By Cornelius Eku Randall
FREETOWN, Sep. 13 (232News) – A Multisectoral Technical Committee meeting for the Mano River Union (MRU) “Ecosystem Conservation and Management of International Water Resources” project has been held in Freetown. The meeting was held on Wednesday 8th September 2021 at the National Water Resources Management Agency (NWRMA) conference hall, Kingham Road, Freetown
In a bid to continue with its implementation, the MRU through IUCN PACO received a GEF grant of US $6,970,000 for the implementation of the regional project. The project was validated by the GEF secretariat in December 2016, approved by IUCN in February 2017 and launched in July 2017 in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
The aim of the project is to strengthen the management of transboundary natural resources for sustainable ecological benefits and improved livelihood for adjacent forest communities. The Management of the project is result based and requires the involvement of all stakeholders at the local, national and regional levels.
The long-term objective of this is to provide benefits to the global environment by strengthening the management of transboundary natural resources through increased ecological benefits and improved livelihood in the surrounding communities’ forests.
During the project preparation, institutional entities for the implementation of the project were identified, and their missions, roles and responsibilities defined.
The two implementing partners of the project Welthunger life (WHH) and Gola Rainforest National Park made presentations. In his presentation, George Muigai of Welthunger life (WHH) outlined what they have achieved in the restoration of the degraded forest through Agroforestry methods in over 200 communities with more than 2000 beneficiaries in the GOLA landscape, He also informed the meeting about training manuals that were prepared for the farmers and mentioned that MOU will be signed with the farmers for the maintenance of their agroforestry plots.
Amara Kanneh, a representative of Gola Rainforest National Park also made a presentation on their intervention through training of farmers on the new sylviculture methodology at the Njala University which benefits a lot of farmers in the GOLA landscape and also on the restoration of the degraded forest.
The GRNP also did a lot of awareness raising for the protection of the National Park.
Annual report 2020, Report from the 3rd supervision mission site visit in the Gola Landscape, Recommendations of the 3rd supervision mission and annual work plan and budget 2021 were presented by the Technical Assistant Consultants -Musa Kabba and Abdulai Barrie respectively.
In her report, the National Project Coordinator Olaimatu Sadia Karim reported on the upcoming activities in component 2 of the project of which she said includes awareness rising in all protected areas on environmental issues.
