SAVE SIERRA LEONE'S ANCIENT FORESTS ON WORLD FOREST DAY
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Today, on International Day of the Forest and with our Presidential run-off due in a weeks time we renew our call for all parties and candidates to protect our forests.
Commercial logging of our ancient forests scars out beautiful coastline and interior and seriously undermines our desire to be a destination of choice for tourists and eco-tourism and it destroys forest communities livelihoods.
Deforestation also makes climate change worse because trees absorb CO2 one of the main causes of climate change - this matters to us because Sierra Leone is the third most vulnerable country in the world to climate change. It matters to us because trees are also the things that help hold our mountains together and we saw, in last August's mudslide, the tragic effects of deforestation.
We first made a call for action at our seminar February 4th and here we renew our calls for:
a ban on commercial logging
a planned programme to support forest communities and improve and diversify livelihoods
more ancient forests to be designated so that we can protect and enhance our nations natural capital and rich bio-diversity
strict enforcement action against all concrete properties built in protected forest areas, seeking to demolish them and rewild the area with consideration of an alternative annual property super tax for such properties not demolished, earmarked to forest protection and forest communities support.
