By Alusine Sesay
Sierra Leone’s President Dr Julius Maada Bio said on Tuesday that the government is going to demolish all houses above the Green Belt along the Freetown Peninsula to protect water catchment areas.
The President said that no house will be speared even if it belongs to him or his family.
He made the disclosure at the National Townhall Meeting organized by the Ministry of Information and Civic Education in Freetown.
This radical move is prompted by the accelerated deforestation which is causing loss of forest in the water catchment areas.
The President said that some government officials are guilty of building houses above the green belt. He said that he has instructed the police and military to spear no build. He noted that such action is needed to ensure that their children and those yet unborn have access to water from Guma.
Human activities, especially the cutting down of trees from areas which are supposed to be forest reserved areas, is a reason for insufficient supply of water in communities in Freetown, according to authorities from the Guma Valley water Company.
Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, faces a severe threat to its water supply as a national park, responsible for providing clean water, is under significant pressure from human activities. A recent U.N. report highlighted the critical challenges posed by land grabbing, charcoal burning, quarrying, and marijuana cultivation within the park.
Since 2016, the national park has witnessed a disturbing loss of approximately 26 percent of its original 18,000 hectares (180 square kilometres) of forest cover, as reported by the United Nations World Food Programme. The consequences of this deforestation are far-reaching, with the potential to contribute to slope destabilization, water shortages, landslides, and floods.
The report emphasizes the urgent need for vigilant monitoring of forest coverage to safeguard Freetown’s main water sources. Freetown, situated on a forested peninsula, relies on reservoirs in the mountains for its water supply. However, deforestation is disrupting the natural water cycle, causing rainwater to run off the hillsides instead of permeating the soil and streams through tree roots.