Some 230 miles away from Freetown, Gangama, Taetima, and Mesima communities
in the Bonthe district have raised concerns over possible illegal exploitation
and extraction of forest trees in complete contravention of government ban.
This claim was verified by a recent assessment report done by Green Scenery,
a national non-governmental organization with objective to promote education and
awareness on the country's environment in general and in particular the
conservation of the country's biodiversity.
As a way to dealing with the alarming rate of deforestation, Government of
Sierra Leone (GoSL) put a ban to all forms of commercial logging and exporting
in November 2007 and reinforced this ban again in early 2008, the report stated.
However, investigations revealed that a main interest group, a Chinese
commercial interest, has been stockpiling logs in the Ngongokama forest so that
it can be exported when the ban is eventually lifted.
Having seen evidence of the felled logs from Gbongokama Community Forest, and
from concerns raised by the communities over the logging of trees from the
forest, it was only but necessary to undertake this quick assessment to give an
insight to the team as to the level of damage already caused.
We also want to
ascertain the claim of the communities about the existence of the forest, raise
the awareness of the communities about the national ban on forest exploitation,
to open up dialogue with the communities on the way forward for their forest and
to facilitate discussions on the need for conservation and the importance of
forests to man.
The communities claim that the forest is over a century old and has served as
source of common resource pull for generations past and present but recent spate
of deforestation around the country seems alarming. The activity increased to a
critical level when interest for the purchase of high density wood by certain
commercial entities intensified.
The tree species that has attracted loggers attention in the community forest
bears the trade name Cam wood; in local dialect it is called Mbundoi (Mende)
with biological name Baphia nitida. In its natural environment, the tree
resembles other species thus making these species vulnerable to the loggers. In
real terms, many trees that are not Cam wood have been felled in the forest and
were abandoned.
Some 230 miles away from Freetown, Gangama, Taetima, and Mesima communities
in the Bonthe district have raised concerns over possible illegal exploitation
and extraction of forest trees in complete contravention of government ban.
