Freetown School and Community Environmental Awareness and Action Program

The ongoing rebel war in Sierra Leone, particularly the attempts by rebels to capture the city, which culminated in the attacks on Freetown and environs in January 1999, has had a very negative impact on the physical environment of the entire Freetown peninsula, which is the focal area for a major aspect of this project. With the mass destruction of homes and other property, the demand for timber and other building materials such as sand and stones has risen sharply.

The forests around the peninsula (West Africa's only coastal mountain forest) represent nearly all of the remaining woodlands of the Western Area. This is already under serious threat as more and more wood cutters and charcoal burners arrive in search of firewood and other timber products. Many of the residents here are becoming increasingly concerned, as their communal lands are being stripped and in some cases irreparably destroyed.

Another area of grave concern within the peninsula area is the removal of sand from the beaches. Sierra Leone's beaches which are classed among the best and most beautiful in the world are disappearing fast, as a result of uncontrolled sand removal, and soil erosion from the excess water run-off from deforested hills along the peninsula.

Therefore, the project seeks:

• to conduct awareness programs for schools in Freetown and communities along the peninsula about environmental problems affecting them locally and the rest of the country;

• to provide an opportunity for the local people to regularly participate in practical training and project activities designed to address the most pressing environmental problems within their communities – deforestation and land degradation;

• to initiate an environmental education resource focal point for schools, government and voluntary agencies and institutions and the surrounding village communities with a keen interest in local environmental issues.

	Campaign for environmental awareness, education and positive action in Liberia A nation wide environmental awareness campaign focusing especially on schools and communities in Monrovia and environs and an agroforestry initiative in Ganta, Nimba County.
	Environmental education, community agroforestry and energy saving scheme A pilot scheme, sponsored mainly by UNHCR under the Liberian Children's Initiative, is targeting returning refugees from Guinea, Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone in 6 communities in Nimba County.
	Refugee Environmental Action Programme An environmental awareness and action program targeting refugees from Sierra Leone in refugee camps in and around Monrovia, Liberia.