By Musa Paul Feika
Over the years, Orange Sierra Leone (OSL), the leading telecommunications company in Sierra Leone, has taken significant steps towards climate change and environmental impact.
Very recently, Orange SL has taken another important step by launching a project called Paragraph with 20 per cent impact on the environment and hopefully this year and next year, it will increase it to 25 per cent according to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Sekou Amadou Bah.
On Monday, 27th May, 2024 Orange SL in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change in Sierra Leone celebrated this year’s Environment Day.
The celebration, which started on Monday, 27th May, will end on 31st May 2024 on the theme: “The earth is all we have, let’s go green”.
The event took place at the Orange SL Headquarters at Hill Station in Freetown.
During the ceremony, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sekou Amadou Bah said the day is a day celebrated around the globe when people come together to renew their commitment and put forward potential plans to mitigate environmental and climate change impact, disclosing that when people protect the environment they protect themselves.
The forest, CEO Bah said, is a natural habitat, but said that deforestation is destroying our environment and assured that the environmental challenges we are faced with as society is due to the negative effects of human interference.
He asserted that this interference is presently at more than 9 per cent, adding that over the years, they made an impact on climate change and the environment, noting that quite recently, they launched a project called Paragraph, for which they have achieved 20 per cent impact, assuring that this year and next year they will increase their impact to 25 per cent.
He said over the years, they have cut down and fixed renewable energy through solar panels at their various sites.
“Our group target is on zero target. We have put in place environmental plans; our commitment is highlighted by our Chief Climate Officer,” he asserted.
Achieving the commitment, Mr Bah said all and sundry must work together towards it.
“Last week, we launched Engagement Change Factor and I therefore encourage everyone in changing the environment,” Orange SL CEO encouraged.
He noted that Sierra Leone will lead by example as the future of the planet is our hands.
The Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Jiwoh Abdulai, thanked the Orange SL CEO and the entire management for supporting the government of Sierra Leone in this direction.
Minister Abdulai made reference to the 2017 natural disaster which he said was due to human activities on earth.
Human activities like farming and deforestation around the Guma Dam, the Honourable Minister said, is affecting the structure of the dam and assured that if it continues in the next (10) ten years, there will be no water in Freetown.
Orange SL wholesale and Roaming Director Edward Sesay said people are destroying the environment for selfish motives.
Mr Sesay defined air pollution as contamination of the indoor or outdoor environment by any chemical, physical or biological agent that modifies the natural characteristics of the atmosphere.
He referred to household combustion devices, motor vehicles, industrial facilities and forest fire as common sources of air pollution. He also cited outdoor and indoor pollution that affects the environment.
He referred to tobacco smoking, burning mosquito coil among others as indoor pollution, which he said is dangerous pollution.
In her vote of thanks, Mabel from Orange SL thanked the gathering and encouraged all Sierra Leoneans to protect the environment.