PAYNESVILLE, Montserrado – The Environmental Protection Agency organized an event in Paynesville to celebrate World Environment Day.

World Environment Day is the United Nations’ principal vehicle for encouraging worldwide awareness and action for the environment. Over the years, it has grown to be a broad, global platform for public outreach that is widely celebrated by stakeholders in over 100 countries.

It also serves as a day for people to do something positive for the environment and to galvanize individual actions into a collective power, generating an exponential positive impact on the planet. This year’s World Environment Day was celebrated under the theme “One World, One Environment.”

The event in Liberia began on Friday, June 5, with a parade from the ELWA junction to the Paynesville Town Hall, followed by an indoor program. At the Paynesville Town Hall, Public Works Minister Gyude Moore urged Liberians to begin teaching their kids about protecting and respecting the environment. Moore said if Liberia is to maintain its beauty, every Liberian will have to see his or her role in protecting the environment.

At the Paynesville Town Hall, Public Works Minister Gyude Moore urged Liberians to begin teaching their kids about protecting and respecting the environment. Moore said if Liberia is to maintain its beauty, every Liberian will have to see his or her role in protecting the environment.

Public Works Minister William Gyude Moore, Photo Credit: Stephen Kollie

“If we want to build the kind of infrastructure that will allow us to be able to withstand climate change then all of us have to see a role in it. If your neighbor makes it a practice of dumping the dirt into the drainage, maybe you need to find time to go to your neighbor house to be able to have a conversation,” Moore explained.

Former Margibi County Superintendent Levi Piah, Photo Credit: Stephen Kollie

Levi Z. Piah, the Technical Advisor to the Executive Director of the EPA, called upon the developed world to reject products from companies that were operating in developing countries without concern for the environment.

Piah also warned that people who continued to construct buildings in the wetlands of Monrovia were violating Liberia’s Environmental Protection and Management Law.

He asked Liberians to only vote for political parties that make environmental issues such as climate change one of their priorities in the 2017 elections.

Featured image courtesy of Stephen Kollie