In Observance of Conservation Day University of Liberia’s Environmental Science Students Clean PHP Beach

Environment

In Observance of Conservation Day University of Liberia’s Environmental Science Students Clean PHP Beach

IPNEWS: Students of the University of Liberia Graduate Program in Environmental Studies and Climate Change on Wednesday 28 July 2020 celebrated World Nature Conservation Day with the dissemination of awareness messages on conservation and its importance.

The Graduate Program in Environmental Studies and Climate Change was established in September 2019 with support from the Environmental Protection Agency of Liberia (EPA) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to support Liberia’s National Adaptation Plans (NAPs).

The environmental science students also cleaned PHP Beach in Sinkor in observance of the day, which is celebrated worldwide on 28 July to create awareness about the need to preserve the environment and natural resources.Saving plants and animals that are threatened with extinction is one of the primary focuses of the World Nature Conservation Day.

Dr. Charles Ansumana, head of the Environmental Studies and Climate Change Program at UL said the primary objective of the celebration is to raise awareness and to ensure a clean environment.

He said the exercise was also meant for students to practice what they have learn in their various classes.

“We cannot talk about the environment without being practical, the environment has to do with everything that surrounds us. And it is our role as human as well as environmentalist to have a clean environment,” Dr. Ansumana said.F. Oliver Williyan, a member of the class said they have decided to collect waste from the beach because dumping of waste in the ocean leads to several environmental challenges.

He noted that whatever is dumped in the ocean comes back on shore and said “it doesn’t give us a good environment.”Student Williyan explained that dumping of plastics in the ocean has killed countless number of aquatic species that see plastics as food.

According to him, the environmental science students have also elected to educate residents of the PHP and South Beach communities about the negative effects of throwing dirt on the beach, which supposed to be used for recreation activities.For his part, Pedesco Hinneh, the head of the organizing committee of the World Nature Conservation Day celebration, said people need to understand that the ocean is a community of various species including plants and animals and dumping of waste there would create extinction of these species.

He explained that there would be scarcity of fish and other aquatic species, if people don’t desist from polluting the ocean and other waterbodies across the country.“We have come to let the people know that they need to keep their environment clean, protect nature and natural resources including the beaches by not throwing dirt in the ocean,” Hinneh said.