MONROVIA, LIBERIA-The Tracking Flooding in Rural Liberia project, funded by the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) and managed through its regional hub for West and North Africa, has been concluded.

Local implementation partners included iLab Liberia and OSM Liberia.

The project team established that critical stakeholders involved in climate change (flooding and sea erosions) initiatives are rarely visible in the project area, thereby posing coordination difficulties to the project.

The study also found that villagers are more knowledgeable about the causes of flooding, and are willing to work with partners in responding to its impact.

This project seeks to tackle the information gap while supporting informed decision-making by providing in-depth datasets and map visualizations depicting the situations to catalyze interventions,” Carter Draper, HOT’s Regional Project Manager for the West and Northern African region, told the closeout program at the Bella Casa Hotel in Monrovia.

Mr. Draper also said:” There still needs to be more effort from the National Government and development actors to prepare and or mitigate the impact of flooding and sea erosion, despite communities longing for humanitarian and medical support, underlined.

Mr. Drapper added: “Therefore, we are calling for an anticipatory action involving all critical stakeholders working at the intersection of Disaster and Climate Resilience, to scale up initiatives in designing more sustainable community resilience programs.

According to the study, the climate change-induced disaster has largely flattened homes and business centers across communities, threatening a significant biodiversity hotspot.

Over 18,000 buildings, 46 educational, six health facilities, four markets, 164 water points, 70 public toilets, and 59 waste disposals, were mapped during remote mapping and ground truthing exercises.