By Saio Marrah
The Executive Director of Action Aid in Sierra Leone, Foday Bassie Swarray, has called on the international community to cancel Sierra Leone’s debts for the country to be able to invest in programmes that will enable it to adapt to the effect of climate change.
The Executive director of Action Aid International said this at the opening ceremony of the two day conference on climate change with various stakeholders that include international partners at the Family Kingdom Resort in Freetown on Thursday 10th November, 2022.
Swarray said that the debts will not enable the country to have a physical space to respond to disasters caused by climate change and that it will also be empowered to support the specific needs of women and girls.
He described Sierra Leone as one of the most vulnerable countries in terms of impact to climate change. For this he said they believe that a transparent and accountable debt relief and cancellation can provide the physical space for investment in programmes to be able to adapt to the effect of climate change.
He said high the level of debt repayment by countries like Sierra Leone are falling behind and that some may soon fall apart.
“I want to on behalf of all of us, call on all citizens, donor partners, civil society to join this global campaign and articulate the need for low income countries like Sierra Leone to benefit from debt relief and cancellation,” he said.
He talked about three key issues which he said were highlighted in studies they conducted on loss and damage, climate finance and agro ecology.
He spoke about coastal storms that are causing significant damage to the hills and natural environment through flooding and erosion.
He noted that for the last 15 years frequent intense and frequent storms as well as flash floods have affected more than 200 thousand people along the Freetown coastline and other coastal communities.
The study further indicated rise in sea level has caused significant damage to coastal properties, and inundated and intensified erosions and flooding as new areas become exposed to storms and among other things.
He said human population will also be affected by a reduced quantity and quality of fresh water if no action is taken.
He therefore called on the government to set up new financing facilities for loss and damages. He said that means climate impacted countries Sierra Leone can achieve much needed funds and weathered the consequences of the climate crisis.
The Development Director of the British High Commissioner to Sierra Leone, Emma Spicer, noted that the United Kingdom has pledged to triple its commitment to the fight against climate change from the COP26 in Glasgow last year, which she said amounted to 200 million US Dollars.
After calling on the Sierra Leone government to embark on green energy she said the British High Commission had already given mini grids to 98 communities in Sierra Leone.
She also called on the government of Sierra Leone to generate data to show the impact of climate change in the country. She said that will enable the country to benefit from the climate finance.
The United Nations’ Country Coordinator to Sierra Leone, Babatunde Ahonsi, said the world is on the highway to grave climate impacts.
The action point he said that will be at the on-going COP27 is to ensure Sierra Leone benefits from the summit as it is one of the most vulnerable countries to the impact of climate change and the least able to cope with it.
He said the climate fiance is for how Sierra Leone can be placed to adapt to the climate catastrophes. Sierra Leone like any other developing country he said is contributing less to the climate change, but yet feeling its huge effects.
As there is already money available at the African Development Bank for the climate finance, Ahonsi said there are processes which the country can fulfil so that it can benefit from the finance.
He also called on the government to preserve its own natural resources like the forests as Sierra Leone is rapidly losing its trees as compared to what is being planted.
By so doing he said Sierra Leone can convince the international partners that it has taken a bold step in the readiness and wilingess to the fight against climate change.
Ahonsi noted that it is pleasing to have seen some positive steps and commitments to Sierra Leone. He said COP27 will ensure lots of money on the table for climate finance.
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