27/01/2025— The Environment Protection Agency participates in the post-COP debrief and sector alignment meeting organised by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change at the Family Kingdom Resort.
*Freetown, Sierra Leone*
The agency, through its focal points, presented its respective multilateral environmental agreements/protocols and conventions, highlighting the background, challenges, and next steps. The focal points for the Montreal Protocol, the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity, the Minamata Convention, and the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions underscored the importance of Sierra Leone as a country or party to the ratified conventions to fulfil its obligations to adopt and implement the respective objectives of the said MEAs.
Dr. Abu-Bakar Massaquoi, executive chairman, outlined the key plans and objectives for the second year of the Environment Protection Agency Transformation Strategy (EPATS), which presents the agency’s seven-year work program with three core pillars and six enablers.
He explained that the EPATS contain the knowledge and technical approaches to address the entropy of the three pillars of transformation, which are based on addressing the triple planetary crises, strengthening the agency’s organisation, and building staff capacity for excellence.
The establishment of a National Pollutant Inventory for circularity to address pollution, the development of sector-based environmental regulations, the diversification of our partner base to mobilise resources, the construction of office spaces and an improved working environment for the successful implementation of our clearly defined objectives and fulfilment of our reporting obligations, and an improved regulatory approach were highlighted as priorities for the financial year 2025.
The agency concluded by stating that through our supervisory ministry, a yearly matrix as outlined in our EPATS, guided by the mandate of our Act of 2022, informs our annual priorities by established sustainable development goals, MEAs, and national development plans, all in a bid to ensure alignment and enhanced sector collaboration, complementarity, and synergy.
