Inside Liberia’s borders lies one of many final strongholds of intact forests in West Africa.
However as Liberia’s economic system recovers following years of civil battle, consultants concern that these forests — and different ecosystems throughout the nation — might change into victims of unsustainable oil palm growth, urbanization and logging.
To stop this, the Liberian authorities should first know the place its most dear ecosystems are positioned, how a lot of them is left and what vital providers they supply to folks.
A groundbreaking effort helps them obtain step one in charting a course for a extra sustainable future.
In partnership with Conservation Worldwide and NASA, the federal government of Liberia lately mapped the nation’s various ecosystems — from lush forests to coastal mangroves — and analyzed how they’ve modified over time.
These “Ecosystem Extent Maps” will assist the federal government quantify the financial advantages of Liberia’s pure sources and the providers they supply to folks — the nation’s “pure capital.” They have been created utilizing remote-sensing information generated by NASA’s fleet of Earth-observing satellites and area surveys from Conservation Worldwide scientists on the bottom.
The subsequent step: For decision-makers to make use of these maps to advertise the worth of Liberia’s pure capital when planning its long-term financial development and growth.
“The maps allow the federal government to find out the true extent of Liberia’s forests, mangroves and freshwater ecosystems, every of which offers the economic system and communities with providers important for livelihoods and long-term financial resilience,” mentioned Daniel Juhn, vp of Conservation Worldwide’s Moore Heart for Science.
Working with the Liberian authorities, Conservation Worldwide and NASA will proceed to develop much more detailed maps of the nation that account for the situation of its ecosystems and quantify the precise providers they supply to folks at neighborhood and regional ranges.
The mapping initiative in Liberia — which serves as a mannequin for related, future initiatives in Gabon and Botswana — helps the targets of the Gaborone Declaration for Sustainability in Africa (GDSA), a dedication made by 18 African international locations to spend money on a brand new mannequin of growth that takes under consideration the financial worth of the continent’s pure sources.
“With this effort, the Liberian authorities is main the way in which regionally in assessing nature’s values, one thing that’s wanted to tell planning, sustainable growth and conservation efforts in-country and throughout Africa,” Juhn added.
To be taught extra about how the Liberian authorities will use these maps to guard the nation’s nature and economic system watch the video under.
Video courtesy of NASA.
Kiley Value is a employees author for Conservation Worldwide. Need to learn extra tales like this? Join e mail updates. Donate to Conservation Worldwide.
Cowl picture: A person searching on the East Nimba Nature Reserve, Liberia (© Conservation Worldwide/photograph by Bailey Evans)
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