Editing Liberia (section)

=== Biodiversity and conservation ===
{{Main|Wildlife of Liberia}}
{{Further|Environmental issues in Liberia}}
[[File:Liberia tropical forest.jpg|thumb|A Liberian tropical forest]]
[[Forest]]s on the coastline are composed mostly of salt-tolerant [[mangrove]] trees, while the more sparsely populated inland has forests opening onto a plateau of drier [[grassland]]s. The climate is [[Tropical rainforest climate|equatorial]], with significant [[rain]]fall during the May–October [[rainy season]] and harsh [[harmattan]] winds the remainder of the year. Liberia possesses about forty percent of the remaining [[Upper Guinean forest|Upper Guinean rainforest]]. It was an important producer of [[rubber]] in the early 20th century.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Ghoshal |first=Animesh |title=Multinational Investment and the Development of an Export Industry: Rubber in Liberia |date=1982 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24328535 |journal=Transafrican Journal of History |volume=11 |pages=92–111 |jstor=24328535 |issn=0251-0391 |access-date=July 26, 2022 |archive-date=July 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220726144431/https://www.jstor.org/stable/24328535 |url-status=live }}</ref> Liberian rubber production became a major economic driver in the early 20th century with Firestone Tire and Rubber Company’s investment in the Country in the early 1920’s. Despite its importance as an export good, Liberia’s rubber industry has faced criticism for the environmental degradation it causes. The need for land for rubber plantations has led to deforestation, reducing Liberia’s biodiversity and food access for Liberian peoples. Fertilizer use on rubber plantations has contributed to waterway pollution and an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, causing damage to aquatic ecosystems and health problems for local Liberian communities.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":2" />

Four terrestrial ecoregions lie within Liberia's borders: [[Guinean montane forests]], [[Western Guinean lowland forests]], [[Guinean forest–savanna mosaic]], and [[Guinean mangroves]].<ref name="DinersteinOlson2017">{{cite journal|last1=Dinerstein|first1=Eric|last2=Olson|first2=David|last3=Joshi|first3=Anup|last4=Vynne|first4=Carly|last5=Burgess|first5=Neil D.|last6=Wikramanayake|first6=Eric|last7=Hahn|first7=Nathan|last8=Palminteri|first8=Suzanne|last9=Hedao|first9=Prashant|last10=Noss|first10=Reed|last11=Hansen|first11=Matt|last12=Locke|first12=Harvey|last13=Ellis|first13=Erle C|last14=Jones|first14=Benjamin|last15=Barber|first15=Charles Victor|last16=Hayes|first16=Randy|last17=Kormos|first17=Cyril|last18=Martin|first18=Vance|last19=Crist|first19=Eileen|last20=Sechrest|first20=Wes|last21=Price|first21=Lori|last22=Baillie|first22=Jonathan E. M.|last23=Weeden|first23=Don|last24=Suckling|first24=Kierán|last25=Davis|first25=Crystal|last26=Sizer|first26=Nigel|last27=Moore|first27=Rebecca|last28=Thau|first28=David|last29=Birch|first29=Tanya|last30=Potapov|first30=Peter|last31=Turubanova|first31=Svetlana|last32=Tyukavina|first32=Alexandra|last33=de Souza|first33=Nadia|last34=Pintea|first34=Lilian|last35=Brito|first35=José C.|last36=Llewellyn|first36=Othman A.|last37=Miller|first37=Anthony G.|last38=Patzelt|first38=Annette|last39=Ghazanfar|first39=Shahina A.|last40=Timberlake|first40=Jonathan|last41=Klöser|first41=Heinz|last42=Shennan-Farpón|first42=Yara|last43=Kindt|first43=Roeland|last44=Lillesø|first44=Jens-Peter Barnekow|last45=van Breugel|first45=Paulo|last46=Graudal|first46=Lars|last47=Voge|first47=Maianna|last48=Al-Shammari|first48=Khalaf F.|last49=Saleem|first49=Muhammad|display-authors=1|title=An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm|journal=BioScience|volume=67|issue=6|year=2017|pages=534–545|issn=0006-3568|doi=10.1093/biosci/bix014|pmid=28608869|pmc=5451287|doi-access=free}}</ref> 
[[File:U.S.DOC(1965) Liberia. Money Trees.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|Loggers and logging truck, early 1960s]]
Liberia is a global [[biodiversity hotspot]]—a significant reservoir of [[biodiversity]] that is under threat from humans.<ref name="mmg">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29321143|title=Liberia in 'trees for cash' deal|first=Matt|last=McGrath|work=BBC News|date=September 23, 2014|access-date=July 29, 2018|archive-date=June 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614181643/https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29321143|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Choeropsis.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|[[Pygmy hippo]]s are among the species illegally hunted for food in Liberia.<ref name="Anne Look"/> The [[World Conservation Union]] estimates that there are fewer than 3,000 pygmy hippos remaining in the wild.<ref name="Redlist">{{cite iucn |author=Ransom, C. |author2=Robinson, P.T. |author3=Collen, B. |date=2015 |title=''Choeropsis liberiensis'' |volume=2015 |page=e.T10032A18567171 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-2.RLTS.T10032A18567171.en |access-date=November 11, 2021}} Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is of endangered.</ref>]]

