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.