Building capacity of the next generation of Liberia’s conservation professionals

Objectives

By building the capacity of Liberia’s up-and-coming conservation professionals, we can ensure that the country’s rich natural heritage is managed sustainably into the future. In particular, we aim to increase in-country capacity for conservation and protected area management including biomonitoring, awareness raising, community engagement, and supporting sustainable livelihoods.

We are also working with Liberian conservation professionals to help them develop the skills and experience needed to tackle key threats to Liberia’s biodiversity (such as illegal wildlife trade), carry out wildlife and biodiversity surveys, and create species action plans for elephants, pygmy hippos, western chimpanzees and other threatened species found in Liberia and its transboundary landscapes.

Our work

Capitalising on our established national capacity-building programme, Fauna & Flora is playing a lead role in developing a system of applied training to boost Liberia’s ability to effectively implement national species action plans, and supporting the development of a national strategy for illegal wildlife trade. Fauna & Flora and the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) organised a second regional workshop to update the existing ten-year conservation strategy for pygmy hippos across range states and is implementing a nationwide and transboundary survey of these elusive animals.

Fauna & Flora is also working with the FDA and several partners to build the capacity of law enforcement agencies, wildlife officers and park rangers to improve protected area law enforcement and strengthen Liberia’s ability to respond to illegal wildlife trade.