-With Cultural Heritage Celebration
By Vaye Abel Lepolu
Monrovia, Liberia – Liberia will join through Environmental Protection Agency with the global community on February 2, 2026, to celebrates World Wetlands Day under the theme: “Wetlands and Traditional Knowledge: Celebrating Cultural Heritage.” The national event will take place along SKD Boulevard, near the John Gbesay Resort, with activities beginning at 6:00 AM with bird watching and nature observation.
The 2026 theme emphasizes the importance of traditional knowledge in modern conservation efforts. Experts note that community customs, oral traditions, and indigenous environmental practices remain essential tools in protecting wetlands from threats such as pollution, climate change, unregulated development, and biodiversity loss.
By celebrating cultural heritage alongside environmental protection, the World Wetlands Day 2026 program in Liberia aims to bridge the gap between ancestral wisdom and modern science, ensuring that conservation strategies are both culturally grounded and scientifically sound.
The event that will hosted by EPA is not only a celebration, but a call to action for citizens, policymakers, and institutions to work together to preserve Liberia’s wetlands for future generations.
Meanwhile the celebration will bring together environmentalists, traditional leaders, community groups, conservation organizations, youth groups, and government institutions to highlight the importance of wetlands as vital ecosystems that sustain biodiversity, livelihoods, culture, and national heritage.
The program will focus on strengthening public awareness about the role of wetlands in food security, climate resilience, environmental protection, and cultural identity, while promoting community-based conservation practices rooted in traditional knowledge.
Activities scheduled for the day include bird watching, cultural performances, traditional knowledge exhibitions, environmental education sessions, community dialogues, and wetlands conservation awareness campaigns.
However, the world Wetlands Day is observed annually on February 2, marking the anniversary of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, an international treaty signed in 1971 in Ramsar, Iran. The convention was established to promote the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands worldwide, recognizing them as some of the most productive and valuable ecosystems on Earth.
Wetlands include swamps, mangroves, marshes, rivers, lakes, floodplains, and coastal areas, all of which provide critical ecological services such as water purification, flood control, climate regulation, fish breeding, and carbon storage.
Liberia, with its extensive coastline, mangrove forests, rivers, lagoons, and inland wetlands, is considered one of West Africa’s most wetland-rich countries. Historically, wetlands in Liberia have supported fishing communities, farming systems, transportation routes, traditional medicine, and cultural practices that have been passed down through generations.
For centuries, local communities have used indigenous knowledge systems to manage wetlands sustainably , through traditional fishing methods, sacred forest protection, seasonal farming practices, and cultural taboos that prevented overexploitation of natural resources. These practices helped preserve ecosystems long before modern conservation laws existed.
At, the same time, the Environmental Protection Agency launches women-led climate resilience training under CIS Project in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of Liberia, through the Climate Information Systems (CIS) Project, has launched a training and validation program to empower women as Climate Ambassadors and members of Disaster Management Committees.
Opening the program on January 28, 2026, at K-Plaza Hotel, EPA Executive Director Dr. Emmanuel K. Urey Yarkpawolo said that climate change is already disrupting lives across Liberia through flooding, coastal erosion, unpredictable farming seasons, and faster, more severe disasters.
While women, children, and vulnerable households are often hardest hit, he emphasized that women are central to building resilient communities, marking a shift from viewing them as victims to recognizing them as leaders, communicators, and first responders.
The training aims to strengthen last-mile delivery of climate and disaster information so early warnings are understood, trusted, and acted upon. Participants will build skills in climate risk awareness, early warning systems, disaster preparedness, and leadership, while also addressing barriers such as literacy, technology access, and social exclusion.
Beyond technical skills, the initiative elevates women’s leadership and voice in local decision-making, encouraging active roles on Disaster Management Committees to shape preparedness plans and lead responses. Decisions improve, warnings travel faster, recovery is more inclusive, and resilience becomes sustainable when women are at the table.
The program will also establish a nationwide network of Women Climate Ambassadors to share climate information across households, farms, markets, and schools, creating a lasting “living system” of knowledge sharing and peer support.
The EPA boss thanked partners, facilitators, and local authorities for their collaboration, stressing that true climate resilience is built with informed people, strong leadership, and inclusive systems.
