It is requirement for all Concessionaires / applicants wanting a Concession Agreement to submit a GPS Surveying of intended or operational area. However for the current 9 active concession agreement’s spatial data is missing. The Director of Forestry has therefore written all concessionaires asking them to submit a GPS surveying of agreement before the end of September 2014.  Providing the Government with this data is important as it will help improve avoidance of overlapping concessions and ensure that no exploitation takes place within protected areas or National Parks.

Data can be send to:

The Forestry Division
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security
At: Director of Forestry, Mr. William Bangura
Youyi Building, Ground Floor
Brookfields, Freetown

The Government of Sierra Leone’s Online Repository makes data from Government administration systems available online to all stakeholders and ensures full transparency to the public. The Online Repository is used to present data from all mineral rights, forestry rights and related payments. The Online Repository already contains data from the National Mineral’s Agency and will now also contain data from the Forestry Division (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security). On the Repository data are merged together into ‘desktops’ for easy filtering, sorting and data analysis.

Register at http://www.sierraleone.revenuesystems.org, Access is free and will be granted automatically after registration.

Ministry representative from the Forestry Division Mr. Abubakar Sesay hosted a live sensitization programme on Radio Universal FM 98.7 June 6^th 2014, with a repeat on June 9^th 2014 on Radio Democracy FM 98.1. Mr. Sesay informed the public of the Forestry Concessions Administration System (FCAS) currently used by the Forestry Division to process and issue licenses whilst keeping track of generated revenue base.

Further, it was explained that this software will also soon be deployed to the regional District Forest Offices piloting in Kenema within a couple of months. Mr. Sesay also informed the public how to apply for various commercial forestry licenses, announcing the User Guidelines. These can be found on this website under the Applications section.

It was emphasized that stakeholders applying for a Concession Agreement ought to provide the ministry with a GPS surveying of intended operational area to avoid overlaps of concessions. Both programmes ended with an interactive section allowing the public to ask clarifying questions.

Some question concerned the User Guidelines, buyers called to ask how they could ensure buying only legal forestry products, and Mr. Sesay was asked if the FCAS information would be made public. To the latter it was explained that the data will soon be published through the Government of Sierra Leone’s Online Repository (www.sierraleone.revenusystems.org). Concerns were also raised about sustainable management and illegal logging and it was explained that 10 pct of all export fees went directly to the re-forestation fund.

Finally both programmes were aired twice; once during morning – and once during evening hours.

The Revenue Development Foundation have started a second phase of the IFAS project signed with the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security in February 2010. The funding is from with the European Commission’s ACP-FLEGT Programme, manged by FAO.

The project implementation started with a stakeholder meeting in Freetown.

A stakeholder meeting was held 10 May at the Forestry Division, where RDF presented the findings from their Technical Assessment. Particular focus was on a new process for administering the forestry concessions and licenses issued. The meeting was well attended, by MAFFS staff, Ministry of Trade, Timber Associations, National Revenue Authority, Police, National Security Office, FAO and EC.

Last week, RDF has installed the equipment and systems required for the division to operate the Forestry Concessions Administration System (FCAS). Most existing licenses have already been digitized, and the divsion will start using the system to issue new licenses.

The license data will be made available to stakeholder in the GoSL Online Repository over the coming months.

You can now browse through all the original forest reserve public notices going back to 1922. Go to Forest Reserves.

The legal acts related to forestry in pdf format under legislation.

On Thursday 19 January, the Minister of Mineral Resources Hon. A. M. Mansaray launched the GoSL Online Repository at the National Stadium, Freetown. The GoSL Online Repository, providing the public with full access to all industrial mineral licenses and pyaments made to governement. The repository also contains all exporters licenses and related payments, and is planned to include timber licenses later in 2012.

The Honourable Minister Alhaji Minkailu Mansaray announced “Madam Chairperson, ladies and gentlemen, we are here today to launch a solid tool of transparency that is crucial to fiscal good governance, and will prove very useful for stakeholders, researcher, investors and indeed the people of Sierra Leone. As a country we are very proud to be among only a handful of countries around the world that operate the system we are about to launch.”

The Revenue Development Foundation signed an agreement with FAO today, starting the pilot phase of the IFAS project signed with the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security in February 2010. The funding is from with the European Commission’s ACP-FLEGT Programme.

The project implementation started immediately, with a technical assessment currently underway.