THE MONTREAL PROTOCOL – MEETING LIBERIA’S OBLIGATIONS UNDER THE PROTOCOL GEF NATIONAL DIALOGUE INITIATIVE (NDI) Cape Hotel, Mamba Point NATIONAL OZONE UNIT (NOU) ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA) OF LIBERIA Presented by Earl A. R. Neblett – National focal Point

THE MONTREAL PROTOCOL – MEETING LIBERIA’S OBLIGATIONS UNDER THE PROTOCOL National Ozone Unit - EPA The Republic of Liberia became a Party to the Vienna Convention and the Montreal Protocol, on January 1, In January 2004, The National Ozone Unit was established with assistance from the Multilateral Fund with the mandate: to implement a Country Program for the complete phase out of all Ozone depleting substances Coordinate all activities of the NOU

THE MONTREAL PROTOCOL – MEETING LIBERIA’S OBLIGATIONS UNDER THE PROTOCOL National Ozone Unit - EPA The Liberia Country Program for the phasing out of ozone depleting substances (ODS) has the following components: I Institutional Strengthening Program II Refrigeration Management Plan, consisting of the following programs: Implementation of the Train-The-Trainer Program/National Refrigeration Demonstration Center Program; The Improved Servicing and Management in Code of Good Refrigeration Practices/Recovery and Recycling Project;

THE MONTREAL PROTOCOL – MEETING LIBERIA’S OBLIGATIONS UNDER THE PROTOCOL National Ozone Unit - EPA Components of Liberia Country Program (cont’d) Mobile Air-conditioning (MAC) Program; Incentive Program for Commercial and Industrial End-users; Customs Training Program; Monitoring Program.

THE MONTREAL PROTOCOL – MEETING LIBERIA’S OBLIGATIONS UNDER THE PROTOCOL National Ozone Unit - EPA The Institutional Strengthening component to build capacity is being sponsored by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) The Institutional Strengthening component has the objective of setting up a National Ozone Office, a Licensing System for the importation of ODS, and Policing Committee and all other modalities needed to implement the phasing out of ODS from Liberia.

THE MONTREAL PROTOCOL – MEETING LIBERIA’S OBLIGATIONS UNDER THE PROTOCOL National Ozone Unit - EPA The German Agency for Technical Cooperation, GTZ, sponsors the Refrigeration Management Plan (RMP) which takes care of all the technical assistance needed to achieve a complete phase out by the UN deadline of the year 2010.

THE MONTREAL PROTOCOL – MEETING LIBERIA’S OBLIGATIONS UNDER THE PROTOCOL National Ozone Unit - EPA ACHIEVEMENT of the Liberia Country Program: Established National Ozone Office at the Environmental Protection Agency in January 2004; Established National Policy Committee composed of representatives of line Ministries and Agencies; Established a National Refrigeration Demonstration Center for training of Refrigeration technicians at the Monrovia Vocational Training Center (MVTC), Somalia Drive;

THE MONTREAL PROTOCOL – MEETING LIBERIA’S OBLIGATIONS UNDER THE PROTOCOL National Ozone Unit - EPA Conducted public awareness shops on Ozone Depleting Substances in all major industrial centers; Organized and celebrated the UN declared International Ozone day in Liberia on September 16 th, each year for the three consecutive years the NOU has been established ( ). These were celebrations that included outdoors parade and indoor activities with high school students fully participating. Student essay competition formed part of the celebrations; The NOU, through the National Refrigeration Demonstration Center (NRDC), has trained and certified more than 800 refrigeration technicians and practitioners in Code of Good refrigeration Practices

THE MONTREAL PROTOCOL – MEETING LIBERIA’S OBLIGATIONS UNDER THE PROTOCOL National Ozone Unit - EPA

The NOU has trained about 90 Customs Officers from the Ministry of Finance in the detection of ozone depletion substances, using refrigerant identifying machines and has provided five refrigerant identifiers which are currently being used at the following border points: Freeport of Monrovia; Bo Waterside; Ganta, Nimba County; Harper, Maryland County; and Menikorma, Lofa County.

THE MONTREAL PROTOCOL – MEETING LIBERIA’S OBLIGATIONS UNDER THE PROTOCOL National Ozone Unit - EPA

Assisted in the reactivation of the Liberia Refrigeration, Air-conditioning Engineer and Technician Union (LIBRAETU), with which we are working very closely; assisting in the issuance of identification cards to certified refrigeration technicians to enable them practice in the country; Participated in several international meetings of the Ozone Secretariat; Collected and reported data on ozone depleting substances in Liberia to the Ozone Secretariat;

THE MONTREAL PROTOCOL – MEETING LIBERIA’S OBLIGATIONS UNDER THE PROTOCOL National Ozone Unit - EPA Conducted a national workshop to launch an incentive program for end-users in the industrial and commercial refrigeration sectors. This program is to help these industries change over from the use of ozone depleting substances to ozone friendly chemicals.

THE MONTREAL PROTOCOL – MEETING LIBERIA’S OBLIGATIONS UNDER THE PROTOCOL National Ozone Unit - EPA

To implement the Mobile Air-Conditioning Program (MAC), which is a major component of the Refrigeration Management Plan (RMP), a training workshop was conducted for technicians who specialize in the servicing of MAC. Additionally, MAC servicing equipment such as Refrigerant Recovery Machines, Vacuum pumps, refrigerant canisters, among others, have been provided to various MAC servicing shops to enhance the servicing capacities of these technicians.

THE MONTREAL PROTOCOL – MEETING LIBERIA’S OBLIGATIONS UNDER THE PROTOCOL National Ozone Unit - EPA A Terminal Phase-Out Management Plan (TPMP) whose aim is to phase out the remaining 15% CFC (ODS) consumption by the target date of 2010 was prepared by the NOU and subsequently approved by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). The implementation of the program has already began since March 2008 and funded by the Multilateral Fund.

THE MONTREAL PROTOCOL – MEETING LIBERIA’S OBLIGATIONS UNDER THE PROTOCOL National Ozone Unit - EPA Liberia is on its way to meeting its National Phase out date of January 1, 2009.The last official Data for consumption of ODS for the year 2007 was 2.4metric tonnes down from over 40 metric tonnes in the year Total Funding to Phase out Projects 2004 – present US$951,440 Thanks to all our Partners for their assistance in meeting our obligations in protecting the Ozone and saving our Environment. Thank you