*Rep. Smith points to the erosion of Atlantic Street

*Portion of the eroded coast of Buchanan

Story by: Our staff writer in Liberia

The effort to prevent the further erosion of Liberia’s coastline is not restricted to the Government and the international community alone as young people have decided to get involved in what they consider a national call. The Conscious Youth for Global Environmental Protection Against Climate Change has decided to get involved with the initiative of fighting against the continual erosion of the country’s coastal line, particularly in Grand Bassa County, which is being eaten away by the Atlantic Ocean.

With the theme ‘A Fight Against Sea Erosion’, the group over the weekend began its campaign when it paid a courtesy call on one of the county’s lawmakers who the group pleaded with to spread its anti-sea erosion message to the international community.

Making the statement to Representative Gabriel Smith, the head of the youth group, Clifford Weon, said, “We want to use this time to call upon our honorable lawmaker to take the plight of this city to the international community, especially as he leaves to join other parliamentarians the world over for an international conference on climate change”.

Recently, Liberia’s coastline has experienced massive erosion from the aggressive tide of the Atlantic Ocean, the world’s second largest ocean. There have been reports of erosion specifically in Grand Cape Mount, Montserrado and Grand Bassa Counties.

The brief ceremony was held on Atlantic Street, the City’s once-busiest and closest street to the ocean that continues to experience the sea’s wrath. A significant portion of the street has been washed away by the ocean, while the remaining portion is being greatly undermined by the salty water of the ocean that continues to break up the street and adjacent areas.

Weon who spoke so eloquently and compassionately about the deteriorating condition of the erosion said the Group thought to channel its message of concern through Representative Smith who travels to the United States this week to form a part of the Parliamentarian Global Action (PGA) conference that will bring together lawmakers and parliamentarians the world over.

The group of young people appealed to their representative to further extend its message to the Parliamentarians on Global Action (PGA) International Conference, which takes place in this week time in the United States of America (USA).

Receiving the youth’s position statement, Representative Smith thanked the young people of the county for their concern for the county’s plight. He then promised to convey the group’s concern to his colleagues during the upcoming conference.

The Grand Bassa lawmaker reflected on the early days of the erosion for which he blamed the county leadership’s insensitivity to early warnings given by geologists in the past. “Our past leadership did not take seriously the advice and warning of some geologists who had predicted that something needed to be done fast to avert the erosion problem that the people of Bassa are undergoing now”, Representative Smith sounded.

The most affected shores being massively eroded in the City are the ones adjacent the Port of Buchanan. According to the representative, engineers and geologists of LAMCO had earlier wanted to construct the Port at another place known as Barkorni, another location few miles away from the current location of the Port.

Buchanan, the provincial capital of Grand Bassa County is the country’s second largest city as well as its second largest seaport. It has been one of the hardest hit places by the erosion that has led to the displacement and relocation of dozens of Liberian and Ghanaian nationals.

The Grand Bassa County lawmaker attributed the county’s deteriorating sea-erosion to past county leadership he referred to as greedy and powerful who he said only considered their selfish interest. “But because of the powerful politicians here at the time who considered only their own selfish interest, we are now experiencing this terrible situation where the entire City is now on the verge of being washed away by the sea”, he said.

He said the county was experiencing the terrible erosion now due to what he called greed on the part of the County’s past leadership. “Our people were warmed during the construction of this port (the Port of Buchanan) that these shores were not the ideal shores for the port to be constructed. But for the selfish greed of our leaders who wanted everything for themselves, they insisted that the port be built here. Now, look at what we’re experiencing now”, he furthered.

There have been similar concerns and allegations from other Liberians who maintain that the massive erosion in Buchanan is due to the construction of the Port against geological advice. They continue to point accusing figures at the county’s past leadership in the 1960’s that comprised of the county lawmakers and superintendent during President William V. S. Tubman’s era.

However, according to a joint survey prepared by the Liberian government and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in 2006 on the state of the environment in the country, most of the erosion is caused by unregulated sand mining. There have been repeated calls by Government for individuals to stop the looting of metal barrier and rocks that were previously used as sea defenses.

A recent Norwegian team’s assessment of the erosion situation derived the total amount of over US$22 million which it said is needed to stop the advancing erosion of the Atlantic Ocean. According to Representative Smith, Government allotted the minute amount of US$31,000 in its current fiscal budget for the fight against the country’s erosion.

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