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Morris T. Koffa Executive Director
By Morris T. Koffa
Environmental Engineer and Advocate
One of the major pillars of human existence is a healthy
environment, which is often measured by the quality of air we
breathe as human beings. Every creature needs air to survive; even
the flora and fauna need air in their life cycles in building vital
tissues to blossom and grow. The human lung needs about 30 lbs of
air per day to function under normal condition; hence air breathing
is a mainstay of the existence of plants and animals. Clean air is
critical to human life, and it cannot be short-changed, or else the
existence of life on planet Earth will be questionable or extinct at
worst. Essentially, air contains elements that are vital to life on
earth (oxygen and carbon dioxide). When polluted air overwhelms and
creeps into the picture, the natural cycle of producing clean air is
undermined; and the consequences to living things, including human
life, can be deadly, disastrous and fateful.
As we discuss remedies to combating and overcoming the rapid
degradation of Liberia's environment (natural resources and
habitat), relative to human health, the issue of clean air comes to
play as a major piece of national existence badly in need of policy
reform. Liberia's polluted air problem should be a prime focus of
national debate and international concern and interest. All types of
pollutants or contaminants have besieged the air in and over Liberia
for ages past. There is every indication, from past and present
research of living conditions in Liberia, that the wave of air
pollution has become a mainstay of human life in Liberia.
Virtually every facet of human life in Liberia is threatened by
air pollution. Our waterways or sources of water are immensely
polluted. In spite of research studies on air quality in Liberia, no
substantial or significant effort has been made to arrest or stymie
the deteriorating quality of air we breathe in Liberia. To date,
there is no air quality apparatus or monitoring station in place to
evolve some ambient air quality. Public policy on environmental
protection, particularly on air quality, is virtually non-existence
when its comes to research, evaluation, monitoring and reporting.
While Liberia may have in place (or on the books) a regime of
environmental laws, rules, regulations and other policy measures,
there is no record of any magnitude pointing to the strict
enforcement of existing environmental laws.
Conspicuously absent is the lack of political will to enforce
current environmental management laws. In the advent of the modern
economy in Liberia, particularly with the emergence of the Open Door
Policy to attract foreign investment (in the 1950s), small, medium
and large manufacturing and mining companies doing business in
Liberia have never been regulated or conditioned to act within the
framework of the law. The Liberian government (and individual
government officials) charged with the responsibility of ensuring
good and sound environmental practices (particularly within the
commercial, industrial, forestry and mining sectors) have always
placed maximum business profits, small national tax collections, and
personal gifts and contributions (grafts and corruption) over and
above quality of life issues-ranging from preservation of plant,
animal and human life to public health and public safety.
The Liberian people have and continue to suffocate from polluted
air-not knowing the short and long-term effect of polluted air on
their health, welfare and livelihood. Although Liberians are taught
in schools that it has been scientifically proven that polluted air
threatens human health, vegetation, and wildlife, among other
natural habitas, those in power and in business either ignore or
through fraud, make ordinary Liberians to believe that environmental
degradation-air pollution in particular- is not a cause for major
concern. Underlying this deceptive practice is the illusion that
nature will take its course; that man does not have to act to
reverse environmental decline.
The ambient air in Liberian cities and towns, public places,
schools, homes, and playgrounds (among other public, business and
private domains) is a mixture of natural air erosion plus smoke or
emissions from automobiles, factories, refineries, and other
antiquated plants and facilities. Deforestation, a result of
ruthless forestry practices, is also another source of grave air
pollution that threatens rural people living near forest concessions
and urban dwellers residing around sawmills.
An unchecked wave of air pollution is also taking a toll on the
public health of our nation. As scientific evidence has
demonstrated, polluted air accounts for numerous health problems,
which include but not limited to cancer, asthma, chronic bronchitis,
birth defects, miscarriages, kidney problems, liver damage,
developmental challenges of children and other respiratory and
chronic illnesses. The most vulnerable population groups in Liberia,
as in many other places, which face and live with these serious
health conditions, are children and the elderly. Our children are
experiencing developmental challenges, such as learning disorders
and acute asthmatic conditions -so prevalent due to the polluted
outdoors. The health of the elderly is sliding down the hill- immune
systems are weakening given inability of their bodies to defend
against infections and diseases.
Air quality continues to be a great challenge to human existence
everywhere. In the case of Liberia, the problem is exacerbated
essentially because of the Liberian government's lack of interest or
ineptitude to institute the necessary regulations for abatement.
Land transport, such as automobiles, truck and buses, as well as
unregulated light manufacturing/ industrial plants are the primary
sources of air pollution in Liberia. Thousand of aged transport
units, particularly automobiles in disrepair, parade the streets of
Liberia releasing toxic air contaminants, which contains
hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxides, carbon monoxide and
particulate matters, which are dangerous not only to human beings,
but also to the ecosystem (i.e. Ozone shield). All of these man-made
environmental problems in Liberia impact regional, continental and
global conditions.
Air pollution has no respect for local and national boundaries
and other territorial demarcations-heavy metals and persistent
organic pollutants are carried by winds across national boundaries
and international waterways. Therefore, the abatement of air
pollution is local, national, regional and international. For
Liberia, serious working partnerships must be established through
the Manor River Union (Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone), the
16-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the
53-nation African Union (a continental body), and the United Nations
(the global community). Subsequently, the air pollution problem in
Liberia must be elevated to the threshold necessary for resolution.
Liberians must bear in mind that the uncontrolled levels of toxic
pollutants in Liberia contribute to the pressure on the Ozone
shield, which correspondingly impacts Global warming trends.
The global concern with toxic air pollutants prompted the United
Nations to convene an International Conference in 1987 in Montreal,
Canada. 140 countries, including Liberia, became parties to the
collective global approach of abatement known as the Montreal
Protocol. From all indications, Liberia has not live up to its side
of the collective agreements, thereby abrogating its role,
responsibility, and obligation to a global environmental effort of
immense concern. Not to add is the fact the Liberian government
continues to pursue a policy of environmental neglect-thereby
jeopardizing the life, livelihood and safety of its own citizens and
foreign residents. Liberia also undermines its ability to receive
international assistance for environmental problems.
The state of Liberia's staid economy and fragile political
system, convoluted by personal aggrandizements on the part of
Liberian government officials, has made it difficult to sufficiently
impact ambient air pollution abatement. Compounding the problem is
the lack of modern technologies, trained environmental manpower, and
the will to enforce emission regulations for automobiles,
combustible plants, and other industries that emit unhealthy air in
our cities and towns. The situation in Liberia spells hazard for the
natural ecosystem, human health and public safety. Liberia needs to
reduce ambient pollution to about 35% - 50% by effectuating the
following recommendations:
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Pursue vigorous vehicles inspection and maintenance program
to ensure that vehicle owners keep their engines and pollution
control equipment in good order;
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Regulate and enforce compliance of all combustible plants,
refineries, factories and other sources of air pollutants to
meet national and international standards;
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Decrease deforestation and encourage reforestation,
afforestation; and
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Examine and regulate all other foreign and domestic products
on the Liberian market to combat real threat or deter potential
dangers to ambient air quality, and other sound environmental
initiatives to improve the quality of Liberian life.
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