The long awaited forum by the ministry of Lands, Country Planning and the Environment for the final validation, geared towards elaborating a plan of action to combat desertification and land degradation in Sierra Leone, will start today at the Miatta Conference hall in Freetown.
According to Samba Keita of the Lands ministry, the forum is part of the elaboration process which started in 2005, following series of researches at regional and district levels for a diagnostic analysis of land degradation institutional and legal frame works for the socio-economic impacts on Natural Resource Management in Sierra Leone.
He intimated that the studies were validated which culminated in the organization of the first national forum to capture the national viewpoint, and map out strategies for the elaboration of the national action plan.
Mr Keita noted that the ministry of Lands, Country Planning and the Environment was working in collaboration with CILSS, Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought in the Sahel and the Global Mechanism including stakeholders in the environmental management sector and the global socio-economic development process to organize the forum.
He maintained that, “the forum is expected to concretize desires and aspirations for a sustainable environment in the country as the campaign for climate change is a national and international issue for a safer environment for humankind”, adding that its regional consultant and national counterparts had been working on the final draft of the national action plan which would be presented for the final validation.