By Alpha Abu
Minister of the Environment, Professor Foday Moriba Jaward, has expressed concerns about the problem facing the fishing island of Yeliboya in the Kambia District, which experts say is dangerously eroding and sinking.
He was addressing journalists at the government press briefing in Freetown when he also disclosed that there were plans by the disaster management agencies, the Environmental Protection Agency and Office of National Security, to eventually relocate the island’s 2,000 inhabitants, whom he said had already indicated willingness to be moved elsewhere.
He further stated that six Acts, dealing with environmental enforcement, have gone through cabinet and five of them had already been scrutinised by the Attorney General’s office and gazetted for onward presentation to Parliament for ratification.
Prof. Jaward explained how the Wildlife Act of 1972 made provisions for the handing out of very derisory fines against offenders of regulations committed in forest reserves, and highlighted that they had decided to come up with new legislations that would hand down stiffer penalties, commensurate to the crime committed.
He said he saw the establishment of a separate ministry to address matters related to the environment as a result of the premium President Julius Maada Bio had placed on the growing number environmental issues like flooding, global warming and sporadic rainfall.
The minister made reference to the Ministry’s successful hosting of this year’s Wangari Maathai and African Environment Day, which he claimed was “dubbed the best ever”. Over 50 delegates from various countries attended the event in Freetown and the minister pointed out that it gave a favourable picture of Sierra Leone, with a stand-alone ministry of environment as well as portrayed the country’s full involvement in the fight against environmental degradation.
He explained that he recently submitted a Resettlement Policy document, the first-ever to be introduced in West Africa, that had already been approved by cabinet and now awaiting parliamentary scrutiny and approval. He, however, stated that such resettlement arrangements could be done only for development projects like solar energy, agriculture or mining and not for natural disasters. A draft National Plastic Policy and another policy on sand mining had also been submitted, he added.
He mentioned some of the reforestation initiatives being undertaken in recent times, including the planting of 1.1 million trees last year after a national tree planting project was launched in June 2020 and planting actually commencing in August of the same year.
He said there were plans to continue this year with 1.5 million trees, targeting 5 million trees to be planted nationwide by 2023, adding that the actions of some persons, who were said to have set fires to some of those trees in two areas in the country, were unfortunate. He assured that they would be working with other ministries to support proper handling of the environment, citing their engagement with the Ministry of Tourism as a case in point.
Copyright © 2021 Politico Online (19/03/21)
