Environmental Problems of Liberia

Abstract

The Republic of Liberia is experiencing many of the same environmental problems as the entire region of West Africa. In recent decades, challenges related to the preservation of natural resources have become increasingly relevant here. The natural resources of Liberia, its flora and fauna are insufficiently protected, which opens up wide opportunities for various kinds of illegal activities. Despite the fact that any types of development of natural resources are prohibited in nature reserves and national parks, the local population for many years has been using their territory for farming, cattle grazing, logging, small-scale mining, house building, fishing and hunting. The article analyzes the main environmental risks in the Republic of Liberia: unauthorized logging, hunting of wild animals, pollution of terrestrial water sources and oceanic coastal waters by industrial and household waste, uncontrolled increase in the number of landfills. It is emphasized that the unfavorable environmental situation negatively affects the health of the population and damages the tourism industry. The work of some national and international environmental organizations to normalize the environmental situation in the country is analyzed. It is concluded that currently the listed environmental problems of Liberia, due to the difficult internal economic situation, are far from being resolved. Сurrently, measures taken for environmental protection purposes, both at the level of individual countries of the continent and at the international level, do not give the expected results. Thus, environmental problems in Liberia, as in a number of other States of the African continent, are growing much more intensively than they are being solved. In many ways, this is the result of a whole complex of interrelated challenges of the modern stage of development, rooted in the traditional understanding of the practical use of natural resources.