Endangered species are hunted for human consumption as [[bushmeat]] in Liberia.<ref name="Anne Look"/> Species hunted for food in Liberia include [[elephant]]s, [[pygmy hippopotamus]], [[chimpanzee]]s, [[leopard]]s, [[duiker]]s, and other monkeys.<ref name="Anne Look"/> Bushmeat is often exported to neighboring Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast, despite a ban on the cross-border sale of wild animals.<ref name="Anne Look">Anne Look, [https://www.voanews.com/a/370590.html "Poaching in Liberia's Forests Threatens Rare Animals"], [[Voice of America]] News, May 8, 2012.</ref>

Bushmeat is widely eaten in Liberia, and is considered a delicacy.<ref name="Wynfred Russell"/> A 2004 public opinion survey found that bushmeat ranked second behind fish amongst residents of the capital Monrovia as a preferred source of protein.<ref name="Wynfred Russell"/> Of households where bushmeat was served, 80% of residents said they cooked it "once in a while," while 13% cooked it once a week and 7% cooked bushmeat daily.<ref name="Wynfred Russell"/> The survey was conducted during the last civil war, and bushmeat consumption is now believed to be far higher.<ref name="Wynfred Russell">Wynfred Russell, [http://www.frontpageafricaonline.com/index.php/op-ed/commentaries-features/380-extinction-is-forever-a-crisis-that-is-liberia-s-endangered-wildlife "Extinction is forever: A crisis that is Liberia's endangered wildlife"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303191753/http://www.frontpageafricaonline.com/index.php/op-ed/commentaries-features/380-extinction-is-forever-a-crisis-that-is-liberia-s-endangered-wildlife |date=March 3, 2016 }}, [[Front Page Africa]], January 15, 2014.</ref>

''[[Trypanosoma brucei gambiense]]'' is [[endemism (epidemiology)|endemic]] in some animal hosts here including both [[domestic animal|domestic]] and [[wild animal|wild]].<ref name="Trypanosoma-brucei-gambiense"/> This causes the disease ''[[nagana]]''.<ref name="Trypanosoma-brucei-gambiense"/> In [[pig]]s here and in [[Ivory Coast]], that includes [[Trypanosoma brucei gambiense group 1|''Tbg'' group 1]]. ''Tbg'' and its vector ''[[Glossina palpalis gambiense]]'' are a constant presence in the rainforests here.<ref name="Trypanosoma-brucei-gambiense"/> Much research into ''Tbg'' was performed in the 1970s by Mehlitz and by Gibson, both working in [[Bong mine|Bong Mine]] with samples from around the country.<ref name="Trypanosoma-brucei-gambiense"/> The [[Pye-dog|West African pariah dog]] is also a host for ''Tbg''.<ref name="Trypanosoma-brucei-gambiense">{{cite journal | year=2019 | volume=6 | publisher=[[Elsevier]] | first1=D. | journal=[[Parasite Epidemiology and Control]] | issn=2405-6731 | last1=Mehlitz | last2=Molyneux | first2=D. H. | title=The elimination of Trypanosoma brucei gambiense? Challenges of reservoir hosts and transmission cycles: Expect the unexpected | doi=10.1016/j.parepi.2019.e00113 | page=e00113| pmid=31528738 | pmc=6742776 }}</ref>

