Conservation International (CI) Liberia is leading a growing push to ensure that the country’s forests, mangroves, wetlands, freshwater systems, fisheries, and other natural resources are formally recognized and valued as critical assets within Liberia’s national economic and development planning.
The initiative seeks to move natural resources beyond their traditional treatment as environmental concerns by generating reliable data on their economic, social, and ecological contributions and integrating that information into government planning, budgeting, investment, and policy decisions.
The effort was highlighted Friday, August 7, 2026, when CI Liberia convened a Joint Project Steering Committee Meeting for the Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) and Food Systems, Land Use and Restoration (FOLUR) projects in Monrovia.
The meeting brought together representatives of government ministries and agencies, technical experts, community leaders, private-sector partners, and other stakeholders to review the achievements of the NCA initiative, assess the implementation of the FOLUR project during Fiscal Year 2026, and consider priorities for FY2027.
A major focus of the gathering was the establishment and planned launch of Liberia’s mangrove account, which is expected to provide a systematic assessment of the value and contribution of the country’s mangrove ecosystems to the economy, environment, food security, climate resilience, and livelihoods.
Opening the meeting, CI Liberia Country Director Momodu Michael Kemokai said the initiative represents an important milestone in Liberia’s efforts to integrate nature into national development planning and decision-making.
“On behalf of Conservation International Liberia, it is my great pleasure to welcome you to this important gathering as we reflect on the implementation of the Natural Capital Accounting Initiative in Liberia, and then review the process on the food systems and land use restoration for the project during the fiscal year 2026,” Kemokai said.
“Today marks another significant milestone in Liberia’s journey toward integrated nature, international development planning, and decision making,” he added.
Kemokai said Liberia’s natural resources constitute a major foundation for the country’s future prosperity, noting that the country is endowed with globally important forests, wetlands, mangroves, freshwater systems, and rich biodiversity.
He stressed that Liberia must better understand and quantify the value of these resources if they are to be sustainably managed and effectively incorporated into national development strategies.
“The implementation of the NCA initiative has generated important results and lessons,” Kemokai said. “Through strong collaboration among government institutions, development partners, technical experts, and local communities, we’ve made progress in strengthening the evidence base needed for informed policy and investment decisions.”
According to him, the initiative has improved understanding of the economic, social, and environmental contributions of Liberia’s natural resources to national growth and development.
More importantly, he said, the initiative has demonstrated that environmental protection and economic development are not competing priorities.
“More importantly, it has demonstrated that conserving nature is not a competing priority to economic growth, but an essential foundation for sustainable growth and long-term national resilience,” Kemokai said.
The CI Liberia Country Director identified the mangrove account as one of the major milestones emerging from the NCA initiative.
He explained that Liberia’s mangroves provide a wide range of services that are often overlooked when national economic decisions are made.
“The mangrove ecosystem provides invaluable services to our nation,” Kemokai said.
He noted that mangroves help protect coastal communities against erosion and flooding, support fisheries and food security, store significant amounts of carbon, and sustain the livelihoods of thousands of Liberians.
“The establishment of the mangrove account represents an important step towards quantifying these benefits and ensuring that mangroves are fully recognized within natural planning, budgeting, and investment frameworks,” he said.
Kemokai also praised the partnerships between government institutions, communities, development partners, and technical experts that have supported the NCA process.
He said the review of implementation during the fiscal year provides an opportunity not only to celebrate achievements but also to identify challenges and determine how the work can be strengthened.
He said the FOLUR initiative continues to contribute to sustainable land use, ecosystem restoration, agricultural productivity, and community resilience.
“Today’s discussions will help us identify practical recommendations to strengthen implementation, improve coordination, enhance monitoring and learning, and maximize impact for both people and nature,” Kemokai said.
Looking ahead, he said Liberia must focus on institutionalizing natural capital accounting within national planning and decision-making processes, scaling up ecosystem conservation and restoration, particularly for mangroves and other critical ecosystems, and strengthening multi-stakeholder partnerships to mobilize resources and accelerate sustainable landscape and development initiatives.
