The Freetown floods of 2017 were a painful reminder of the inter-linked impact of insufficient environmental sustainability practices: poor drainage, soil erosion, and wide-scale pollution strategy combining with heavy rains to disastrous effect. A new waste disposal strategy in the city can be the first step towards recovery.
Walking the streets of Freetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone, is a sheer feast for the eyes. The mountains surrounding this coastal city, the rainforest peeking from between the crowded houses, and the rush of cars, motorbikes, poda-podas and pedestrians all merge into colorful chaos, a bustle of activity.Once the eyes start to get used to the city's sights, one also start to notice the details behind the patterns and sounds. People selling their merchandise in every street corner, children making their way to school in British-styled uniforms; and massive amounts of trash, piled up and scattered across the entire city.
On November 9th 2018, Mrs. Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, the newly elected Mayor of the city of Freetown, published on her Facebook page a picture of four men, who had been arrested after "dumping waste in the gutters in a central business district of Freetown." Aki-Sawyerr asked the residents of the city to "desist from such acts," emphasizing that "sanitation is a priority in our #TransformFreetown plan, and the fight for a cleaner Freetown starts and ends with each one of us."
Reassuring as this post might sound, there is still much to do in order to achieve basic sanitary conditions in the area. As of 2018, Freetown still had very limited waste transfer services, hardly any garbage collection points and no recycling or garbage separation options. As a result, private citizens, businesses and institutions, who wish to manage their waste—as requested by the Mayor—must pay for the installation of garbage bins and for the regular collection of their refuse. As most people in the country cannot afford such services, and are not aware of the negative implications of current situation,garbage continues to pile up in the streets.
It is important to remember that Sierra Leone is one of the most under-developed countries in the world, classified as the 6th least-developed country in the world in the 2018 Human Development Index. The country faces a diverse range of urgent and crucial challenges, including high rates of unemployment, illiteracy, teenage pregnancy, high infant mortality, the lack of infrastructure (such as paved roads, electricity, clean water, and drainage systems) and widespread poverty. When looking at the environmental problem from this broader perspective, it is difficult to see how the government and the people can allocate the necessary resources and attention to the issue; it will be difficult to persuade hungry people to invest time and money in an activity that doesn't present immediate and tangible benefits. This is true for wealthier people in developed countries, and it is an even bigger challenge for those living in a survival state.
Unfortunately, the danger posed by the untreated environmental threat became reality in August 2017, when deadly mudslides swept through slum neighborhoods in Freetown, taking the lives of more than a thousand people and leaving many more homeless and heart-broken. This tragedy was the consequence of climate change in the region, combined with widespread tree cutting and poor waste management, leading to extremely heavy rains, which caused massive mudslides and flooding, as the water could not be properly drained the from gutters and rivers blocked by garbage and waste.
This ongoing lack of a waste management strategy also creates immediate health threats, such as outbreaks of cholera and malaria caused by the use of polluted water for domestic purposes. Insufficient waste disposal practices, the lack of basic infrastructure, and limited awareness about the implications of waste management on people's health; all contributed to the ongoing suffering created by the current situation. Thus, the threat of another disaster, like the one that occurred in 2017, continues to hover over the city without any visible solutions.
Nevertheless, and despite limited resources, action is being taken to address the situation. Following the recent disastrous events, the newly-elected government has passed a new law declaring that on the first Saturday of each month, the citizens of the country must spend four hours cleaning their residential areas, under close military supervision. Garbage collected during these exercises is piled up at the bottom of every street; it is then (usually) collected by the special units established for by the government for this purpose, and transported to one of the country's only landfills, located on the Freetown coast, next to the city's poorest slums.
Alfred, an NGO logistics worker in the city, explains that "the government is trying to address the issue, but it is not enough. In my community, this new arrangement caused more harm than good, because once the garbage piles up it starts to smell and draws mosquitos. Unfortunately, it may take days, and sometimes weeks, before the waste is collected; and since the government relies mainly on international financial support for this operation, whenever the transfer of funds is delayed, the garbage remains onsite, causing an even bigger environmental hazard."
Kebbie, also an NGO worker, agrees with Alfred, adding: "I know the government is doing what it can, but the truth is that they need to decide how to allocate the money, and in my opinion, garbage should not be the first thing on the agenda. It is good to try and collect once a month, but it is not enough. In Europe they collect every day, but here, when people want to throw away their water bags and plastic, they can't find a place to put it, so they leave it on the streets. Now it has become a habit that everyone does. I know it's a problem, but we have bigger problems to solve, and only then we can start focusing on things like waste."
Ironically, plastic water bags are one of the most commonplace pollutants in Sierra Leone today. As the country's main water sources are polluted with waste and garbage, there is a severe shortage of clean drinking water, leading to the sale of cheap and clean water wrapped in plastic bags. The product is very common across the country, because it facilitates easy access to clean drinking water, a basic human need. But at the same time, the product also contributes to the environmental problem, as the plastic wrappers end up polluting the water sources, thus preserving this vicious cycle.
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As a developing country, Sierra Leone has a complicated relationship with the field of environmental sustainability. It tries to address the issue from within its limited existing resources, but cannot prioritize it as a main focus area due to other immediate and more concrete challenges. Allocating resources and engaging with the environmental field is still considered by many as a privilege, reserved for wealthier actors who do not face life threatening challenges. This creates an absurd situation, whereby environmental problems are not considered to be as urgent as other challenges, such as hunger, infant mortality, or outbreaks of cholera and malaria—even though these factors often stem directly from poor environmental conditions and the inadequate management and treatment of waste and garbage.
This lack of centrality that the governments of developing countries accord to environmental issues is not only a theoretical problem; it also has direct implications on the ground. Over the years, different players have identified this dilemma faced by developing countries, forcing them to leave environmental issues at the bottom of the list, and have attempted to exploit this gap in harmful ways. In 2016, for example, the Lebanese government tried to sign a multi-million dollar contract with the Sierra Leonean government, to export Lebanese garbage to the latter's shores. Fortunately, the agreement was cancelled after a massive public uproar. One can only imagine the continuous damage and harm it could have caused, if the agreement had been confirmed.
Even though the issue was avoided at the last minute, this example raises significant questions that are still relevant today. What needs to be done to ensure that environmental issues are recognized and prioritized as key factors for development? Who holds the responsibility to promoting this kind of awareness, treatment, tracking and regulation in the field? Is it the shared responsibility of both developing and developed countries? Or should it remain the exclusive domain of wealthier nations? I believe that given the fact that environmental threats do not operate according to geographical borders, and have become more frequent and more destructive over recent years, these issues should concern all the parties involved. Combining local challenges, such as those faced by Sierra Leone, with other global phenomena such as global warming, the growth of waste and current immigration movements, there is no doubt that both developed and developing countries will be affected. Thus, all must adopt a proactive approach, one that gives the highest priority to environmental issues, before the only source of clean water around the world will come wrapped in a plastic bag.
Inbal Magen
