TIMBER BAN TO SAVE OUR ANCIENT FORESTS & PROTECTED AREAS
Yesterday in a surprise and welcome executive order President Bio announced a complete ban on timber with immediate effect.
Commercial logging of our ancient forests 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 welcome this ban, causing so much distress to our forests and forest communities and call for:
no more exports until all such timber is certified sustainable and no longer comes from our ancient heritage forests
a planned programme for support forest communities to improve and diversify livelihoods
more ancient forests to be designated so that we can protect and enhance our natural capital and bio-diversity
strict enforcement action against any 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
This is the new administrations second major environmental initiative announced and we give full credit for giving climate and environmental action a significant priority.
