Ministry Of The Environment & Climate Change

10/09/2025

Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change Engages Stakeholders on Review of Legislations for protection and preservation of Sierra Leone's Natural Resources.

Comm Unit/MoECC

The Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change has on the 9th September, 2025, held a One Day Regional Consultative Meeting with Stakeholders including Paramount Chiefs, ONS, RSLAF, SLP, Members of Parliament, Local Councils, Civil Society Oraganizations amongst others from Bo, Bonthe, Moyamba Pujehun, Kenema and Kailahun District to review the 1988 Forestry Act and the 1972 Wildlife Conservation Act at the Galliness Paradise in Bo City.

The Parmanent Secretary, Elizabeth Hawa Ellie gave the purpose of the engagement noting that the existing legislations have become absolute. She acknowleded that the review process is for community ownership, and further emphasized for payment of all ecosystem services and infrastructures to be reflective in the legislations so that land owning families, communities and government could benefit.

The Parmanent Secretary, noted that carbon credit is a beneficial conerstone from the forest. She entreated stakeholders
to come up with ideas which could maintain the country's natural resources through a benefit sharing mechanism. She affirmed that there are lots of emmerging issues which required review of these legislations, and also considered how best to preserve the forest resources.

FAO Country Representative, Saeed Abubakarr Bancie, acknowledged 's monetary support and steadfast partnership for making this initiative possible. He also took cognizance of 's vital steps towards addressing key emmerging issues in strengthen the governance framework for the protection and sustainable management of Sierra Leone's natural resources for the current and subsequent generation.

The FAO Rep. stated that the legislative review directly contribute to pillar One of the (UNSDF) which considered food systems, natural resources management, and climate change.

The National Consultant, Lawyer R.S.V. Wright reiterated that the laws delegate more powers to government with little or no benefit to communities. He noted that the laws have become absolute which require consultations with government institutions, donor partners and most significantly, with community stakeholders. He underscored the relevance of the review process, noting that the review of these legislations is to solicit the views, opinions and grievances from the Paramount Chiefs and how community people could benefit from the forest resources.

The Chairman of Oversight Committee on Environment and Climate Change in Parliament, Hon. Yusuf Mackrey considered the review process with stakeholders as a lesser burden on Parliament that would subsequently carry out the necessary enactment process on the legislations. He pinpointed at one core mandate of the Ministry which is to have a law that befits its current status as it supervises several Agencies notably, EPA-SL, Sierra Leone Meteorological Agency, NPAA, Nuclear Safety and Radiation Authority. "The participation of MPs and PCMPs on reviewing these legislations is in fulfillment of the law making process as mandated by Parliament that enacts laws", he affirmed.

Delivering the keynote statement, the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Jiwoh Emmanuel Abdulai observed that chieftaincy is deeply embedded in the country’s cultural and governance framework. Sequel to this, he acknowledged the roles of Paramount Chiefs and other traditional authorities as crucial in supporting the governance framework on the environment and climate change. "Your knowledge and experience are critical to guide the review process to have an updated law that will serve us for the next 50 years", he stated.

09/09/2025

09/09/2025

Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change on Regional Consultative Meeting with Stakeholders from Bo, Bonthe Moyamba, Pujehun, Kenema and Kailahun District on Review of the 1988 Forestry Act & the 1972 Wildlife Conservation Act, at the Galliness Paradise in Bo City.

08/09/2025

Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change Hosts Stakeholders Engagement on the National F𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 I𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 in Bo, 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐑egion

Comm Unit/MoECC

The Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change has engaged Stakeholders including Paramount Chiefs, , , ONS, RSLAF, SLP, Members of Parliament Local Councils, amongst others from Bo, Bonthe, Moyamba Pujehun, on Stakeholders engagement on the National Forest Inventory-SL (NFI) at the Galliness Paradise in Bo City.

The key objectives are to increase awareness about the project "Support to Sustainable Forestry in Sierra Leone" through the conduct of NFI for stakeholders to buy-in, for Stakeholders to be well informed about NFI data collection within their region, for prompt visibility, accountability, and responsiveness in project implementation, enhance effective implementation of the project through strategic communication with key audience, and to project activities documented, milestone and promote timely information sharing.

The Parmanent Secretary, Elizabeth Hawa Ellie gave the purpose of the engagement noting that is to inform revered Paramount Chiefs on the NFI implementation that is funded by EU with techinical support from Food Agriculture Organization (FAO). She encouraged local authorities to support the data collection process which has taken fifty years since the last survey was conducted on Sierra Leone's forest.