The Desert Locust (''[[Schistocerca gregaria]]'') is a constant presence here.<ref name="Bulletin-2021">{{cite web | year=2021 | location=[[Rome]] | publisher=UN FAO (United Nations [[Food and Agriculture Organization]]) | url=https://www.fao.org/ag/locusts/common/ecg/1914/en/DL516e.pdf | author=[[Desert Locust Information Service]] | title=Desert Locust Bulletin – General situation during September 2021 – Forecast until mid-November 2021 | access-date=September 13, 2022 | archive-date=October 15, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211015065215/https://www.fao.org/ag/locusts/common/ecg/1914/en/DL516e.pdf | url-status=live }}</ref>

The Hairy Slit-Faced Bat (''[[Nycteris hispida]]'') suffers from [[malaria]] here.<ref name="Manwell">{{cite journal | publisher=[[Society for Epidemiologic Research]] & [[Johns Hopkins University|Johns Hopkins]] ([[Oxford University Press]]) | journal=[[American Journal of Epidemiology]] | last=Manwell | first=Reginald D. | volume=43 | issue=1 | date=January 1946 | issn=1476-6256 | doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a119047 | pages=1–12 | title=Bat Malaria| pmid=21011556 }}</ref>

According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), about 99.5% of Liberian peoples rely on biomass (firewood, charcoal and palm oil) for their energy needs. This trend poses a threat to biodiversity and forests, since the production of these fuels is done in an unsustainable manner. Much of this fuel is obtained through deforestation or mining, both of which have been shown to have negative impacts on the Liberian environment. This production is largely driven by foreign multinational corporations.<ref name=":4">Brandolini, G., & Tigani, M. (2006). Liberia environmental profile. ''Report for the European Commission and the'', 1-110.</ref> Pre-colonial Liberia was largely a self-sufficient society. However, according to scholar Aminesh Ghoshal, colonists and multinational corporations altered Liberian labor and economic systems in order to secure a labor force for commercial activities like mining or plantation agriculture.<ref name=":2" />

[[Illegal logging]] has increased in Liberia since the end of the [[Second Liberian Civil War|Second Civil War in 2003]].<ref name="mmg"/> In 2012, President Sirleaf granted licenses to companies to cut down 58% of all the primary rainforest left in Liberia.<ref name="mmg"/> After international protests, many of those logging permits were canceled.<ref name="mmg"/> In September 2014, Liberia and Norway struck an agreement whereby Liberia ceased all logging in exchange for $150 million in development aid.<ref name="mmg"/>

Palm oil production has motivated deforestation of large swaths of Liberian rainforests. Industrial oil palm plantations boast lower levels of plant and animal biodiversity and have lower ecological and social values than the rainforests which they replace. These values include communal space, health, and ecological health. Industrial palm oil production often uses oil palm plants that are not native to Liberia, though native plants have been used in palm oil production, largely by indigenous or small-scale farmers. These changes have impacted the food supply and livelihoods of Liberian communities and households through depleting food sources and abilities of Liberians to acquire and sell natural resources.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Marshall |first=Cicely A. M. |last2=Guahn |first2=Marshall M. |last3=Jones |first3=Tiecanna |last4=Jah |first4=Morris T. |last5=Hadfield |first5=Peter M. |last6=Saputra |first6=Ari |last7=Widodo |first7=Rudy |last8=Freeman |first8=Benedictus |last9=Draper |first9=William |last10=Caliman |first10=Jean‐Pierre |last11=Turner |first11=Edgar C. |last12=Pashkevich |first12=Michael D. |date=2024-12-16 |title=Plant biodiversity, vegetation structure and provisioning services in rainforest, traditional and industrial oil palm cultivation systems in Liberia, West Africa |url=https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ppp3.10621 |journal=PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET |language=en |doi=10.1002/ppp3.10621 |issn=2572-2611|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Liberia’s mining sector has been criticized by environmental scholars and the Liberian Environmental Protection Agency for its effects on conservation and biodiversity. In contrast to the abundance of mineral wealth in Liberia, water resources are vulnerable to environmental impacts from mining activities. Unless appropriate corrective actions are taken, the mining sector is expected to place further degradation on the country’s undeveloped water resources.<ref name=":5" /> Forest areas are used for the deposit of waste rocks from many Liberian mines, especially after the end of the second civil war.&nbsp; Overburden, rocks and tailings are deposited in the surrounding forest areas, especially around major mines such as the Nimba mine. This poses a threat to wildlife and ecological balance in these areas.<ref name=":4" />

A large contributor to pollution has been foreign involvement in industrial mining and agriculture industries.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":5" />