National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP 3.0 2026-2035)
We concluded a two-day stakeholders’ workshop at the new Brookfield’s Hotel in Freetown, with funding from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the NBSAP Accelerator, to develop the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP 3.0) implementation plan.
With participants drawn from related ministries, departments and agencies, academia, development organizations, civil society organizations, local councils, and the private sector, we converged to get feedback that could inform how NBSAP 3.0 can be implemented.
It should also be noted that nationwide consultations were initially held to gather information from local stakeholders on how we can develop the NBSAP 3.0, a national document that guides how biological diversity and ecosystems must be protected, how they can be sustainably used for a productive system, how pollution can be reduced, how institutional capacity can be improved due to the multifaceted nature of implementation, and how finance can be mobilised.
The Implementation Plan, on the other hand, will be the primary instrument for carrying out the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) commitments, reinforcing the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) targets outlined in NBSAP 3.0 while also addressing the challenges encountered in NBSAP 2.0.
The workshop also captured expected sector plans and stock intake on interventions taken by relevant ministries, departments, and agencies on Sierra Leone’s twenty-four global targets, which must be tailored to our national plan.
Through group work sessions, we were able to determine the feasible prioritised targets and activities among sectors for the achievement of all twenty-three objectives.
Action plans include a national biodiversity assessment, protected area restoration,community member training, intensive awareness-raising activities, inclusive spatial design, and protection of water catchments, forests, and carbon reservoirs, as well as the assessment and support of ecosystem services amongst others which seek to explain the scope of the theory of change and governance.
These will be collaboratively evaluated and finalised, with a possibility of convening a national delivery forum for NBSAP 3.0 to discuss implementation.
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