Director of Forestry, Madam Kate Garnett, explained that the activity is strictly for data collection and requires the full cooperation of communities. "The NFI data collection is to conduct ground truthing to assess the forest within each district in the Southern Province", the Director stated.

FAO Country Representative, Saeed Abubakarr Bancie, acknowledged FAO's commitment to the data collection process and further
commended the Ministry and highlighted the EU’s strategic investment in building national capacity to carry out similar work in the future. "Reaching the second phase of the data collection campaign is a testament as this phase constitutes the greater percentage of the data needed for this national exercise",,he affirmed.

Patrick Abu-Mattia, National Coordinator of the NFI, did presentation on the mapping that is being carried out in clusters across the country. He disclosed that North/West region has been completed, with the South and Western Rural ongoing, before carring it to the East.

Delivering the keynote statement, the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Jiwoh E. Abdulai called on local authorities to fully support the ongoing National Forest Inventory (NFI) exercise, stressing its importance for sustainable forest management and climate action. "today's engagement is about stakeholder consultation on the NFI process and make information available to the Paramount Chiefs on where forest exist and where it doesn't", he stated. He continued that the said exercise would assess Sierra Leone’s forest cover, identify areas needing rehabilitation, and reposition the country to access climate finance. He added that the information gathered would benefit chiefdoms, districts, national institutions, and international partners.

The engagement was climaxed by Chiefdom and District authorities making salient contributions and pledging their commitments for commencement of the NFI data collection process in their various chiefdoms.

08/09/2025

Key Captions of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Stakeholder Engagement on the National Forest Inventory-SL (NFI), funded by EU and with techinical support from FAO.

05/09/2025

21/08/2025

Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change Play Host to Parliamentary Oversigt Community* .

Comm Unit/MoECC

Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change has on August 21st, 2025, hosted cross Section of Parliamentary Committee on Environment and Climate Change. The purpose of engagement by the Oversight Committee is to receive updates from the Ministry and its supervising Agencies on current status, progress, achievements and challenges on key programmes and activities.

In his opening remarks, the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Jiwoh Abdulai underscored the Ministry's broad spectrum activities which range from methodology, physics, nature, and environmental issues. He gave insight on the management skills which focus on transforming the lives of community people across the country to stop deforestation.

He further acknowled that deforestation could undermine the sustainability of water and food security, as well as the economic gains been achieved over the past years.

Minister Abdulai pinpoints at key achievements and some progress activites notably; formulation of Plastic Policy, Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) 3.0, National Biodiversity Strategy & Action Plan (NBSAP), National Forest Inventory (NFI), Climate Legislation amongst others.

The Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Yusuf Mackery encouraged all techinical staff of the Ministry and the supervising Agencies to support President Bio's agenda on preservation and conservation efforts. He reiterated that the visit by the Oversight Committee is to receive updates and have clarification on the Ministry's programs and activities.

Hon. Mackery prevailed on the Minister to pay key attention to the other Agencies that are slow to achieve their mandates. He reemphasized for collective work among the Agencies to support the Minister. "We are here not to pick any political point or witch-hunt anybody but to make sure all Agencies work together to support the Minister to succeed", he affirmed.

The engagement was climaxed by presentations of current, progress and success on programs and activities as well as challenges, followed by Q&A session.

15/08/2025

Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Recounts His Experience and Sympathizes with Affected Families of August 14th Mudslide Disaster.

CommUnit/MoECC

The Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Jiwoh Abdulai has given his recounts on August 14th, 2017 mudslide at Mortormeh on Epic Television, which destroyed millions of properties and over a thousand Sierra Leonean lives lost. He noted that the scene was horrific during his maiden visit at the aftermath of the sad incident at Mortormeh. He explained that he immediately made donations of food items and other relief items to survivals of the disaster.

The Minister acknowledged the pain and horrific memories that remained fresh in the minds of survivals. Sequel to this, he expressed his sympathy to affected families who still remain troubled by the mudslide.

Meanwhile, Jiwoh Abdulai elaborated key among other issues, the need to protect the National Parks including the Western Area Peninsula Park in order to prevent similar disaster. He said water is critical to the sustainability of livelihood and further emphasized that the Ministry is committed to prevent water crisis for people in the Western Area. He affirmed that the Tacugama Santuary and the Guma facility are critical to economic growth and the wellbeing of people within the western area. He stressed that protecting the Peninsular from deforestation and encroachment transcends personal interest. In a nutshell, he said the protection of the Park would be enforced in accordance with the law.

12/08/2025

Captions of Minister's engagement with the Press at the Government Weekly Press Briefing.