Sierra Leone

The table above shows that Sierra Leone currently has 46 main forest reserves and conservation areas. The Biodiversity and Tropical Forest Assessment Report of 2007 by USAID indicates that most of the reserves are inadequately protected and managed. The report further states that the area within Sierra Leone dedicated as forest reserves is estimated at 284,591 ha, while areas additionally proposed as forest reserves cover 36,360 ha. Protected or community forests situated on chiefdom land but managed by the Forestry Division are estimated at 11,800 ha. The Biodiversity Strategic Action Plan (BSAP), 2003 also indicates an additional 300,000 hectares of wetland and marine ecosystem protected area which are mainly of the mangrove ecotypes. As a result, the total land area designated for some form of natural resource management or protection represents approximately 8 percent of the land area. Only two of the areas, Outamba Kilimi National Park (OKNP) and Tiwai Wildlife Sanctuary (TWS), have been elevated to the status of national park and wildlife sanctuary, and both fulfil the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) classification system. Other areas such as the Gola forests and the Loma Mountains, including Mount Bintumani have been proposed for conservation as national parks or game reserves.

In Sierra Leone, no reliable post-war estimates of population size and distribution of any endangered species exist. Protection of endangered species still appears only symbolic, with only limited circumstances in which management of the habitat appears to be restricting the hunting of endangered species. Fines and punishment associated with protecting endangered species are neither sufficient nor enforced throughout the country. As a result, most of the wildlife populations are likely to be significantly depleted outside of protected areas as a result of over-hunting and habitat destruction.

Nevertheless, records available, though outdated, show that Sierra Leone has 15 species of primates, 11 of which are forest species and 6 of which are threatened, according to the Biodiversity Action Plan. These include the western chimpanzee (Pantroglodytes verus), the black and white colobus monkey (Procolobus polykomus), red colobus monkey (Colobus badius polykomos), diana monkey (Cercopithecus diana), and olive colobus monkey.

Sierra Leone has 18 species of antelopes, nine of which are threatened. These include the jentincks (Cephalophus jentinki) and zebra duikers (Cephalophus zebra). Other threatened species of mammals include one species of forest elephant (Loxodonta africana cyclotis), which is believed to be almost extinct, West African manatee (Trichechus senegalensis), pygmy hippopotamus (Hexaprotodon liberiensis), leopard (Pantera pardus), an endemic frog (Bufo cristiglands) found in the Tingi Hills, and an endemic toad (Cardioglossus aureolli) found in the Western Area Peninsula Forest.

Relatively few endemic invertebrates are known to exist. They include two dragonfly species, Argiagrion leoninum and Allohizucha campioni, and the rare giant swallow-tail butterfly, Papilio antimachus, which reaches its western limit in Sierra Leone.

While the proportion of households with sustainable access to an improved water source increased from 47 percent (84% urban, 32% rural) (MICS3, 2005) to 59 percent in 2007 (UNHDR, 2007), it again decreased to 50 percent (86% urban, 26% rural) in 2008 (SLDHS, 2008). According to the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources, in order to meet the MDG targets, annual increments of about 3.0 percent and 3.9 percent of the population having access to improve water sources and sanitation respectively, are needed. The majority of Sierra Leonean households do not have access to improved sanitation and the situation continues to deteriorate (see Box 7.3). Between 2005 and 2008 the proportion of the population with improved sanitation decreased from 30 percent (MICS3, 2005) to 13 percent (24% urban, 6% rural) (SLDHS, 2008).

Sierra Leone’s urban centres (mainly in Freetown) are developing at an unprecedented rate, with corresponding increasing levels of urban dwellings, small-scale businesses and resulting pollution from sewage. As a result, improving sanitation is faced with the challenge of rapid urbanization coupled with inadequate infrastructure and services for solid waste disposal. In the urban and peri-urban areas, the mushrooming of spontaneous/unplanned settlements, accommodating a huge proportion of the city’s population (approximately 2-3 million), is compounding the problem associated with urban environmental management and planning. There is considerable urban degeneration due to poor housing facilities, poor coverage of water and sanitation as well as waste management for the poor.

Over the past years, the government, together with NGOs and other partners, has embarked on several projects to improve the living conditions in these areas. In order to address this problem adequately, reliable data is, however, needed. This can be handled through, for instance, establishing urban observatories to report on slum conditions.

To reverse the current trend of environmental degradation, the integration of the principles of sustainable development into the country’s policies and programmes becomes a priority. Specific areas that would need attention are access to safe water and sanitation, provision of decent and affordable housing, provision of alternative sources of energy to both rural and urban populations, waste management, reversing biodiversity loss and land degradation and minimizing air and water pollution.

The country has also endorsed and signed several international conventions and protocols including: Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification/Land Degradation (UNCCD), Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (the Ramsar Convention), The Cartagena Protocol on Biodiversity, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Basel Convention, Vienna Convention and Montreal Protocol, and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. These conventions and protocols are at different stages of implementation, but in general implementation is slow as many have not been ratified or harmonized with the laws, policies and programmes in Sierra Leone. As a result the country trails far behind in the implementation of the provisions of these conventions.

Major Challenges

In ensuring environmental sustainability, the major challenges include the following:

• Strengthening the newly created Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at both national and local levels to ensure effective implementation of the Environmental Protection Act (2008), as well as linking EPA with other legal instruments to make environmental protection and management effective in pursuit of sustainable national development.
• The challenge is to develop a comprehensive energy policy and strategy that address the country’s energy problems, more specifically, the provision of renewable energy for use in the rural areas.
• Environmental education and awareness raising campaigns have had little impact on environmentally friendly behaviour of citizens.

Supportive Environment

Sierra Leone’s participation at the 1992 Rio Conference on Environment and Development was a milestone in raising national awareness on the need to integrate environment and development. Follow-up summits, such as the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg resulted in the implementation of a plan of action for environmental sustainability. The creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (2008) provides the basis for designing effective national programmes for environmental protection and management. The recent enactment of the Environmental Protection Agency Act 2008 has also created a framework conducive to implementing programmes on the environment.

Government strategies to address the challenges in the sustainable utilization of forest ecosystems are embodied in the National Environmental Action Plan 1995, the Forestry Act of 1988, Wildlife Conservation Act 1990, the National Biodiversity Action Plan 2003, and the Environmental Protection Act 2000, 2008. All of these are aimed at conserving and sustaining the nation’s forest and wildlife resources. The provision of safe water and sanitation in deprived rural areas is a traditional area for donor support through NGOs and other development partners.

Current decentralization promises to create better service delivery, implementation and enforcement of signed international treaties, protocols, conventions and enacted laws. Government is also releasing land for low-cost housing in an effort to reduce the growth of slums.

Priorities for Development Assistance

Achievement of the MDG targets requires addressing the following:

• Capacity building of institutions involved in the coordination and implementation of these MEAs.
• Capacity building in data collection and analysis.
• Building capacities and awareness at local and national levels, including local government councils and other stakeholders, to implement environmentally sustainable practices and integrated ecosystem management practices.
• Provide support to develop a national water and sanitation strategy that targets the protection and conservation of water supplies across Sierra Leone.
• Investment in low-cost housing schemes and technologies.
• Encourage the use of energy-efficient technologies (for example, solar panels, biogas, biomass conversions).
• Addressing bio hot spots and the creation of full national parks in Gola and Loma.
  

Table 11: Achievement Acceleration Framework for Goal 7