By Ragan M. Conteh

ActionAid Sierra Leone on Friday 8th November 2024 held a National Conference on the theme ‘Secure our Future! Fight Climate Change for a Hunger-Free Salone’.

The conference took place at the YSC conference Hall, Wilkinson Road in Freetown.

Making his statement, the Executive Director of Action Aid Sierra Leone, Foday  Bassie Swaray said as world leaders prepare to gather in Azerbaijan for this year’s COP summit the convergence is a call to action for every citizen, every society, every community to raise their voices in their collective journey towards a sustainable future for Sierra Leone.

According to Foday Bassie, climate change is real, Global warming, humans are suffocated, and many are dying of hunger because of the global warming that is exacerbated by climate extremes.

He stated that, this conversation about climate change is not just an environmental issue, “it is also a matter of survival, it’s about out very existence on this planet.” He revealed that the impacts of climate change are feit hard by those who are least responsible for it and who are often the most vulnerable in Sierra Leone.

“We see the effects in our agriculture, our water resources and the health and well-being of our communities,” he said.

He said the ambitious climate finance is essential to help the world cope with escalating climate impacts and take action to avert this emergency.

In 2021, he said. ActionAid Sierra Leone did a study and found out the following climate change impacts.

He informed that storms are causing significant damages to the built and hatural environment through flooding erosion, due to also the high winds.

In the last 15 years, he went on that the intense and frequent storms, as well as flash foods, have affected more than 220,000 people along the coast of Freetown.

He underscored that storms have also accounted for most disasters causing the loss of coastal areas, and that causes an additional economic impacts and consequences that could be exacerbated by climate change. Director Swaray said in addition to the physical damage caused by flooding and high winds storm water runoff also introduces pollutants arid toxic substances to ecosystems, which further stresses habitats (World Bank 2018).

He pointed out that rising sea levels have caused significant damages to the coastal at Lakka and Konakridee Coastal wetlands and other low-lying lands have also inundated and intensified erosions and floodings as new as making some areas to become exposed to storm surges, waves, currents, and tides.

He said human populations will also be affected by the reduced quantity and quality of freshwater, as saltwater which inundates estuaries and rivers, permeating into groundwater, causing water tables to rise, and affecting lands and infrastructure which Lao causes  pollutants and toxic materials spilling over into the rising seas (EUC 2020).

“If no action is taken, a total of 25.4km2 is estimated to be lost to the sea. A World Bank analysis estimates that by 2050, sea level rise alone will cause significant losses and damage valued at $40.0 million, with consequences for beachfront structures and beach tournament (World Blank 2018),” he said.

He pinpoint on the fact that flooding has the potential to distort a range of ecosystem processes and cause permanent changes to biodiversity and habitats.

In the upland areas, he maintained that, flash floods such as the mudslide of August 2017 which displaced 6000 people and claimed nearly 2000 lives in Freetown, and which caused a loss valued at SLL. 237.37 billion (USD 31.65 million), will be more likely caused by increased rainfall in the coming years (World Bank 2017).

He said malaria infection will increase as temperatures as above 25°C. Malaria is the most common cause of illness and death in the country.

Malaria-related illnesses contribute to 38% and 25% of child and all ages of mortality rates, respectively.

He said the most venerable groups include children aged under 15 years and pregnant women (USAID 2016), adding that this is because Sierra Leone has one of the highest malnutrition and child mortality rates in the world, making the population extremely vulnerable to climate shocks.

He said diseases are also expected to increase with more frequent and intense floodings.

Currently heavy rains have increased the likelihood of the outbreak of communicable diseases.

He opined that more intense dry seasons with increased temperatures in the north and west have been linked to reduced water quality and disease cut breaks.

Mr. Swaray opined that water scarcity with intensity of warming will increase.

He said with increased agro-chemical use in farming practices and water-intensive mining processes, a rise in temperatures will compound water pollution by further decreasing access to safely managed water.

