Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr OBE: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 19 April 2021:
The destruction of our mangroves is happening rapidly. This video below was taken just behind the Cockerill Fence, off Wilkinson Road. I was sent the video by a member of the community today.
According to the man cutting down the mangrove, he was given permission to do so by the NPAA Forest Guards.
This is a common story along the Aberdeen Creek coastline where the mangroves are disappearing faster than we can replant them.
This environmental destruction must stop!!! Our city is being negatively impacted by the deforestation of our hills and the destruction of our mangroves.
I continue to call on NPAA, EPA, the Ministry of the Environment, and the Ministry of Lands to protect our forests and our mangroves.
The forests and mangroves protect us from floods, landslides, water shortages and extreme heat!! We need them!
#StopDeforestation
#FreetownTheTreeTown
The destruction of our pristine, rainforests is not only limited to the mangroves around Freetown and the areas surrounding it, but the whole country’s rainforest.You just have to drive North from Waterloo to the rest of the country, North , South , East and West to firmly come to the conclusion that our country is slowly but surely sleep walking towards an environmental disaster.In recent years we’ve seen and witness the effects of climate change in the country.The recent flash flooding around Freetown and Falaba district home to one of the highest mountains in the country,shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.The more we cut down our trees, the more we expose our soil to erosion.Its like you are removing your roof cover that protects you and your family from the elements and except to be shielded from the harsh realities of mother nature .
Not long ago the Bio government and her lordship Mayor Akin Swayer , who by the way is the internationally certified spokes person for the Southern Hemisphere on environmental issues , was taking part in the worlds COP26 climate change conference held in Glasgow, Scotland.Now unless we are missing something , Boi’s government promised the world that hence fort fighting climate change and the causes of climate change is going to be top of his priority. That promise is increasingly becoming a distance pipe dream full of eye catching headlines but nothing to show for it. Instead of working with the mayor and provide her with the necessary funding needed to tackle the environmental disaster and the impact of climate change around the Freetown peninsula, the president and his cronies are engaged and are indeed, encouraging their surrogates and no hopers within the city council to block the efforts the Mayor and her team are trying to do to make the city of Freetown safe from the environmental impact of climate change.
Yes the Mayor is responsible for the vast majority of the things that happens around Freetown because she is answerable to her people that placed their trust in her to deliver for them .But she can only do so much with her hands tied behind her back .Depriving her of the necessary funding and unleashing the ACC on her for political brinkmanship, is not the best way to address the issues facing the greatest capital city in the world Freetown .
It is about time this destruction/cutting down of trees must stop. Mayor of Freetown you’ve got all the powers in your position to stop the destruction of our greens/trees. Act now and take action on these people before it is too late we help combat climate change and stop pointing finger on other departments of government. Your Mayor-ship of Freetown is to protect, defend, beautify and develop the city of our beloved Sierra Leone. Less talk and more action needed to fight against cutting down of trees. From satellite area view of Freetown which the is on the internet, Freetown is becoming a semi desert. I would therefor like to initiate to the Mayor of Freetown as to how to help fight against cutting down of trees in the city and make Freetown green again. Firstly, any new building construction site must seek permission first from the FCC to allow them to cut down trees in any newly building sites. This will give the FCC power to instruct which trees they can cut down in accordance to the building plan. And if the FCC instructions are not carried by the land owner, huge penalty should be levied on the land owner. Secondly, the FCC must conduct house to house inspection in order to introduce trees planting in every compound within Freetown and failure to comply, must lead to a fine and a forcefully planted tree by FCC in their compounds. And finally, the deforestation of the hills in Freetown must be monitored also by the FCC. Prison sentence must be the punishment of any one caught doing such act. May God bless Sierra Leone.