Leading in Biodiversity
Successful in Reforestation
Responsible in Climate Action
we plant
In every community we engage in planting a new rainforest on wasteland, we employ local women and men to build up a nursery, to plant and to take care of the young trees. This creates fair paid jobs and strenthens commitment.
The new forest will protect the villages from bushfires, erosion and dust, raise the groundwater level and thus ensure better harvests. The village will also regain a cooler place, also for its traditions.
we protect
Protecting still existing enclaves of rainforest is at least as important as planting new forests. Therefore we engage communities in protecting and appreciating their forests. We do that by paying a small stipend every month to the local forest commitee to be used e.g. to pay the teacher of the village school or other community needs.
We protect our newly reforested forests in the same way. Environmental education enhances our efforts.
we educate
In order to stop the negative spiral of desertification all over Sierra Leone, we offer trainings in rural communities to strengthen awareness of the importance of trees and to empower the communities to plant their own forest. In workshops, we explain why monocultures are poison for biodiversity and how to plant a healthy mixed forest and the benefits it brings. All communities that plant a new rainforest according to the greenlimba standard have the opportunity to be included in our (paid) conservation program.
greenlimba also offers workshops in permaculture. This will enable the farmers to achieve better harvests and reduce the pressure on the (new) forest.
Embracing Biodiversity
We are planting as close a copy of the natural West African rainforest as possible. Because nature knows best how to plant. And nature never plants monocultures. A diversity in plant life will also attract a higher diversity of insects and wildlife, leading to better pollination and better pest control. Furthermore it improves the soil quality and will have an impact on the surrounding agricultural areas.
Local Impact
There is a powerful impact for the communities: better microlimate (less heat), less erosion, protection against wildfires, higher groundwater level, better soil quality, better nutritions in soil, space for tradition.
The land stays in the ownership of the landowners, no „land grabbing“. We provide a fair income for the workers / rangers and stipends for the protected forests to be used for local needs. For the benefit of the communities, an agro-fruit-forest of 20% of the area is being planted for the immediate benefit of the communities with trees such as cashew, tamarind, mango, palmtree etc.
And Beyond
The impact of the new rainforests in Sierra Leone will reach far beyond the country’s borders. The newly planted and the protected trees are storing tens of thousands of tonnes of toxic CO2 expulsed mainly in the global north and will hereby help battle the global climate change (which is fundamentally affecting Sierra Leone).
With our climate protection activities we are prodly fulfilling the sustainability goals 8, 13 and 15 of the UN-Agenda 2030.
Meet the Team
The leadership team of the greenlimba Foundation Sierra Leone consists of Coordination Manager Saidu Sesay (left) and Anthony J. Turay, Director of Operations. In addition, workers are engaged in every community we plant in and rangers for the communities where we protect rainforest.
Second photo: Aside the practice team, Marion von Oppeln as Chairwoman and Executive Director takes care of the monitoring (in this case showing Gerald Hattler (left), First Counsellor of the Delegation of the European Union to Sierra Leone, the work done in Kasimbek). Responsible for Cooperations, Finance, Information and Auditing is the Director of Administration Lars Bessel, also from Germany / Europe.
