering Policy and Regulations to encourage renewable energy and private sector participation. Institutional stability was further secured through the purchase of the EPA Headquarters and the land housing the new laboratory.
On capacity building, the EPA awarded scholarships worth USD 270,000 to 150 Liberians, negotiated Masters and PhD scholarships with Princeton University for qualified public sector officials, and signed a memorandum of understanding with Sierra Leone’s EPA to foster regional collaboration.
Liberia’s climate ambition was reinforced through the revision of its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC 3.0) under the Paris Agreement. The updated NDC integrates adaptation, mitigation, and just transition, anchoring climate action in jobs, energy access, agriculture, and resilience, while positioning Liberia to access climate finance with credibility.
Under the guidance of President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, the EPA represented Liberia at major international forums, including the United Nations General Assembly, the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France—where Vice President Jeremiah Kpan Koung presented Liberia’s ratification of the BBNJ Agreement—and COP30 in Belém, Brazil, where Liberia hosted its Pavilion. “Liberia is no longer on the margins of environmental diplomacy; Liberia is shaping the global conversation,” Dr. Yarkpawolo declared.
In measurable terms, the EPA issued 257 environmental permits after rigorous vetting, verified 167 project sites nationwide, rejected more than 70 permit applications due to non-compliance, conducted 34 Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) conferences, reviewed 248 environmental audit reports, held 11 public consultations, trained and certified 101 environmental evaluators, undertook 140 enforcement actions, imposed USD 303,300 in fines, generated over USD 200,000 in government revenue, and developed 11 new environmental regulations.
