By Prince J Musa in Kenema
Conservation Society of Sierra Leone has on the 5th June 2021 joined the Ministry of Environment and environmental protection Agency to commemorate World Environment Day with the theme ‘’Ecosystem Restoration, resetting our relationship with nature’’. The event took place at Chinese farm Abu road in Kenema.
The chairperson of the event who is also the district director of Agriculture Kenema, Philip Gannah Conteh, said the commemoration of the day was to have a reflection on the various human activities that have destroyed the ecosystem which in turn affects humanity.
He said the environmental destruction has caused poor agricultural productivity on food production and if not controlled will lead to food shortage and will cause famine in the society. “People should stop applying chemicals to the soil as the soil have become acidic” he said.
Conteh told the gathering that it is because of too many human activities that most of the streams and rivers that provide water for the communities become dry during the dry season. He therefore advised the stakeholders to support the government in the enforcement of the law that will protect nature.
In his statement, the project Coordinator, Conservation Society of Sierra Leone, Emurana Kemoh Sowa, described the World Environment Day to be a reflection for humans for the atrocity caused on the environment.
He said without the creation of environment, no life would have existed on planet earth and noted it’s the responsibility of all to see environmental protection as the most appropriate means to allow decent lives to go on, adding that, it is against this backdrop that the Gola Rainforest guarantees its collaboration with the Conservation Society of Sierra Leone to ensure the protection and conservation of nature.
Sowa added that the theme for this year's commemoration was to caution men to think wisely in making sure that the environment is being used in a friendly manner without posing major damages. He said it is on that note that they are now engaging school-going children on environmental protection education.
In his statement, the Executive chairman Environmental Protection Agency Dr. Bondi Gevao said environmental problem is now a global concern that is affecting everybody but said for the Sierra Leonean context, those who know about the negative effects of environmental crisis pretend not to know about the law.
He stated that it is now a fight between nature and human beings due to massive destruction on the environment such as charcoal burning, setting of wildfire which contribute greatly to damage of the environment and that EPA as an agency is taking the lead to mitigate some of the contributing factors that threaten the environment.
Dr. Gevao told the audience that the coming of EPA in Kenema was no mistake having considered the massive environmental degradation within the Kambui hill forest.
“Human activities in the Kambui forest have put Kenema under serious environmental threat for any future disaster,’’ he said.
He added that sand mining, irresponsible logging and gold mining within the forest reserved are some of the activities that are putting the environment at risk and referred to those in the habit of building in the wetland as enemies to the environment and therefore warned all that EPA will continue to take defaulters to court for breaking the law.
Dr. Gevao said that human actions on the environment have caused some of the species to go into extinction which the future generations will only read about but could not see physically. As a means to help tackle some of the environmental challenges, he stated that the government has thought it wise to embark on massive tree planting in the country in order to reclaim the lost vegetation and called on all to take environmental issues as everyone’s business.
in his keynote address, the Resident Minister East, Andrew Ansu Fatorma said the protection of environment means protecting the generation yet unborn and therefore children especially school-going pupils should be permitted to express their views with regards to environmental protection.
He stated that, some of the development partners that are providing funds for organizations such as, Gola Forest, Conservation Society among others are doing that because those countries have destroyed their own environment. The Minister appealed to all citizens and development partners to take tree planting seriously and to stop other activities that are not good for the environment in order to save lives on earth.
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