The previous President, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, shifted responsibility for environment and forestry from the Ministries of Lands and Agriculture, respectively, to the newly created National Commission of Environment and Forestry (NaCEF). Many believed this decision was taken because these two Ministries - and related governmental agencies - were ineffective in stopping widespread logging operations. Over the past few years there have been rumours of corruption within these Ministries [1].

However, in a recent speech, Sierra Leone’s new President Koroma linked environment and forestry with their old ministries, which have taken this as a cue to reclaim these portfolios, together with NaCEF’s US$6 million of international funding [2].

It is critical that an urgent decision on the future of NaCEF is made given the recent upsurge in illegal logging, much of which is reported to have been carried out by Chinese loggers. The situation has become so severe that earlier this month the government banned timber exports amidst fears that environmental degradation may force forest-dependent communities to move from their land. A coherent and effective government response is unlikely until this decision has been reached.

“The Appraisal Mission for a Global Environment Facility (GEF) project to improve biodiversity management on 5 Protected Areas (PAs), and raise two of these PAs to the level of National Parks has been postponed four times in the last couple of months because the World Bank says the current institutional arrangements do not make it clear who is the counterpart institution in-country. Other projects under negotiation are also being held in abeyance on similar grounds. We risk jeopardizing benefits intended for the country as a whole,” said Chris Squire, Executive Commissioner, NaCEF. Global Witness tried to speak to Joseph Sesay, Minster of Agriculture, Forestry & Food Security but he was unavailable.

“It’s good that the government of Sierra Leone has banned timber exports, but the critical thing is to stop the illegal logging taking place at all,” said Patrick Alley Director of Global Witness [3]. “On top of that, it is critical that President Koroma clarifies which arm of his government is responsible for forests and environment, and gets them to act quickly to bring the illegal logging under control.”

Sierra Leone’s environment has been devastated by years of war. Forest communities in the north-west, dependent on the forests for their livelihoods, complain that Chinese loggers are logging out valuable timber and destroying the forests ecological services. Meanwhile, Freetown suffers water shortages because the forests that act as a water catchment are being felled for development.

“Sierra Leone has a mountain to climb in terms of reconstruction and undoubtedly lacks money and capacity; it is critical that the Government focuses its efforts on controlling illegal logging rather allowing different departments to scramble for power and funding,” said Patrick Alley.