Africa-Press – Sierra-Leone. The Mayor of the Freetown City Council (FCC) Yvonne Aki Sawyer, in her effort to transform Freetown, on Thursday, 14, April, 2022, conducted an unannounced spot-check visit to catchment areas where the “Freetown Tree-Town Project” is being implemented.
The tour was part of her monitoring strategy to inspect the growth of planted trees at the various catchment areas for the sustainability of the project.
The monitoring event attracted senior officials from FCC, implementing partners, the Environmental Foundation for Africa and Community Based Organizations (CBOs), and based on observation, growth of the trees planted was improving gradually.
Mayor Aki Sawyerr in her statement disclosed that the monitoring tour was to assess the impact of the “Freetown Tree-Town Campaign implementation by the Environmental Foundation for Africa with various CBOs in the thirteen catchment areas within the Western Rural, targeting the planting of one million tress from last year to date, of which five hundred and fifty thousand trees have already been planted.
She revealed that everything surrounding the tree planting process was centered around regular monitoring by the FCC and the World Bank, which is financing the Campaign. She added that the monitoring also included the use of the Google Tracking App.
She said the caretakers of the planted trees in the various locations were paid and the survival rate of the planted trees were good. She noted that with time people will realize its impact and that she monitors everything from her office.
Vincent Charlie, Field Manager, Environmental Foundation for Africa, said 62 reforestation areas were targeted for planting by 10 Community Based Organisations.
He said the Freetown Tree-Town Project was implemented by the Environmental Foundation for Africa in collaboration with WARD C, National Protected Area Authority (NPAA), Sierra Leone Roads Authority (SLRA), National Water Resource Management Agency (NWRMA), and Guma Valley.
He added that during the current planting cycle, 240,000 trees, shrubs and grasses were planted, adding that 60,000 mangroves were planted in 6 communities along Aberdeen Creek.
He added that each tree planted was digitally tracked by growing teams assigned to each tree.
He added that a total of 550,000 trees have been planted since 2020 with 450,000 more to be planted in the 2022 rainy season.
FCC, under the Transform Freetown Agenda has partnered with the Government of Sierra Leone and the World Bank through the Resilient Urban Sierra Leone Project (RUSLP) to fund and address the city’s unique climate drivers through implementation of the Freetown Tree Town campaign, to plant, grow and track 1 million trees in Freetown.
The Campaign is being implemented by the Environmental Foundation for Africa Sierra Leone (EFASL) under the Urban Greening component of RUSLP, which is supporting the Freetown Tree Town campaign through funding for seedling acquisition.
During the 2021 planting season, 300,000 trees, grasses and shrubs of 52 different varieties were planted across 13 catchment areas and 76 reforestation areas.
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