By Abbas Nazil
Liberia has secured approval from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) for a groundbreaking project aimed at reducing mercury pollution in the country’s artisanal and small-scale gold mining sector.
The initiative, developed by Liberia’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and supported by the African Development Bank Group, is designed to protect miners, local communities, and the environment from the harmful effects of mercury use in gold mining.
The project will be funded with $7.67 million from the GEF, alongside an additional $24.57 million in indicative co-financing from the African Development Bank Group, positioning Liberia to build a safer, cleaner, and more sustainable gold mining sector.
This effort marks Liberia’s entry into the planetGOLD programme, a global initiative supported by the GEF that has assisted over 20 countries in reducing mercury use while improving environmental health and livelihoods.
The project aims to strengthen regulatory frameworks, expand financial inclusion, promote mercury-free mining technologies, and foster partnerships among government agencies, communities, and private sector actors.
It also complements the African Development Bank’s Institutional Support for Enhanced Domestic Revenue Mobilization and Reform Implementation Project, which focuses on transparency and governance improvements in Liberia’s mining sector.
According to Anthony Nyong, AfDB Director for Climate Change and Green Growth, the project demonstrates how institutional support can be expanded into comprehensive environmental and socio-economic transformation, showing that development and environmental protection can progress simultaneously.
Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, CEO of the GEF, described the project as a significant milestone for global mercury reduction, highlighting its integrated approach of policy reform, technology adoption, and community engagement.
Dr. Emmanuel K. Urey Yarkpawolo, Executive Director of Liberia’s EPA, emphasized that the initiative will protect miners, conserve rivers and forests, and advance Liberia’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC 3.0), balancing economic growth with environmental stewardship.
The project is expected to reduce 50 metric tons of mercury over five years, restore 10,000 hectares of degraded land, avoid 148,000 metric tons of CO₂ emissions, and improve livelihoods for 20,000 people, including 12,000 women.
Through regional and global collaboration under the planetGOLD+ initiative, Liberia will benefit from peer learning, innovative practices, and enhanced sustainability, establishing a mercury-free gold sector that aligns economic development with environmental protection.
