Today, 02 October, the UK Government is hosting a high-level meeting in London to coordinate the international aid effort against Ebola in Sierra Leone. The RSPB welcomes this commitment and is a signatory to the joint NGO statement which will be delivered during the conference.
The RSPB has been working with the Conservation Society of Sierra Leone (local BirdLife Partner) and the Government of Sierra Leone for 25 years to sustainably manage the Gola forest landscape, conserve critical biodiversity and vital ecosystem services such as water, and improving the livelihoods of more than 24,000 people living at the forest’s edge, and supporting community projects such as construction of a clinic and farmer field schools. The partnership faced the tragedy of a civil war in the 1990s, and today it faces the unprecedented Ebola outbreak.
The full impacts of this epidemic, are difficult to accurately predict, and will include issues of food security in coming years, in addition to the tragic short-term human impact. The Gola partners are committed to continuing our conservation and community and agricultural development activities in the coming years. In the short term, however, such activities are curtailed by Ebola.
The Gola partners remain committed to the forest and its communities though,and have offered logistical support to the DFID coordinated response, to distribute vital relief parcels to the hard-hit communities around Gola rainforest.
The RSPB is not a humanitarian organisation, so we are not running our own appeal. However, if you wish to donate to the international aid effort, you may wish to visit the British Red Cross’ appeal:
For more information about our work in and around Gola Rainforest, please contact Nicolas Tubbs,Tropical Forest Conservation Manager
Email: Nicolas.tubbs@rspb.org.uk