A hard-working man with honesty and integrity, a humanitarian, environmental specialist who grew up in rural Liberia and experienced suffering on a personal level, Dr. Urey-Yarkpawolo has the quality of men we need in Liberia to help us change the environmental system to the better.
The new Environmental Protection Agency Executive Director, Dr. Emmanuel Urey Yarkpawolo was born in Gomue, a small village near the Guinea border in District Number 4, Bong County in 1981. His mom, Gormah Yarkpawolo, passed away in 1983 when he was just 2 years old. He grew up with his aunt, Nyamah Yarkpawolo. His father, Yarkpawolo Taylor, was one of the first people to learn how to sew clothes in Bong County.
Dr. Urey-Yarkpawolo learned how to farm, fish, set traps and cut palms at an early age. He learned from his father and his aunt early on that the purpose of life was to help others. His father would often advise him to be honest in his dealings with people, not to worry about material things but to appreciate God for what he has. These are values that he carries today.
Brief history of Dr. Urey Yarkpawolo Education
“God will provide”. This was the answer that Dr. Urey-Yarkpawolo gave to his father in 1995 when his father indicated that refugee schools in Guinea were free of charge but once the war was over in Liberia, and they returned, schools were not free in Liberia and he never had money as the war had destroyed all his properties.
In response, Emmanuel, who was given the Kpelle name “Kwakergbe” (“Let us be here”) but later gave himself the biblical name Emmanuel (God is with us), simply said “God will provide”. Yes, indeed God provided and is still providing today.
He started school at the age of nearly 14 years in the Bheta Refugee Camp in Guinea in 1995. Prior to starting school, his father sent him to an apprenticeship to become a traditional blacksmith.
He spent two weeks in the blacksmith shop, ran away and returned to the refugee camp where he later started school.
Ten years later in 2005, Dr. Urey-Yarkpawolo graduated from high school as the dux winning 8 awards out of 12 subjects and serving as Student Council President.
Not only did he obtain his Bachelor’s Degree in 2008 from Cuttington University in Biology, but in the 10 years that followed, he added beneath his academic belt, a Master’s Degree in Public Health (2011) from Cuttington University, a Master’s of Science in Environment and Resources with emphasis in Political Ecology (2013) and a Ph.D. in the same field from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2018 from the USA.
Dr. Urey-Yarkpawolo also holds a certificate of Leadership with Integrity from Les Aspin Center for Government in Washington D.C. and a certificate in Management & Entrepreneurship from Columbia University in New York.
Leadership Experience
“The road to success begins with the first step” is a philosophy that has guided Dr. Urey Yarkpawolo throughout his life. He served as class president from Kindergarten all the way to 10th grade becoming the Vice President for the Student Council Government in the 11thgrade and finally serving as the President for the Student Council Government at the Len Miller High School in Monrovia during his senior year. As president, he led the upgrading of the Len Miller High School Library. At Cuttington University, he became the Project Director for the graduating class, and successfully led the writing of the first postwar Cuttington Yearbook.
He served as Program Assistant at the Land Commission and based on his excellent performance, he was promoted as the Administrative Assistant to the Chairman of that Commission.
In the US, Dr. Urey Yarkpawolo served as President of the Liberian Association of Wisconsin, where he revamped what was a dead association, introducing straight accountability and transparency in all aspects of the association including financial matters. He served as Project Assistant at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked under the mentorship of his professors, Gregg Mitman and Matt Turner. In this position, he led the development of a public history website for Liberia (http://liberianhistory.org/).
Upon graduation, Dr. Urey Yarkpawolo took a consultancy position with Landesa and moved back to Liberia and after a few months of excellent performance, he was promoted to Country Representative and later to Program Director. At Landesa, Dr. Urey Yarkpawolo transformed a small one-room office to an apartment office and later to an entire two-story office building just in 3 years. His greatest achievement in this position was his key role in working with civil society and the Government of Liberia to pass the Land Rights Bill in to Law.
Dr. Urey Yarkpawolo served as the first President for The Salvation Army Polytechnic in Monrovia. He took over a dilapidated building with zero students but in a few months, he galvanized funding and renovated the school and recruited more than 300 students. Few years later Dr. Yarkpawolo would help take the institution from Associate Degrees to full Bachelor Degrees granting institution.
He coined the school motto “Education with Integrity” to highlight his desire to instill not only quality education in the students but the associated integrity that goes along with applying quality education to transform the lives of people and communities.
In 2023 Dr. Urey Yarkpawolo was selected to serve as running mate to renowned human rights lawyer , Cllr, Tiawan Saye Gongloe when they ran as President and vice president on the ticket of the Liberian People’s Party coming out at #6 out of 20 political parties .
