The Executive Director of Conservation Society Sierra Leone (CSSL) Dr. Sama Mondeh has said that he will ensure that the Conservation Society of Sierra Leone becomes the lead Non Governmental Organization (NGO) in Sierra Leone in terms of Wildlife Conservation.
He made this statement while addressing for the first time staff of the Across the River Trans-boundary Peace Park project for Sierra Leone and Liberia (ARTP) at 38 Maxwell Khobe Street office in Kenema City on Friday January 12, 2012.
He said the ARTP project is one of the projects that CSSL is implementing in Sierra Leone. He expressed thanks and appreciation to his staff in Kenema for their dedication in upholding the project up to the present stage.
Giving a brief background of the ARTP project to the Executive Director, the Technical Adviser for the ARTP project who is also the Biodiversity and Sea Turtle Programme Officer of Conservation Society Sierra Leone Edward Aruna disclosed that the Across the River Trans-boundary Peace Park Project for Sierra Leone and Liberia came into existence out of the operation of the Gola Forest Programme (GFP).
The programme was launched by Liberian President Helen Johnson Sirleaf and President Ernest Bai Koroma on 15th May 2009 at Lalehun in the Gaura Chiefdom, Kenema District.
Cutting the tape of the Across the River Trans-boundary Peace Park Project for both Liberia and Sierra Leone at the ceremony, President Koroma noted that the long term benefits of the conservation of the Gola Forests far outweighs the short-term benefits of extraction and destruction, while on the other hand Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf said that the Sierra Leone Liberia Trans-boundary Peace Park Project will serve as a symbol of our renewed commitment to peace, stability and biodiversity conservation in this region.
The Admin Officer of ARTP Alfred Roberts in his power point presentation disclosed that the Gola Forest Programme (GFP) is operating in seven chiefdoms in the East and South of the country and of which the Across the River Trans-boundary Peace Park Project (ARTP) on the side of Sierra Leone is operating in four corridor chiefdoms of Makpele in the Pujehun district Southern region, Malema in the Kailahun District, Nomo and Tunkia in the Kenema District eastern Sierra Leone. He says each of the corridor chiefdoms has a Community Mobilization Officer (CMO) permanently based in the Chiefdom educating the community people to ensure the wise use of the natural resources. There is one Advocacy and Policy Officer attached to the programme who is reaching out to thousands of community members through his radio discussion program known as “Golayhun” meaning inside the forest. He says the “Golayhun” radio program gives the opportunity to the community people to raise their concerns and ideas on conservations by taking the radio to their communities and also allowing phone in during “Golayhun” radio programme. He highlighted the late transfer of fund as the major constraints in the project implementation.
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