SIERRA LEONE TIMBER BAN LIFTED "TEMPORARILY"

Yesterday in a surprise and unwelcome executive order President Bio announced a temporary lifting of the much-praised timber ban.

Announcing that that timber cut before the ban can be sold the temporary lift is for 893 containers of logged wood at Port and an estimated 13,000 containers of wood logged before the ban came into effect.

In a move which raised the Salone twitterati's collective eyebrow the contract wasn't tendered but awarded to Babadi Kamara of Leadway Trading Co..

And the question left hanging on everybodies lips is just how temporary is temporary?

Trees prevent soil erosian and absorb CO2 - one of the main causes of climate change - this matters because Sierra Leone is the third most vulnerable country in the world to climate change.

We renew our calls for:

1. no more exports until all such timber is certified sustainable and no longer comes from our ancient heritage woodlands and forests

2. a planned programme for forest community support to improve and diversify livelihoods

3. more ancient forests to be designated so that we can protect and enhance our natural capital and bio-diversity

#SierraLeone #environmentalaction #environment #Forests #deforestation #climatechange #climateaction #timber #timberban #SDGs #SDG13