Dr. Urey Yarkpawolo is known for his philosophy of leading with integrity .
Dr. Urey Yarkpawolo was appointed on February 16, 2024 to serve as Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency of Liberia.
Dr. Urey Yarkpawolo is the founder of One Life Liberia (https://www.onelifeliberia.org/), an NGO based in Liberia and in the USA that helps build schools for marginalized children in rural communities in Liberia and supports sustainable agriculture productions.
Dr. Urey Yarkpawolo is also the founding member and Chairman of the Grassroots Alternative Movement (http://gamliberia.org/), a social justice organization established in Liberia and in the USA with the goal of instilling disciplines and fighting for equality and justice in Liberia.
He is also a founding member of the Grassroots Alternative Movement (GAM), is a social justice, political and advocacy organization committed to building a just society in Liberia with the tenets of fair play, equality, and justice. http://gamliberia.org/about.html
HONORS AND AWARDS:
Nelson Institute Rising Star Alumni Award (2020)- University of Wisconsin-Madison
Outstanding leadership award in advocating the passage of the Land Rights Law of 2018 by Landesa, Seattle, Washington State, USA
Special Father of the Year 2019-Monrovia City Corps (Church), Monrovia, Liberia
Wisconsin Without Borders Global Engaged Scholarship Award (2014) – University of Wisconsin-Madison
Recognition and Outstanding Scholastic Achievement Award (2013) – African Association of Madison
Honors Society Academic Award (2008) – Cuttington University
Certificate – Most Influential Student (2004) – Len Millar High School
SELECT PUBLICATIONS
Feeling the Dis-Ease of Ebola: An Invisible War: First chapter in Feeling Dis-Ease: Experiencing Medicine and Illness in Modern History, edited by Rob Boddice and Bettina Hitzer
Urey, Emmanuel K. ‘Political Ecology of Land and Agriculture Concessions in Liberia’ The University of Wisconsin -Madison, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2018. 10827414.
Urey, Emmanuel K. “Corridors, Concessions, and the Extraction of Natural Resources in Liberia.” Environment & Society Portal, Arcadia (2015), no. 8. Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society. https://doi.org/10.5282/rcc/6945.
Emmanuel K. “Did palm oil expansion play a role in the Ebola crisis?” https://news.mongabay.com/2015/01/did-palm-oil-expansion-play-a-role-in-the-ebola-crisis/
The Power of Education. From a refugee camp to Salvation Army sponsorship to shaping the future. February 19, 2021 by Emmanuel K. Urey. https://salvationist.ca/articles/the-power-of-education/
The Invisible War: Emmanuel Urey on Ebola in Liberia by Emmanuel Urey · Published October 9,2014 Updated October 12, 2019 https://edgeeffects.net/the-invisible-war-ebola-in-liberia/
Co-Author “An Assessment of Youth Land Rights in Rural Liberia”
Liberia’s Youth Are Central to National Development – And Land is Essential to their Success. https://frontpageafricaonline.com/opinion/commentary/liberias-youth-are-central-to-national-development-and-land-is-essential-to-their-success/
SELECT STORIES ABOUT DR. UREY
A Transformational Education: UW-Madison Graduate Emmanuel Urey shares how his own educational experiences have helped him to become a leader in Liberian education and land rights reform October 17, 2018 | by BEKAH MCBRIDE. https://www.nelson.wisc.edu/news/story.php?story=3089
For love of country, Emmanuel Urey’s quest to empower Liberia winds through Wisconsin by Mary Ellen Bell May 31, 2018 https://isthmus.com/news/cover-story/emmanuel-ureys-quest-to-empower-liberia-winds-through-wiscon/
The Land Beneath Our Feet. Directed by Sarita Siegel and Gregg Mitman. Alchemy Films, 2016. 60 minutes. https://gmitman.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/env-roundtable-7-4.pdf
The Power of Education, From a refugee camp to Salvation Army sponsorship to shaping the future. https://salvationist.ca/articles/the-power-of-education/
BOOK REVIEW
Lindsey, S. E. (2020). Liberty Brought Us Here: The True Story of American Slaves Who Migrated to Liberia. University Press of Kentucky.
CURRENT PROJECT
“Sitting on Old Mats to Plait New”: The gendered struggle over land and livelihood in Liberia: To appear in The Social Life of Land, edited by Michael Goldman, Nancy Peluso, and Wendy Wolford (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, forthcoming).
DOCUMENTARIES
In the Shadow of Ebola http://intheshadowofebola.com/
The Land Beneath Our Feet https://www.thelandbeneathourfeet.com/
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