Kemokai urged participants to view the decisions taken at the meeting as part of a broader effort to secure Liberia’s environmental and economic future.
“By investing in nature, we are investing in food security, livelihood, climate resilience, and sustainable economic development for present and future generations,” he said.
Representing Forestry Development Authority (FDA) Managing Director Rudolph J. Merab, Governance and Management Consultant E. Ekema A. Witherspoon assured CI Liberia and its partners of the FDA’s support for the initiative.
However, Witherspoon cautioned stakeholders that the success of natural capital accounting should ultimately be measured by the benefits it delivers to ordinary Liberians, particularly people living in rural and remote communities.
“He asked me to share, he asked me to show you all the support and the entire FDA support in the execution of this task,” Witherspoon said, conveying the FDA Managing Director’s message.
He also issued a strong reminder that Liberia’s national interest must remain at the center of all environmental and development initiatives.
“Let’s understand, but he also asked me to caution all of you that whatever we do, Liberia should be safe. Our national interest should be safe,” he said.
Witherspoon stressed that Liberia’s development cannot be measured only by what happens in Monrovia.
“Liberia is not only those of us who sit in Monrovia. It’s the people out there,” he said.
“So unless the initiatives that we take here can benefit the people out there, they are only bubbles that we are living in.”
He urged stakeholders to ensure that planning and policies developed in Monrovia translate into tangible improvements in the lives of people across the country.
“We need to come down and make sure that whatever we do, whatever planning is done, whatever action is taken, the effect is felt in the smallest and remotest part of Liberia,” Witherspoon said.
“It is only, and only then, that we can say we have truly done our part,” he added.
Witherspoon said the decisions being taken by stakeholders today would ultimately be judged by their impact on future generations.
“Because remember, after a year, history will judge us. History will know that we sat here today and we took action. They may forget the name, but they will always remember the action we took and how it affected the generation yet unborn,” he said.
Also speaking, Prof. Jefferson Karmo of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said the natural capital accounting initiative comes at a critical time when Liberia is facing significant environmental challenges.
Karmo said the EPA conducted a nationwide environmental monitoring exercise in May, during which officials identified several environmental problems, including soil degradation, loss of forest cover, and pollution of water bodies.
“And during that monitoring, a nationwide monitoring exercise, we discovered so many environmental challenges ranging from soil degradation, the loss of our forest cover, pollution of water bodies,” Karmo said.
“For us at the EPA, we are very much concerned in terms of protecting and managing the environment,” he added.
Karmo described natural capital accounting as an important opportunity for Liberia to take stock of what it possesses and determine how those resources can be managed sustainably.
“Because years back, we have not been able to undertake this important work again,” he said.
He commended Conservation International for leading the natural capital accounting process and other related initiatives, including the mangrove account.
“I want to say a big thank you to Conservation International for leading on the natural capital accounting and other major activities,” Karmo said.
He also stressed the importance of community participation, arguing that people living in areas where natural resources are located must be included in efforts to manage and account for those resources.
“Because in order for us to maintain our natural capital accounting, it is important that we bring the relevant communities over the years that have been managing our natural capital accounting,” he said.
“So their roles and responsibilities are very important in this work,” Karmo added.
He said the EPA’s participation in the meeting, including the presence of three agency representatives, demonstrates the importance the agency attaches to the program.
Representing Conservation International, Solomon C. Carlson, Senior Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning Manager for West and Central Africa, presented the NCA results framework and achievements.
Carlson said the project had recorded a strong performance, with all 21 indicators across its three components reported as completed.
“So as you can see, on the slide, the project closed with all the indicators being reported as completed across the three different components,” Carlson said.
“So all 21 indicators were 100% completed,” he added.
He said several strategic targets were also exceeded during implementation.
One of the major areas of overachievement was financing mobilized through the initiative. According to Carlson, the project had initially targeted US$1.25 million but mobilized approximately US$4.2 million through its Blue Ocean work and collaboration with the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority (NaFAA).
The project also exceeded its targets for mangrove and terrestrial forest protection.
Carlson said the original target for mangrove protection was approximately 11,975 hectares, but the project achieved more than 13,000 hectares.
