S Leone: Communities realizing deforestation hazards

  1. Posted on Friday 11 March 2011 - 10:00
    Harold
    Image of Harold
    Harold Williams, AfricaNews reporter in Freetown, Sierra Leone
    Satellite pictures from Sierra Leone reveal that in just the past seven years there has been a housing incursion into half of the Waterloo extension of the Western Area Peninsula. In a major project to prevent further damage to the forest, the communities around the forest have been divided into clusters for training and information on conservation.
    EFA Sierra Leone 2.jpg
    Waterloo and the surrounding communities of Macdonald, Kerry Town, Russell and During Town have placed an emphasis on woodlot management in the latest session of training for Community Forest management, sponsored by the WAPFOR Project.

    Residents of the outlying areas were particularly positive about moves to demarcate the peninsula forest. Macdonald Headman Jessie Grant told Africanews.com that their community experiences annual water shortages due to deforestation.

    Many community representatives confirmed the lack of water. Assistant headman of Russell, Charlie Mustapha Sabra said they resorted to the construction of a dam, but this has not solved the problem. Abu Silla Bangura from Kerry Town said their only water comes from the streams out of the forest and appealed for assistance with agriculture in the face of a water crisis.

    Apart from realizing that water shortage is an outcome of deforestation, the participants in the training identified woodlots as an alternative to charcoal burning and fire wood collection. They also asked for assistance in nursery establishment and the establishment of a framework for harvesting fuel wood.

    In the long term, this assistance will be expected from government, particularly the forestry division. In the immediate future, government is being assisted with EU funding and cooperation from civil society and NGO’s.

    The name of this initiative, the WAPFOR project, is aiming to preserve the forest and thus improve the supply of water coming to the settlements around the peninsula.

    Senior Forester Augustine Bogba told AfricaNews that apart from woodlots, the project was appraising the introduction of skills training, bee keeping, modern fish processing and vegetable gardening as other ways to reduce dependency on the forest reserve as a source of income.

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