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Sierra Leone’s Minister of Environment, Jiwoh Emmanuel Abdulai has on the 10th December 2023 showcased Sierra Leone’s natural assets as well as assuring investors for possible successful investment in the country.
The minister made this call at the ongoing COP28 in Dubai maintaining that the country is looking for partnerships that provide opportunities for knowledge sharing, technology transfer, technical assistance, and investment into the country’s natural assets.
“Nature has regulated the planet’s climate for centuries and we think leveraging nature’s technology must be part of the solution to addressing Climate Change. The Upper Guinea Forests which run through Sierra Leone are one of the planet’s major lungs. The mangroves along the west coast of the country are super-efficient at carbon sequestration. These terrestrial forests and wetlands have been providing carbon sequestration services to the world free of change for over a century,” he said.
Speaking on the 2016 Report by West African Biodiversity and Climate Change programme, he said they measured over 240,000 hectares of mangroves in Sierra Leone with estimated 25% (60,000) lost or degraded, adding that the figure may have increased recently.
He disclosed that a pilot programme carried out on few hectares in Sierra Leone showed that restoration could be achieved in areas considered severely degraded or lost with degraded areas automatically regenerating themselves if left undisturbed, adding that, the country has put mechanisms in place to restore at least 30,000 hectares of mangroves by 2030, while maintaining existing primary mangrove forests.