For terrestrial forest protection, the project initially targeted 5,000 hectares but achieved approximately 6,011 hectares through work with communities and other stakeholders.
The initiative also recorded significant gains in community livelihoods.
Carlson said the project initially targeted a 25 percent improvement in community income, but implementation resulted in an estimated 42.6 percent improvement.
He attributed the achievements to the interventions undertaken and the involvement of government institutions, communities, and other stakeholders.
However, Carlson cautioned that the achievements could be undermined if Liberia does not establish mechanisms to maintain and use the natural capital accounts after the project closes.
He said there is a need to continuously update the accounts and ensure that they are used to inform national planning, budgeting, reporting, and Liberia’s obligations under international environmental conventions.
“What must continue after the project closes?” Carlson asked.
“We see that the account is there. There is a need that we continue to update the account and to also use the account,” he said.
Carlson also called for stronger knowledge-management systems to ensure that information generated through the initiative remains accessible to government institutions, development partners, and other stakeholders.
He said Liberia should determine how the results of natural capital accounting can be applied beyond reports and presentations and become practical tools for government decision-making.
“Not just presenting the result of NCA, but how would this result be used in terms of planning, budgeting, in terms of reporting, or in terms of planning?” he asked.
He said stakeholders often produce valuable information but struggle to translate that information into implementation.
“In many aspects, we have all the good documents, but in terms of the implementation, yes, we are lacking,” Carlson said.
He therefore called for stronger government and stakeholder involvement to preserve the gains made with communities after project implementers exit.
Presenting on the NCA results, successes, and potential next steps, Joseph Moinsema, NCA Project Administrative Officer, explained that the initiative began in 2020 and was implemented through three major components.
The first component focused on strengthening capacity for natural capital accounting and improving the integration of NCA into policy and decision-making.
The second component focused on innovative financing mechanisms and supporting local conservation organizations.
The third component focused on long-term conservation, restoration, and community-based management of natural ecosystems.
Moinsema said the project trained 50 technicians on the concept of natural capital accounting and how it could be applied to different environmental accounts.
He said the initiative also established a national mangrove account and helped integrate NCA principles into several government policy and planning documents.
According to him, the project worked with four small-grant organizations, supporting awareness programs, community initiatives, commercial activities, training, equipment, and production enhancements.
The project also established and implemented 10 conservation agreements with communities.
Moinsema explained that conservation agreements are designed to support communities in protecting natural resources while also creating economic opportunities linked to conservation.
Through those agreements, approximately 250 green jobs were created, while communities were supported to protect approximately 303 hectares of mangrove ecosystems across four counties.
The project operated in River Cess, Grand Bassa, Margibi, and Grand Cape Mount counties, with a broader target of reaching approximately 6,000 beneficiaries.
The steering committee meeting also reviewed progress under the FOLUR project for FY2026 and considered the workplan for FY2027.
The FOLUR initiative continues to focus on sustainable land use, ecosystem restoration, agricultural productivity, and community resilience, with stakeholders expected to develop recommendations for improving implementation, coordination, monitoring, learning, and resource mobilization.
For CI Liberia and its partners, the central challenge now is ensuring that the natural capital accounting process does not end with the completion of a project or the production of technical reports.
Instead, stakeholders want the accounts, data, and evidence generated through the initiative to become permanent tools for national decision-making.
The push to place natural resources on Liberia’s economic ledger therefore represents more than an environmental exercise. It is an effort to demonstrate that the forests, mangroves, wetlands, fisheries, freshwater systems, and biodiversity that sustain communities also represent significant economic assets whose value must be reflected when government makes decisions about development, investment, budgeting, food security, climate resilience, and national growth.
As Liberia moves forward, CI Liberia and its partners are calling for stronger government ownership, sustained financing, community participation, and institutional commitment to ensure that natural capital accounting becomes embedded in the country’s development architecture.
The ultimate test, stakeholders emphasized, will be whether the information generated can influence decisions and whether the value of Liberia’s natural resources can translate into better livelihoods, stronger environmental protection, and sustainable economic opportunities for communities across the country.
