By Ralph Sesay
The New Minister of Environment, Professor Foday Moribah Jaward has told newsmen that a committee has been established at the Office of the Vice President, Dr Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh to help address the prevalent issue of deforestation in water catchment areas in the country.
The Environment Minister noted that the committee was established after the Vice President had received reports that the country’s water catchment areas especially those in Freetown are increasingly depleted due to human activities in the peninsular areas.
He recounted that various Ministries and Agencies including the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Office of National Security, the Sierra Leone Police and the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces amongst a host of others are members of the Presidential sub-committee.
Professor Jaward further disclosed that these various Ministries, Departments and Agencies have been constituted into various committees.
One of the committees according to him has been tasked with identifying areas for policing greenbelt, water catchments and protected areas in the Freetown Peninsula forest.
The second committee, he went on will engage in Community Engagement on logging ,bushfires ,farming ,charcoal burning, cutting of sticks ,planting of marijuana ,sand mining etc while the third will be responsible for designing a public relations strategy to increase education and awareness raising on deforestation.
Sierra Leone’s national forest reserves and protected areas are increasingly coming under threat from illegal poachers and foreign nationals.
The Otamba Kilimi National Park,the Kambui Hills, the Tiwai resort and the rich gold deposits in lake sonfon in the North of the country are seriously raped of their rich natural resources by foreigners especially Guineans.
The country has failed to protect its wild life even though it remains a strong potential for raising the much needed foreign exchange earnings.
With the creation of a new Ministry exclusively for the environment it is expected that the country move towards harnessing its rich forest and natural resource potentials for the benefits of its people