The data gathering exercise in the southern region under the National Forest Inventory Project that is currently implemented by the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, through funding of the European Union (EU) and technical support from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), has intensified with teams visiting cluster areas, engaging community leaders and collecting the necessary data for the inventory.

The National Forest Inventory Project aims to serve as a foundation for a comprehensive National Forest Monitoring and Sustainable Management System, providing regularly updated data on the country’s forests.

During one of the QA/QC team visit to Manjehun Town, Kori Chiefdom, Moyamba District, Sahr Kelli, Deputy Director of the Forestry Division, Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, who also serves as team lead for the Quality Assurance and Control (QA/QC) team, stated that the project is designed to have a second layer of data verification through the QA/QC team.

He mentioned that their role is to visit cluster areas that the data collectors have surveyed and collect their own data to verify and reconcile to ensure data credibility that will inform policy formulation in the management of the forest and its resources.

Deputy Director Kelli further noted that, since the last inventory in 1975, the forest has undergone a lot due to infrastructural development, mining, farming, and other human activities.

He explained that the data from this inventory exercise is critical to help the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change to determine the actual forest cover and the policies to manage the forest.

The national expert of the Forest Inventory project, Dr. Anthony Lamin-Samu, stated that data accuracy is significant to the credibility of the report and how it will inform the government and partners to manage the different forest areas for reforestation, biodiversity, and similar interventions.

©NFI Communications