Natural Capital Mapping and Accounting in Liberia: Understanding the Contribution of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services to Liberia’S Sustainable Development
Authors/analysts: Rachel Neugarten, Mahbubul Alam, Natalia Acero Martinez, Miroslav Honzak, Daniel Juhn, Kellee Koenig, Trond Larsen, Kevin Moull, Ana Maria Rodriguez, Timothy Max Wright Contributions from: Liam Walsh, Jessica Donovan, Peter Mulbah, Jim Valenza, Kim Reuter, Rosimeiry Portela, Tim Noviello, Shelly Wade, David Hole, Manuel Peralvo, Jess Silver, and Jessica Junker Acknowledgements: This project was funded by a generous gift from Gordon and Betty Moore. We are grateful for the support and expertise provided by our collaborators at the Environmental Protection Agency of Liberia, Jeremiah Sokan and Anyaa Vohiri and for the support from the Gaborone Declaration for Sustainability in Africa (GDSA) Secretariat, and from the Natural Capital Project. Data provided by Liberia’s Forestry Development Authority (FDA), Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS), and Liberian Hydrological Services (LHS), the Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation is gratefully acknowledged. 1 “Natural capital –our ecosystems, biodiversity, and natural resources– underpins economies, societies and individual well-being. The values of its myriad benefits are, however, often overlooked or poorly understood. They are rarely taken fully into account through economic signals in markets, or in day-to- day decisions by business and citizens, nor indeed reflected adequately in the accounts of society. The steady loss of forests, soils, wetlands and coral reefs is closely tied to this economic invisibility. So, too, are the losses of species and of productive assets like fisheries, driven partly by ignoring values beyond the immediate and private” - Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia, at the Summit for Sustainability in Africa, Botswana, 2012 Suggested citation: Conservation International.
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