Two hundred coconut trees are slated for planting along a strategic coastal corridor in Monrovia. The Monrovia Urban Greenery and Climate Resilience project begins at Johansen and extends to Pan African Plaza Beach—home to the United Nations offices—before continuing toward the Executive Mansion and concluding in the Mamba Point diplomatic enclave.
Funded by the European Union (EU) Delegation in Liberia and the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC), the US$8,300, three-month pilot project aims to boost climate resilience and help residents adapt to rising temperatures caused by climate change.
“We want to create a safe corridor where people can walk on the beaches,” said James A. B. Brown III, Director for Projects at the MCC.
The planting will be spearheaded by community dwellers, supported by the Forestry Training Institute, the Ministry of Public Works, the Liberia Land Authority, and the MCC. Together, they will conduct landscaping and coastal restoration measures designed to reduce ambient heat, improve air quality, soil, and strengthen drainage protection.
Local residents, youth groups, and community leaders are actively involved in the planting and awareness activities to ensure long-term stewardship. The initiative also promotes “green opportunities,” empowering communities through short-term employment.
“We will empower communities through short-term green jobs. We will have environmental stewards,” Brown said. These stewards will manage the trees until they reach maturity. “If we plant a tree, we want people to take ownership. We have laid down key principles for what it means to be a steward.”
The coconut trees will be sourced from a local farming group in Rivercess County. The project itself was born out of a high-level dialogue between the City Mayor and international ambassadors at the United Nations a year ago.
The initiative focuses on how Monrovia can adapt to intensifying climate effects, particularly the extreme heatwaves affecting vulnerable populations. Brown highlighted that residents in “peri-urban” and informal settlements bear the brunt of these rising temperatures. The mayor’s vision is to transform Monrovia into a “green city” to naturally lower heat levels.
The EU took a keen interest in the proposal as it aligns with their global mandate to plant one billion trees. However, Brown noted a secondary, critical objective: restoring donor confidence. Following previous projects that left partners dissatisfied due to reporting issues under the past administration, the MCC is using this pilot to demonstrate transparency and capacity.
“While we are working to restore our beaches, this project is also about rebuilding our relationship with the EU,” Brown stated. “The Ambassador saw this as a pilot to test our capacity to manage funds and deliver results.”
Named after the U.S. President James Monroe, Monrovia was the initial home of free Black settlers who arrived on Providence Island in 1822. Decades later, the city has expanded into sprawling informal settlements, such as West Point. As the central hub for business and education, the city’s population has exploded, yet many residents live in poverty.
Most of these communities are informal settlements with limited housing and squalid conditions. Overcrowded and built without urban planning, these areas often lack basic toilets and clean water. This leads to open defecation, which pollutes water sources like hand pumps and wells, resulting in waterborne diseases such as cholera, typhoid, and diarrhea. Experts warn that as climate change makes subsistence farming harder in rural areas, these urban slums may grow even larger.
This is not the first greenery initiative in the city. In 2022, trees were planted along Tubman Boulevard as part of the “Keep Monrovia Clean and Green” campaign. More recently, the Forestry Training Institute initiated the planting of 3,000 trees in Paynesville City under the UNDP Climate Promise, funded by the United Kingdom (Defra).
Liberia’s neighbor, Sierra Leone, has set an even more ambitious tone. The “Freetown the Treetown” initiative has already planted over one million trees, with a goal of five million by 2030. That project uses a community-led model where trees are tracked digitally to offer carbon offsets to international investors—a model that Monrovia could potentially follow if this pilot proves successful.
These trees will be cared for by residents and tracked digitally and will be structured into a series of linked carbon compensation projects to offer carbon offsets to corporate and institutional investors to fund additional reforestation and adaptation projects identified in the Freetown Climate Action Plan.
Led by Eugenia Kargbo, the country’s first Chief Heat Officer, and Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, the initiative also erected shade canopies in marketplaces to help women adapt to the rising heat temperature caused by climate change. Solar panels were also installed. Funded by multi-donors, including the World Bank and the Climate Resilience for All.
The initiative’s long term plan includes training 500 healthcare workers to recognize heat-related illnesses and developing an early warning system.
