The European Union and the Food and Agriculture Organization have signed an agreement for the implementation of a project titled: Support to Sustainable Forestry in Sierra Leone
The project, designed in collaboration with the Forestry Department in the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, has a duration of 3 years and a total budget of 2.9 million Euro.
The project will increase Sierra Leone’s capacity to protect its environment and biodiversity and promote a sustainable use of the country’s forest resources.
The specific objective of the project is to establish a National Forest Inventory as the basis for a wider National Forest Monitoring and Sustainable Management System, which will provide regular and updated information on the status of Sierra Leone’s forests. In parallel, the Ministry of Environment will receive technical assistance to update and implement the relevant legal and regulatory framework. This will help to halt deforestation and promote the conservation and restoration of key forest areas and biodiversity spots of the country.
The project will also build capacities for the preparation of Sierra Leone´s Forest Reference Levels, which serve to determine the amount of carbon sequestered by forests and the potential for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. This will allow Sierra Leone to comply with international climate finance requirements, such as the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) scheme, and attract funding from voluntary carbon credit markets.
Project Title
`Support to Sustainable Forestry in Sierra Leone
Implementation Period
2023-2026
Project Aim
The aims is to overcome the obstacles that have hampered the effective sustainable forest management and land cover monitoring in Sierra Leone.
Project Outcome
- The Government of Sierra Leone has the data, methodologies and capacities to measure, report and verify its forest resources and land use changes at the national, sub-national, and protected area levels
- The Government of Sierra Leone has the data and capacities to strengthen sustainable forest management, improve the governance of the economic sectors linked to the use of natural resources, and access international climate finance
Deliverables
- Reliable forest resource information covering a whole country to include computation of forestry statistics;
- Assess forest areas, growing stock volumes, changes in biodiversity status, land use, carbon stock, and ecosystem services;
- Generate scientific data and information with the primary goal to guide and support decision processes in forest-related policies;
- Monitor the sustainability of forest management and forest policies on a national and subnational level; and
- Enter into various international reporting processes, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.
