Collaborating, Learning and Adapting
Convened by Executive Chairman Dr. Abu-Bakar Massaquoi, the Environment Protection Agency has concluded its two-day inaugural Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (CLA) conference at the New Brookfields Hotel, located off Jomo Kenyatta Road in Freetown. T
This partner-matching conference created practical synergies to achieve the EPA’s strategic objectives for 2025 and beyond. Additionally, the conference strengthened ongoing trust and investment in EPA’s programmes, diversified our partnership client base, articulated the agency’s goals for 2025, and worked together to establish synergies for successful joint implementation.
Additionally, it fostered closer relationships with both domestic and international partners to encourage long-term collaboration and alignment on priorities, among other objectives.
In his keynote address titled ‘Collaboration Amid Complexity: Partnerships as the Pillar of Environmental Progress,’ Chief Minister, Dr. Moinina David Sengeh, described environmental protection, management, and governance as key areas of concern for both nature and humanity.
He noted that human-induced shocks are actively contributing not only to climate change but also to other environmental challenges, emphasising the need for everyone to adopt conservation and sustainable practices to preserve Sierra Leone, our beautiful paradise.
Dr. Moinina David Sengeh stressed that these impacts affect the economy, social structures, and the natural environment, and that the response’s effectiveness is undermined by unsustainable activities such as deforestation of the Freetown Peninsula, dredge mining in our rivers, and encroachment into protected areas for biodiversity.
Numerous speeches, fireside chats, panel discussions, explainer videos, and goodwill messages highlight the urgent need for a collective and concerted effort to utilise funds, effect behavioural change, provide an effective infrastructural and regulatory framework for environmental governance, and embrace environmental stewardship for the protection of Sierra Leone.
