Liberia’s match with academic consortium CASCADE will help catalyze action on its NBSAP.

Key Summary: 

• Liberia launched a collaboration with the academic consortium CASCADE through the NBSAP Accelerator Partnership’s MatchMaking Mechanism, linking national priorities with academic expertise.
• The match will strengthen biodiversity education and training, from postgraduate programs to secondary school curricula, while fostering evidence-based policymaking and local community engagement.
• By connecting governments and universities, the partnership offers a new frontier for NBSAP implementation, demonstrating how academic collaborations can accelerate action and serve as a model for other countries.

Embracing a new frontier in national biodiversity action, the Republic of Liberia formed its first-ever collaboration with the Conservation and Sustainability Consortium of AcaDEmic Institutions (CASCADE). The connection, facilitated by the NBSAP Accelerator Partnership and its MatchMaking Mechanism, supports the country's National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP). With CASCADE’s support, Liberia aims to embed capacity building and environmental education into its ethos and future, delivering biodiversity conservation outcomes that are effective and catalytic.

A recognized biodiversity hotspot, Liberia contains the largest remaining portion of the Upper Guinea Forest, covering an area twice the size of Belgium. Its ecosystems are home to more than 2,000 plant species, 600 birds, 75 reptiles, and 150 mammals, many of them endemic. Beyond their global importance for climate and nature conservation, Liberia’s forests contribute to the incomes of more than half the population, emphasising their immense role for the economy and society.

Coming together to unlock opportunities 

Liberia joined the NBSAP Accelerator Partnership as a country member, eager to tap into the connections and technical and financial resources available through the partnership's MatchMaking Mechanism. Arthur Becker, Director of the Department of Multilateral Environmental Agreements of Liberia’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), explains that becoming a member was: 

“A perfect window of opportunity. The NBSAP Accelerator Partnership is a global initiative that supports moving beyond simply developing a national document to ensuring steady and solid implementation. It provides a unique platform to access technical and financial partners, linking countries with institutions that can offer the necessary support to advance.”

Liberia’s matchmaking proposals focus on strengthening biodiversity education and training, ensuring the whole of society is engaged. As Becker explains:

“Ultimately, local communities can become drivers of this whole process and ensure that the NBSAP is fully implemented.”

Arthur Becker’s role at the EPA supports practical actions and steps to accelerate Liberia’s environmental interventions. Becker emphasised the importance of nature for the country, and shared his hopes to see meaningful and lasting change “not only in Liberia but globally.”

Philip McGowan, Professor of Conservation Science and Policy at Newcastle University (UK) and a co-leader of CASCADE (Conservation And Sustainability Consortium of AcaDEmic Institutions), first connected with the NBSAP Accelerator Partnership in late 2023 at a CBD side event. After learning about the partnership and its MatchMaking Mechanism, he recalled thinking: 

"This has enormous potential.”

Professor McGowan learned about three projects from Liberia that could benefit from academic partners as suppliers. Within a month, he began reviewing the project requests along with CASCADE, and started conversations with the NBSAP Accelerator Partnership, particularly with MatchMaking Mechanism Lead, Devonne Goad, who helped facilitate connections with Liberian partners.”

Both parties see power in the match. 

Becker highlighted:

"The match with CASCADE will provide us, as a country, with an opportunity to place much greater emphasis on research. It also highlights the importance of capacity building, which is urgently needed in Liberia. This support will help us tailor decision-making processes and strengthen evidence-based biodiversity policies and recommendations."

CASCADE: Connecting academia and policy

CASCADE was founded to bridge the gap between academics eager to contribute and policymakers in need of practical expertise. Through its “one-stop shop” model, the consortium of 33 universities and higher education institutions aims to help governments connect with academics to support data, research, curriculum design, training, and capacity development in delivering biodiversity goals. 

McGowan noted that many academics are eager to contribute practical, impact-oriented research, training, and capacity-building if they understand what governments need. Currently, however, connections between policymakers and academics are ad hoc, making it difficult to match needs with the right expertise. CASCADE aims to address that.

CASCADE has already launched several impactful projects in research and knowledge exchange. One initiative examines how behaviour change can drive progress on biodiversity goals. Another takes a systematic look at indicator gaps under Target 5, which focuses on ensuring sustainable, safe, and legal harvesting and trade of wild species. Through this work, CASCADE identifies key priorities, sequences efforts strategically, and brings in expertise to secure early wins that build momentum for lasting action.

A match with catalytic potential

The Liberia-CASCADE match has the potential to multiply its impact across multiple levels. The projects submitted by Liberia focus on postgraduate technical training in forestry, fisheries, and aquaculture. The initiative also focuses on biodiversity curriculum development in secondary schools, teacher training, and technology access. These efforts aim to raise awareness from an early age, build long-term capacity, and develop the next generation of biodiversity leaders for a whole-of-society approach to biodiversity action. 

At a regional level, the collaboration also links Liberia with the CBD’s Technical and Scientific Cooperation Centre (TSCC) in West Africa, fostering stronger networks and collaborations.

Professor Philip McGowan described the match as both tactical and strategic:

"Our co-creation approach brings together not just academics, but people involved who will use that information to take action. This approach is tactically powerful: If Liberia identifies these projects as amongst its highest priority needs, we can help them meet those needs and therefore drive forward their NBSAP.”

Strategically, the match also supports systematic engagement between Liberia and its own local universities, as CASCADE will work through national-level universities and institutions. For Liberia, this means the Environmental Protection Agency could directly engage the University of Liberia to meet its biodiversity needs in the future. As McGowan explains:

"If a Party can develop relationships with its own academic institutions, the money to finance activities would stay within this national biodiversity science and policy interface. If we can really help them develop those relationships with their Parties to deliver the Global Biodiversity Framework, that would be fantastic. That would be really catalytic.”

Matchmaking: Overcoming barriers and accelerating action

The Liberia–CASCADE match shows how matchmaking turns national priorities into real action on the Global Biodiversity Framework. Arthur Becker described the process: 

"Through the NBSAP Accelerator Partnership, countries share project ideas and interventions they have in mind and receive support in advancing those ideas. Liberia has already benefited from sharing our project priorities and making a match. The NBSAP Accelerator Partnership is the perfect vehicle to accelerate NBSAPs effectively."

McGowan agreed, underscoring the importance of connecting both sides:

"On the one hand, the Global Biodiversity Framework requires a tremendous amount of work to implement, so you need numerous partners. Many organizations are willing to help, but you need to connect the two sides. The NBSAP Accelerator Partnership has positioned itself to act as that broker. It’s not just about matching expertise—it’s also about ensuring there’s real potential in that match."

Looking Ahead: Achieving NBSAPS together

Professor McGowan of CASCADE sees strong reason for optimism. Through collaboration, matchmaking, and a whole-of-society approach, Liberia can make steady progress toward their NBSAP, contributing to the ambitious 23 targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

"I think we can make great progress. We shouldn’t think of this as a matter of success or failure. One piece of work we did for the previous CBD strategic plan showed that without conservation action, the world would be in a much worse place. So I am confident we have and will continue to make significant progress."

Not all country members have yet considered the potential of academic partnerships for NBSAP implementation. Liberia’s collaboration with CASCADE highlights how universities and research institutions can play a vital role. By opening this new frontier, the collaboration stands to model how tapping into academic expertise can make a meaningful difference in accelerating biodiversity action.

Learn more about Liberia and the progress of other country members on our Recent News page. Curious about the MatchMaking Mechanism? Learn more about its critical role in accelerating NBSAPs here.