Sierra leone

By Fatmata Katta   Behavior change communication (BCC) products such as radio dramas can be powerful tools to increase people’s knowledge and change their perceptions, attitudes and behaviors around social and environmental issues. To ensure the effectiveness of BCC products, however, it’s important to involve targeted communities in the production process and secure their ownership…

By Fatmata Katta   For those charged with helping their countries both adapt to and combat climate change, understanding and being able to leverage climate information is critical. This is particularly true for Sierra Leone, recognized as the third most vulnerable country in the world to the effects of climate change. Thus, WA BiCC and…

By Fatmata Katta   Sierra Leone’s Sherbro River Estuary (SRE) is rich in biodiversity, including turtles, manatees, sharks and crocodiles. Designated as one of the country’s four marine protected areas, the region is also reported to host about 58% of Sierra Leone’s total mangroves, and other coastal habitats in the region include beautiful sandy beaches,…

By Zebedee Njisuh, WA BiCC Landscape Manager The recent field mapping exercise of the Sherbro River Estuary (SRE) marked a fresh approach to field mapping in Sierra Leone; one that recognized community members as important stakeholders to environmental sustainability. The mapping activity is a collaborative effort among USAID’s West Africa Biodiversity and Climate Change (WA…

Written by Francis Reffell   When my team arrived in Bonthe Municipality, it felt like we’d landed in a rustic paradise, rife with the vestiges of its past colonial influence. Severely damaged infrastructure, caused by either abandonment or the civil war, littered the landscape. Despite my curiosity about the area, my team, composed of Seinya,…

As rising sea levels threaten West Africa’s coasts, communities large and small are looking to mangrove restoration as an essential protective measure. However, getting a mangrove nursery off the ground requires three to six months of dedicated community inputs including time and labor, and finding sufficient time and energy can be a struggle given other…

In a small fishing community in Sierra Leone, Ibrahim Mansary and Saidu Kamara had a mission to complete. The Chairman (Ibrahim) and Secretary (Saidu) of the Mosam community’s Mangrove Restoration Committee were keen to re-stimulate a neglected effort to establish a mangrove nursery, an idea introduced by the West Africa Biodiversity and Climate Change (WA…

The Sherbro River Estuary is one of four Sierra Leone coastal regions that was declared a Marine Protected Area in March 2012, recognizing the value of mangrove forests as critical to the success of the fisheries sector in the country. While this decision was a major step in the right direction, ongoing unsustainable practices and…

An Entertainment-Education Radio Drama Design Workshop held in Port Loko, Sierra Leone on October 10-12, promised a new and exciting learning experience for coastal Sierra Leone! Participants at the workshop were impressed to learn more about the richness of the coastal ecosystems that exist in the country, including where many of the participants live. The…

Integrated Rice–Mangrove Cultivation brings Renewed Hope to Farmers. Rice–mangrove integration, also known as rice agro–silviculture, is a best practice employed in several African countries such as The Gambia, Guinea and Senegal as a smart way of sustaining food security while increasing resilience to climate impacts and promoting biodiversity conservation. In other countries, this practice concentrates…