Mr. Swaray said Action Aid is concerned about investments in projects that exacerbate the climate ones through fossil fuel investments (ref the MCC grant) industrial agriculture which also fuels land grabbing and pollute the environment with the use of agro-chemicals and other actions that harm the environment.

“We believe that by diverting funds from fossil fuels and industrial agricultural projects to alternative interventions like renewable energy and agro-ecology can reduce carbon emission, deforestation, improve soil health, increase possibilities of food security,” he said.

“This campaign signature is about our future. It seeks to address climate related issues in Sierra Leone and also to contribute to ActionAid Global Campaign,” he said.

He went further that as they are having this conversation, the big issue that they must not ignore understands the connections between indebtedness and climate vulnerability in poor countries like Serra Leone.

He maintained that Sierra Leone is one of the country’s most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and so a transparent and accountable debt relief and cancellation can provide the fiscal space for investment in programmes to adapt to the effects of climate change, to respond to disasters and support the specific needs of women and girls. He underscored the high levels of debt repayment.

Noting that many countries like Sierra Leone are falling behind.

“We therefore invite our civil society leaders and citizens to call for the canceling of debts in the immediate term and to demand for instituting a multi-lateral debt restructuring system to address the long-standing debt crisis in Sierra Leone and the global south based on debt sustainability assessments that incorporate climate financing requirements accountability, and human nights impact assessments,” he stated.

On Climate Finance, he said COP29 must agree on a New Collective and Quantified Goal on Finance (NCQG) in which developed countries are to provide at least $1 trillion annually in grant-based public funding to developing countries, with specific sub-goals for loss and damage, adaptation, and mitigation strategies for countries.

This climate finance must reach local communities, prioritize gender responsiveness and human rights, and involve marginalized groups in decision-making.

“It’s crucial to clearly define climate finance to exclude loans and private investment and to reflect developed countries historical responsibility and moral obligations.”

On Adaptation, he said, COP20 must give adaptation the attention it has lacked, for over the years and provide the financing to developing countries that is needed to address climate crisis. He said it is time governments agreed on the framework, finance and indicators for the Global Goal on Adaptation COP29 which must champion equitable finance that entails the allocation of public finance for adaptation and agro ecology, priorities women, local communities’ workers, and ecosystems, carbon markets.

It must finalize strong, enforceable rules for carbon markets, according to a climate change document.

He stated that Carbon offsets are a dangerous distraction, as they essentially provide a license to pollute and delay real action to cut emissions, adding that they only benefit polluting countries and corporations and often lead to land grabbing, leaving climate-vulnerable countries to deal with the consequences.

Swaray said there must be rules to reduce the harm from carbon markets.

On Gender he revealed that to effectively address the diverse impacts of climate change on women, and to support and strengthen women’s leadership in climate action, gender considerations must be mainstreamed across all UNFCCC negotiation tracks.

This includes establishing clear indicators and timeframes for tracking progress, utilizing gender-disaggregated data and adopting an intersectional feminist perspective in climate policies.

To ensure the successful implementation of these measures, it is essential to secure adequate resources for the next Gender Action Plan (GAP) and strengthen the capacity and financial support for National Gender and Climate Change Focal Points.

On agriculture, he opined that agriculture is the sector most vulnerable to climate change, and the world’s largest emptier, but industrial agriculture is also the second largest contributor to global GHG commissioned countries must and so must divest from harmful industrialized agriculture and invest in agro ecology.

And some countries need finances to make the move to agro ecology.

He  stated that “as they come together to reaffirm our commitment to combating climate change and ensuring food security for all,” the theme is Secure Our Fistural Fight Climate Change for a Hunger-Free Salone” which signals the urgent need to address these interconnected challenges at a time when studies have shown that 82.1 percent of people in Sierra Leone are food insecure due to economic factors but, he went on, above all the climate emergency that increases the risks of drought and floods as well as the rising sea levels affects water supply and the country’s agriculture.