#FreetownTheTreeTown campaign – Sierra Leone

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#FreetownTheTreeTown campaign – Sierra Leone

by Eline van Remortel

Freetown City Council

Published: 14 January 2022

Last edited: 14 January 2022

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Summary

Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, is situated at the edge of a heavily forested mountainous area. The city is expanding rapidly, and urban sprawl continues to cut deeper into its surrounding forest, resulting in steeply declining tree canopy cover. This ongoing deforestation increases the risk of landslides, flooding, and coastal erosion. To deal with rapid urbanisation, population expansion, and low employment rates, the Freetown City Council has initiated the tree-planting campaign #FreetowntheTreetown. The campaign pioneers a sustainable tree-growing model through the engagement of local citizens. Community-based growers use the TreeTracker app to plant, monitor, and maintain new trees. In return, these local growers receive micropayments for their efforts. The goal of the campaign is to plant and grow 1 million trees by 2022, which translates to an increase of the city's vegetation cover by 50%.

Classifications

Region

West and Central Africa

Scale of implementation

Local

Ecosystem

Area-wide development

Urban ecosystem and build environment

Theme

Access and benefit sharing

Disaster risk reduction

Ecosystem services

Erosion prevention

Local actors

Mitigation

Restoration

Sustainable financing

Urban and Disaster Risk Management

Sustainable urban infrastructure and services

Challenges

Avalanche/landslide

Erratic rainfall

Floods

Land and Forest degradation

Loss of Biodiversity

Sea level rise

Conflicting uses / cumulative impacts

Erosion

Lack of alternative income opportunities

Unemployment / poverty

Sustainable development goals

SDG 1 – No poverty

SDG 3 – Good health and well-being

SDG 5 – Gender equality

SDG 11 – Sustainable cities and communities

SDG 15 – Life on land

Aichi targets

Target 2: Biodiversity values integrated

Target 14: Ecosystem services

Target 15: Ecosystem restoration and resilience

Sendai Framework

Target 4: Reduce disaster damage to critical infrastructure and disruption of basic services, among them health and educational facilities, including through developing their resilience by 2030

Location

Freetown, Western Area, Sierra Leone

Impacts

In the 2020-21 phase, 250,000 trees were planted, focusing on the steeper slope areas where communities are more susceptible to landslides. Additionally, 50,000 mangrove trees will be planted to restore the coastal wetlands and reduce flood risk. The campaign provides multiple benefits such as improved air and water quality; reduced risk of flooding, landslides and soil erosion; reduction of heat stress; and CO2 capture.

Additionally, the project shows how reforestation can create employment opportunities. Until now, it has created 550 short-term jobs focusing on vulnerable and marginalized women and youth. To ensure sustainable financing, the tree tags can be turned into "impact tokens" which can be traded to outside parties. Revenue from the "impact tokens" is used to finance further tree planting and nurseries.

Lastly, this project provides an example of how regreening cities through tree planting is more than just 'planting' new trees. The growers revisit, maintain, verify and document the plant's growth. Through the active involvement of the local community, the campaign is working towards an 80% tree-survival rate.