As part of their set up activities to raise awareness on climate change, land degradation, Action for All Sierra Leone Organization has launched massive campaign on Environmental awareness.

Speaking during community engagement at Regent, Village in the Western Rural District, the Executive Director of AFA SL Desmond Oswy Scott said that the increase in stone mining and pollution has led to environmental degradation, and called for environmental awareness as a tool to protect the environment. He said the environmental awareness campaign program aims at creating awareness amongst the general public and different segments in the society to minimize and control environmental pollution, adding that Action for All Sierra Leone (AFA) is commemorating the innocent lives lost on the August 14th mudslide.

He admonished the people to stop the deforestation and embark on afforestation so that the climate would be suitable for us all.

The head woman of Regent community Rev. Elenorah Jokomie Metzger said our country currently is facing the most critical environmental issues in human history. She said the people of Regent Community are seriously engaging on stone mining business, she blames the ministry’ of environment for not doing needful to stop people from such activities.

Mohamed Osman Bangura said that a child’s development is influenced by a wide range of factors that are governed by both nature and nurture, he said understanding these factors can help parents to address their children’s needs.

‘’The environment your child, my child and everybody’s child grow up in, attention, affection and overall, the food they eat can be a major influence on their lives. Behavioral influences like the child’s emotions, beliefs, attitudes, behavior and thinking abilities can affect health outcomes. Environmental influences are wide-ranging and include infectious agents, toxins, lead and air pollution, and social factors such as loving interactions with caregivers, socioeconomic resources in the family and community, peer relationships, segregation, culture, the availability and quality of services, and policies that directly or indirectly affect these other interactive influences.

 

 

I want us all to know that Climate change is a direct threat to children’s ability to grow, survive and succeed. Dangerous weather events like cyclones (tornados) impend their lives and destroy infrastructure are grave to their well-being. Lack of water and poor sanitation facilities, will lead to outbreaks such as cholera, diarrhea etc. to which children are predominantly vulnerable. Drought leads to crop failures and rising prices of foodstuff create food insecurity and nutritional deprivations for the poor man that can have lifelong impacts.

Children are often involved in the processes of plastic and cups recycling, exposing them to toxic chemicals like lead, cadmium, mercury and dioxins and carbon monoxide, all these chemicals can produce adverse impacts on the health of the children. The home environment can even affect a child’s brain development, risk factor is statistically associated with children who grow up poor are more likely to drop out of school than other children. Thus, poverty is a risk factor for school dropout. The disposal of waste on the environment has created social impact on the health of our children, for example, Bomeh dumping site at Kingtom, Bai Bureh Road, Waterloo town etc. cause discomfort for children living in the surroundings’’

The Deputy Director of Land Housing and Planning Mohamed Jalloh, said they have set up regulations that will tackle and guide human activities on the environment, adding that the magnitude of land degradation, deforestation and thought of people can be extremely overwhelming. He admonished people not to feel helpless but knowing where to begin.

The CEO of YARDOSL, Ahmid C Jalloh said the community people need to abide by all environmental policy and work with the government and different organization, making small steps and adjustments in their daily routine this he said will give them a sense of success and yearning to do more.

He said that people need to be educated on environmental protection, adding that though some people are still not ready to be educate thinking that they are older, the government and the environmental agency should not get tired to stop to monitor the activities of people on our environment. He said deforestation education should be made available to them at any time and makes it a primary motive to protect our Land.

UNESCO representative Winston Jalloh said that human and the environment interact diversely. He said human depend on the trees to breath fresh air that’s not polluted, whilst trees also need human to grow well.

“Let us all integrate and work towards the betterment of our beautiful country, Mama Salone by recycling or maintaining waste in the country because those waste plastic can take up to a thousand years before biodegrade and I am afraid for us and the fishes in the water, there is a food chain connection between us and them. It is unsafe for the environment to be polluted”, he said.