By Yusif Moiguah
Timber logging and trading in Sierra Leone is moving at its devastating peak ever with little or no impact on the country’s local economy but individual gains.
It is eating deeply into the country’s rich rain forests and natural habitats, preparing smooth paths for emerging artificial deserts, altogether and at the same time destroying wild lives from their normal surroundings.
Farmers in timber logging communities are not too happy about the activities as lamented by Sorie Kumara at Mongoh, the district headquarter town of Falaba district;
“We can hardly get productive planting seasons due to unexpected shifts in our farming calendars caused by deforestation, weather and most times unnoticed climate change problems that are now affecting our farm lands due to timber logging and trading.
Most times we receive late unexpectedly rains which adversely affect out plants.”
Koinadugu and Falaba are popularly known in Sierra Leone and beyond for their agricultural productivity but deforestation ignited by timber logging is having devastating trends on farming communities across Sierra Leone,the new commercial activities though sounds viable yet is destroying the natural forests for timber.
Like Kumara, Foday Marrah said on our way to the new district that the logging of timber is also destroying the natural environment of communities within Koinadugu and Falaba districts.
They recounted that what used to be the most freezing place during Harmattans is now in hot temperatures than one could always imagine.
This according to Marrah is also drastically reducing the inflow of tourists to the districts. Marrah blamed extreme poverty on the exploitative trade in the two districts.
This according to him is not in any way returning benefits to the people of the northern districts of Koinadugu and Falaba as export returns are noting to talk about in terms of community development for the collective gains for the people.
The multimillion million dollar timber trade is flourishing all over Sierra Leone but with adverse climate, environmental and economic effects everywhere – north, east and south of the country, with no exceptions to the already badly deforested western area.
A region that is presently experiencing the worst environmental and climate problems following recent flash flood and mudslide on August 14th 2017, leaving thousands of deaths, yet deforestation continues unchecked and unregulated all for want of money under the watchful of the government’s line ministry of Forestry Agriculture and Food Security.
A fully loaded twenty feet container of unfinished timber logs when taken to the Queen Elizabeth the II Quay, in down town Freetown for exports to the People’s Republic of China and elsewhere in South East Asia costs over USD 10,000.00 whiles the forty feet container is sold for well over 15,000.00 USD sadly though with no impact on the local economy, nor does it create any sustainable jobs for communities of harvests.
Timber logging is the most lucrative business and viable source of income not only for its desperate traders and exporters but also for the government apart from mining but it is hardly impacting on the national economy-‘bread and butter,’ matters because returns from the environmentally unfriendly timber business goes into the pockets of private individuals closed to the seat of powers and local chiefs.
It does not generally affect the people but individual loggers and exporters who are fully involved in the new environmentally exploitative trade that is deforesting the rich rain forests of Sierra Leone.
Timber harvesting communities continue to die of abject poverty mostly going without pure drinking water, community health facility, school less one talk of good road networks and even rural electrification.
The timber trade has the tendencies of turning Sierra Leone’s dense forests into complete artificial desserts under the watchful eyes of the Environmental Protection Agency, regional, districts and chiefdom authorities.
As if they are all not concern about the negative climate and environmental effects on communities and the country as a whole.
Largely unregulated everywhere across the board, logging and trading of timber is a much talked about topical commercial activity in Sierra Leone.
Government agencies and paid up civil society organizations keep paying lip service to the issue of the destructive trade.
Apart from Koinadugu and Falaba districts the timber is adversely affecting environmental and weather conditions in the northern parts of Sierra Leone.It has left what used to be call large forest reserves to mere manmade deserts, causing damages to farmlands which people in the hinterlands are largely depends on for their general livelihoods sustenance.
As for continuous damning effects on farmlands, the temperature is no longer colder as it used to be. It is now warmer in Kabala and it surrounding towns including Falaba district where timber logging is taking place, earning farmers their equal shares of bad climate and environmental effects being imposed on the people and their communities by the new commercial activities in Sierra Leone.
Farmers who spoke to this medium in random interviews expressed their dissatisfactions over the unregulated spate at which timber logging is affecting their works almost every farming season of the year.
At dirty dusty Sinkunia Dembelia, Falaba district the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) had long cancelled a over 25 kilometres feeder ring road construction project approved by the last All People’s Congress (APC).
The road has been recently graded to win votes from the new district in fulfillment of campaign promises for local council elections which was forcefully won by the SLPP.
A fish trader in Sinkunia name withheld said “We are tired of deforestation caused by massive timber logging and the only returns being derived from the trade are chiefdom dues secretly paid to chiefs, forestry dues and funds being to government.
All of this she continued have no benefits to the various chiefdoms where logging is depleting natural forests for want of money by government and local authorities.
Beside formerly densely forested northern Koinadugu, Falaba, Bombali, Karene, Kambia, Tonkolili, Kenema, Kono Bo, Pujehun, Kaialahun, Moyamba also in the south and eastern regions are as well rapidly turning into artificial deserts due to logging and exports of timber for thousands of US Dollars.
These activities are all aided by government through local chiefs who regularly receive dues.
Diamond rich Kono and Kenema are also no exceptions of timber logging with farming activities largely affected.
The eastern region was also known for its productivity in food crops and lucrative farming activities which are dying rapidly due to the timber trade also transforming the densely forested region into deserts. Farmer after the other in the eastern region share similar expediencies like those up north.
Officials of the Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Food Security and the EPA could not be reach for their comment on the issue.