Promoting tree planting to protect the environment
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in partnership with the Forestry Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security (MAFFS) on Monday, 5 June 2017 held tree planting events in four communities in Bo and Moyamba Districts.
The event marked the commemoration of World Environment Day, and is a key activity in the FAO led pilot implementation of the Sierra Leone Community Based Forestry (CBF) Concept. The CBF project aims to strengthen forest tenure rights in order to generate meaningful social, economic and environmental benefits from sustainable forest management. Furthermore, the implementation of the CBF Concept in Sierra Leone is expected to improve food security and strong community institutions which will go a long way in securing and increasing the forest resources and hence, enhancing the environmental services they provide.
The symbolic tree planting event took place at Gbaiima Songa, in Bo District, southern Sierra Leone. It garnered the participation of central and local authorities, development partners, community based organizations and the inhabitants in the beneficiary communities. A total of four thousand seedlings of fast growing Nitrogen trees are to be planted in Gbaiima Songa, in Bo district, and Baoma, Pambela, and Domboma communities in the Dasse Chiefdom, Moyamba District.
The Chairman of Bo District Council, Joseph Munda Bindi described the event as a moment of reflection on the impacts of human activities towards the environment and the necessary actions that need to be taken to minimise the negative impacts.
“Our daily activities are responsible for climate change. Therefore, we all have the responsibility to fix the problems that we have caused to the environment”, he encouraged.
He recounted that there used to be varieties of animal species, including Elephant and Baboon in the Bo District, but most of them can no longer be found in the communities because of deforestation. He pledged to work with the communities to institute bye-laws that minimise deforestation.
The District Agriculture Officer of Bo, Rashid Harun Kamara lamented that deforestation has contributed greatly to low agricultural yield in recent times. He advised the farmers to divert their activities to the inland valley swamps instead of upland farming.
The Natural Resource Management Officer of FAO, Christian Schulze informed the gathering that the CBF Concept originated from the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT), and that the project aims at ensuring local control and management of forest resources.
Schulze recalled that, in one of the project’s community mobilization meetings in the Dasse Chiefdom, the community people clearly outlined the many benefits, including food, water, medicine and furniture that they get from their forest, but also, acknowledged the degradation of the forests by fire outbreak, floods, storm and other disasters caused as a result of human actions.
He congratulated the communities for providing meaningful leadership and willingness in offering their tropical forests for inclusion in the CBF pilot.
The Paramount Chief of Gbo Chiefdom, Ruth Fawundu Songa IV expressed gratitude to FAO and MAFFS for taking the initiative to protect their community forests, and disclosed that it was an action that the chiefdom authorities have long been yearning for because of the adverse effects that deforestation has caused to them.
She expressed the willingness of her chiefdom to participate in the CBF pilot, and disclosed that they have set a committee to stop charcoal burning, which is a major problem for the chiefdom.
Several stakeholders, including the Environment Protection Agency, lamented on the climate impacts on the communities, and recommended for urgent actions to be taken to prevent the occurrence of severe disaster.
Sierra Leone was originally a forested country with over 60 per cent of its land covered by closed high forest or moist evergreen and semi-deciduous types. However, less than 10 per cent of the original primary forest cover remains today, as a result of deforestation attributed to the shifting cultivation practiced by more than 75 per cent of the country’s population, growing populations and shortening fallows.
The tree planting event was simultaneously done in the four communities.
Contact:
Keifa Jaward
Communication Consultant, FAO Sierra Leone