George Weah, the president of Liberia, has urged wealthy nations to fulfill their financial commitments to underdeveloped and underprivileged nations. In Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, where they are currently congregating for the United Nations Climate Change conference, President Weah was addressing a group of world leaders.

Developed nations promised to give underdeveloped nations USD 100 million in 2009 to help them deal with the effects of climate change. The parties to the treaty reaffirmed the necessity for developed countries to uphold this pledge during the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) of the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change last year. However, not much has been accomplished thus far.

President George Weah added, "We are particularly saddened to notice that inequality and imbalance between high and low emitters remain in the framework for combating climate change, and that financial flows continue to be disproportionate and unfair to low-emitting countries."

The Liberian leader reminded the Egyptian audience that those commitments still need to be kept one year later. Weah criticized the disproportionate and unfair financial aid going to low-emission nations.

"Let us do so with renewed devotion, commitment, and sincerity as we convene here once more to find a realistic and fruitful path forward, so that we harness our unique abilities to build permanent solutions that will rescue our globe, not only for ourselves but for generations yet unborn."

Forestry in Liberia Is Important

According to the Forest Carbon Partnership, a World Bank program that includes Liberia, the country's forests are exceptionally biodiverse and are renowned as a global hotspot for conservation, home to about 6.6 million lowland tropical forests. Analysts contend that Liberia might take the lead in climate negotiations as a result of its forest potential. Liberia hasn't, however, been a major topic of discussion thus far.

According to the World Bank, Liberia's forests cover more than two-thirds of the nation's land area, which is twice the size of Belgium.

President Weah assured international leaders at the climate change summit last year that Liberia is committed to protecting its woods because they are so important to conserving and protecting the environment. Liberia has some of the greatest carbon stores in the area, like any other forest. However, between 1990 and 2010, Liberia lost 0.61 percent of its forest annually to logging and deforestation.

The livelihood of the roughly 50% of Liberians who live in rural regions within 2.5 kilometers of forested areas is dependent on the forest. They make 35% of their wages by cutting down trees for construction, charcoal, and boards for firewood, according to a World Bank 2020 research.

With catastrophic droughts in the Horn of Africa hitting parts of Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya as well as northern Italy, south-eastern France, and portions of Hungary and Romania, climate change has had disastrous impacts on the world over the past eight years.

Meanwhile, farmers in Liberia are struggling to cope with the climate and its effects, as well as the lack of access to adaptation technologies, as well as the disappearance of a significant portion of its picturesque coastal lands due to high sea-level rise and flooding in most parts displaying hundreds of inhabitants.

In light of this, Prof. Wilson Tarpeh, Executive Director of Liberia's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), emphasized to leaders that the effects of climate change pose a threat to both human existence and peace and that peace is not only the absence of violence. During a panel discussion at COP27 on the subject of "Sustaining Peace In The Midst of Climate Change," the EPA Director spoke.

"Peace is not only the absence of conflict; there can also be trying circumstances with long-lasting effects on individuals. Climate change is a threat to peace. Because of the climatic change, people go from place to place to play.

Prof. Tarpeh gave an example of how climate change has caused millions of people to leave their home nations because of flooding, droughts, or subpar agricultural output.

National Determined Contributions of Liberia

Liberia began implementing its Nationally Determined Contribution during the first week of COP27 (NDC).

Each signatory to the Paris Agreement signed the NDC, which is a climate action plan to reduce emissions and prepare for climate effects. Nations must create an NDC and update it with details of their policy actions every five years.