Dry or Fry? Collaborating to Combat Bushfires through Dry land Ecosystems Education

There is very little awareness about the ecology of dry areas in Sierra Leone and the associated environmental issues and threats. In the dry season, there are many bush fires, often caused by the rural population’s slash and burn agriculture practices getting out of control and destroying important ecosystems. Other causes of bush fires include: fires left burning by hunters and people harvesting food, honey, etc. from the forest, accidental lighted cigarettes thrown from vehicles and charcoal pits left unattended. Using murals, ENFORAC will educate the public at three key sites in the dry areas (Makeni, Mile 91, and Magburaka) about how bush fires start, their negative impacts and practical means to prevent the ignition and spread of the fires. Objectives: * Sensitize Sierra Leoneans at the three key sites, at all levels of education, about the ecology of dry areas and the animals that depend on them (especially those that they in turn depend on); * Sensitize Sierra Leoneans at the three key sites about bush fires, their effects, and different ways of mitigating their impacts; * Assess the effectiveness of various forms of communication outside Freetown; * Raise the profile of ENFORAC members and their individual environmental focuses within the dry areas; * Exploit the neglected vector of murals on the many concrete walls, buildings and homes at the three key sites (so far recognized as an effective form of reaching people primarily by mobile companies and other advertising agencies); * Assist in the beautification and rehabilitation of communal areas at the three key sites; * Engage members of the general population in dry areas in the environmental movement; and * Through ENFORAC’s network, which includes government actors, raise the profile of nature conservation in dry areas at the policy level. Main Activities: * Engage private, business and public wall owners in the environmental movement. This involves identification of strategic wall sites, contact with the owners, distribution of educational materials and discussions to explain why environmental education is important, and how valuable in-kind donations are. During CSSL’s pilot project, it has been noted that one of the most valuable and appreciated in-kind contributions we offered in return was membership to the Society. People like and want to feel part of something, and a membership card goes a long way. * Design educational murals to convey messages about dry land ecology, and bush fires through sequential panels of images. * Each ENFORAC member would secure one wall site in Freetown, and present the main idea for the message they wish to convey to people. For example, the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary would do a mural about Chimpanzee Conservation, the Community Advocacy and Development Movement would design a mining awareness mural, BRACO would present a tree planting message and so on. Each mural would bear the name and logo of the associated member organization, and say they are a member of the Environmental Forum for Action. This format would be consistent across this section of murals, thereby profiling each member organization as well as raising the profile of the existence of ENFORAC and who and what we are. * Field visits to Makeni, Mile 91, and Magburaka to identify wall sites, engage owners and organize materials and local artists. * Erection of billboards at strategic intersections or locations where no walls exist. Main Results * Six murals created at strategic locations in Makeni, Mile 91, and Magburaka conveying messages about the importance of dry areas and threats caused by bush fire through sequences of images; * Eight murals created in Freetown to profile ENFORAC and each member organization and their areas of expertise; * ENFORAC introduced to towns in the provinces; * Involvement of some of the general population of Sierra Leone (wall owners and artists) in the environmental movement; * Benefit to ENFORAC from increased recognition, especially as a green actor with tangible work that can be seen by many people; * Contribution towards the beautification and rehabilitation of Sierra Leone’s towns (many walls are dirty, coated with peeling posters and grafitti and often in disrepair).

As a result of the painting of environmental messages on walls, the mission of ENFORAC and its partners are more known by the public. Rural areas had no suitable walls, but this problem has been solved by putting up billboards. Meetings have taken place in 16 rural communities and the results have been documented in the form of a PRA which can be used as a basis for future projects. However, there a no concrete follow ups at this moment. Specific project results were: - Participatory Rural Survey on Land Use Practices - Collection of information about organizations and groups active in target areas - Construction of 4 double-sided billboards (8 murals) in rural sites with environmental messages about the threats of burning and deforestation for the water supply -Painting of 9 urban murals representing ENFORAC members with a variety of environmental messages - Sensitization of rural populations about the water cycle and the importance of forests