The Department of Energy continued to serve and maintain linkages with energy-oriented organizations both state-controlled and privately owned. In addition, it continued to monitor and coordinate the energy sector (both conventional and non-conventional) in an effort to ensure effective and efficient utilization and management of energy resources.

Beginning in 1981, the energy unit within the Office of the President of Liberia was integrated into the then Ministry of Lands and Mines…thus the “Energy” in the official name of the Ministry. The Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy has an awkward organization structure that inhibits its operational efficiency especially in its energy oversight responsibility. The three functional areas of the Ministry-Lands, Minerals and Energy-are clustered under a deputy minister of operations (see Figure 1 depicting current organization chart of the Ministry).

Within this scheme the energy functional area was not given the deserved attention at the expense of traditional Lands and Mineral functions encourage truly sustainable forestry, including production of “green” charcoal from such forests, with revenues used to support local communities, and (3) to ensure that energy considerations are integrated with food and farming policies.