NEWS – – Page 4
Parliament and Partners Collaborate to Mitigate Effect of Climate Change
As part of the tireless efforts in ensuring that citizens have access to information about climate variation, Parliament of Sierra Leone with support from Westminster Foundation for Democracy on Friday, 21st February, 2025 held a consultative meeting with civil society activists and other stakeholders to mitigating the effect of climate change in Africa particularly in Sierra Leone.
The meeting was held at the Conference Hall, New Administrative Building in the House of Parliament. The engagement attracted civil society activists and other stakeholders, in order to mitigate the effect of climate change in Sierra Leone.
During the meeting, WFD Programme Coordinator, Wurie Bah said the meeting aimed at making sure that citizens have access to information in the various communities. Bah said they have developed a model ensuring that they cascade information down on environmental issues in the country specifically on climate change.
Additionally, he described the model as “participatory theatre or mobile drama.” It is the use of drama in raising some of the concerns through awareness and making possible action by showcasing community issues that are affecting them.
Having identified the model, he noted that they hired some performers to go around communities using data to identify communities that are highly affected by climate change to get redress in the form of a community led approach.
Emphasising on the aim of the meeting, Bah stressed that the meeting is to get few key stakeholders including Parliament, CSOs, the media and more importantly citizens to work together with the right knowledge and skills to enhance communities, and to minimize climate hazards.
Speaking from the civil society point of view, Shaka Mansaray emphasised the importance of environmental democracy, involving policies that tackle environmental and climate change issues.
He zoomed at some of the environmental and climate change issues that have affected the country including the mudslides at Mortomel Community, emphasizing the model that have been taken to stop the effect of climate change in those communities are inadequate.
He pointed out the need for a holistic approach and that environmental democracy is the right way for every citizen to benefit the environment.
The Director of Parliamentary and Public Relations Department in Parliament, Sheku Turay, talked about various significance issues and that people are solely engaging in activities for their livelihoods. Director Turay encouraged alternative measures to be considered in reducing environmental and climate change hazards in the country.
He added by saying that actions need to be taken to ensure that those laws or policies legislated by Parliament are enforced. The director ended by saying Parliament has a bigger role to play, and he encouraged the Parliamentary Committee on Environment and Climate change to be more robust on its oversight function.
Conclusively, key stakeholders who were present in the meeting gave value contributions and insights to mitigating environmental and climate hazards in Sierra Leone.
Credit – Parliamentary Public Relations Department