Sierra Leone Bumbuna Hydroelectric Environmental and Social Management project

Summary

The Sierra Leone Bumbuna Hydroelectric Environmental and Social Management project (Bumbuna Watershed Project - BWP) is part of the Bumbuna hydroelectric dam construction project which has been on-going since 1970, except for a period during the civil war when construction was temporarily abandoned. This project is funded by the World Bank and is under the lead of the Bumbuna Watershed Management Authority (BWMA). Its objective is to mitigate some of the negative environmental and socio-economic impacts of the dam, and to ensure the sustainability of the watershed area in the vicinity of the dam.

The project is located on the Seli River in the Northern Province about 250 km from Freetown. It is the primary source of electrical energy for all of Sierra Leone, with the exception of expensive diesel fuelled generators. At the initial stages of operation the dam is primarily supplying electricity to Freetown and nearby towns such as Makeni. Since its inception the BWP has carried out a number of social and environmental impact assessments to inform the development of an appropriate management strategy. In fact this has led to some of the most rigorous biodiversity studies in the country. An area of the Loma Mountains Forest is currently being conserved by the BWP to offset some of the negative biodiversity impacts of the dam. It is anticipated that the Loma Mountains Forest will be upgraded to a National Park, which will reinforce BWP's efforts to conserve this area of forest.

The construction of the dam has also lead to the loss of farmland for surrounding local communities and 347 individuals have been resettled and compensated as a result of the project. In order to address opportunity costs of the dam for local communities the project is introducing various livelihood support programmes. This involves a number of identified opportunities that will support both livelihood and conservation objectives, such as the introduction of sustainable tourism, Payments for Environmental Services (PES) and REDD+. PES will mainly be related to preserving the water catchment area whereas enhancement of carbon stocks, such as afforestation and reforestation for REDD+, has been identified as an additional opportunity.

In 2010 a feasibility study was completed for 100,000 ha of degraded and savanna forest, involving 35 communities. The study estimated that the project could sequester about 12.9 MtCO2 over a 20 year period, which could generate approximately 7.2 tCO2 of REDD+ credits. The potential of developing REDD+ in the BWP is still under consideration as the hydroelectric dam project is entering its final stages at the end of June 2013 when World Bank funding comes to an end. However, in May 2013 the BWP REDD+ project had not gone past the feasibility stage.