Liberia has completed a key step in developing its National Biodiversity Finance Plan (BFP), a document that aims to secure funding for the country’s biodiversity conservation efforts. Representatives from several government agencies, including the Ministries of Finance and Mines and Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Forestry Development Authority, recently validated the Policy and Institutional Review (PIR).
Funded by the Global Environmental Fund (GEF) through UNDP, the PIR is a 117-page report that serves as the foundation for the country’s BFP. It provides a baseline analysis of policies, institutions, and relevant stakeholders regarding biodiversity finance.
This review will guide the subsequent phases of the BFP’s development, which include the Biodiversity Expenditure Review (BER). This phase analyzes past and current public and private spending on biodiversity. The Financial Needs Assessment (FNA) phase estimates the total funding required to achieve the country’s biodiversity goals.
These assessments will ultimately inform the BFP, which prioritizes financing solutions to close Liberia’s biodiversity finance gap. This plan aims to optimize existing investments and identify new funding sources, including public, private, and international sources.
Liberia is among 91 new countries that joined the Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) in 2024. BIOFIN is a global program of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) that assists governments in developing and implementing financial strategies to protect biodiversity. Since 2012, BIOFIN has supported 42 countries in closing their biodiversity finance gaps, with these nations raising more than $1.6 billion through innovative financial solutions.
Emmanuel Massaquoi, Project Manager for Sustainable Finance at the UNDP Liberia Programme Unit, highlighted the importance of the meeting, calling on participants to provide inputs and recommendations.
“I know there are competing schedules that you have, but you left it because this is also a national issue. We have been fighting to protect our biodiversity. We do not have funds. We are creating a document that will help us source funds from different areas, so you people are very important in this exercise we are undertaking here today.”
The validation of the PIR is part of a larger, ongoing effort to update and revise Liberia’s National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (NBSAPs). Under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), all participating countries are required to develop these plans, which assess the state of a country’s biodiversity and outline strategies for conservation. Liberia’s current NBSAP, formulated in 2017, is set to expire in 2025, and a revised version is currently being finalized. The BFP aims to close the financing gaps identified in the NBSAP, aligning Liberia’s efforts with the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).
The PIR provides the basis for the BER, FNA, and BFP, thus serving as a source of baseline information for all outputs required under the BIOFIN initiative in Liberia.
Its objectives include assessing national biodiversity strategies and sustainable development strategies, fleshing out the economic linkages between them, reviewing the state of biodiversity finance, including a stocktake on existing finance mechanisms, assessing the trends and drivers of biodiversity loss, evaluating the institutional arrangements for promoting and regulating biodiversity management in Liberia, including engagement strategies, gauging positive and negative incentives for biodiversity based on methodologies prescribed by the BIOFIN framework, and synthesizing and presenting findings built on the incentives (subsidies) and financing mechanisms for biodiversity in Liberia.
It generates a synthesis on the relationship between the state of nature in Liberia and the institutional, policy, legal, regulatory, as well as development planning, fiscal, and economic frameworks. Insights on how the management of biodiversity and ecosystem services is aligned with global goals (SDGs), regional goals (Africa 2063), and sub-regional goals (ECOWAP) are provided through the PIR. In this report, these syntheses are derived from comprehensive analyses of relevant policies, strategies, and institutional drivers of change in biodiversity, along with an outline of biodiversity.
Austine Togba, Research Analyst from the Ministry of Finance, who spoke on behalf of Foday Bayoh, Coordinator of the Climate Integration and Financing Office, described a tool that would help Liberia benefit from biodiversity funding to protect and conserve its forests, endangered species, and ecosystems.
“The Ministry of Finance recognizes that our national prosperity is linked to the health of our ecosystem. Now, biodiversity is not just an environmental concern; it is the fundamental pillar of our agriculture, fishery, tourism, and overall resilience,” he said.
According to him, exploring mechanisms like blue and green bonds, ensuring that natural capital accounting guides our decisions, and leveraging public finance to unlock private sector investment in conservation are essential.
“Our commitment is to use the PIR to inform the next crucial phase of the biofin process. We will work closely with the EPA, the FDA, and all relevant ministries and agencies to ensure that the results of the biodiversity finance plan are practical, cost, and fully integrated into the national development planning and budgetary frameworks. In doing so, we will secure not only our natural heritage but also a sustainable, prosperous economic future for all Liberians.”
Jerry Yonmah, Technical Manager of the Conservation Department at the FDA, expressed his optimism for the document, considering it a tool that will enhance the FDA’s ability to strengthen its conservation mandate.
