Under international law, climate change projects require the “free, prior and informed consent” of indigenous peoples. Logical, you would think. But this is sometimes not so easy to implement in practice:
Our contracts are written in English, but in Kawula people speak Limba. Nobody knows written contracts here anyway, because you would have to be able to read and write for that. And then it’s about the next 99 years, although most villagers think at most until the next day.
Here in Sierra Leone, we are making every effort to actually get people excited about our sustainable forest projects. With success. This week, the next village, full of conviction, signed a land use contract with us, after free will and extensive prior information.
More news about our climate forests in West Africa can also be found regularly on our social media channels on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIN.