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Deforestation, forest degradation, poaching, and environmental problems caused by climate change pose serious threats to many of West Africa’s already fragile ecosystems, including the region’s biodiversity-rich forests. Award-winning international journalist David Goodman learned about the severity of these threats as he traveled to the countries of Sierra Leone and Liberia to document the work of the USAID-funded West Africa Biodiversity and Climate Change (WA BiCC) Program.

• 08/26/2020
• West Africa Biodiversity and Climate Change program

The tropical air hangs over the Sierra Leonean coastal village of Gbongboma like a moist towel. Musa Lahai sits in an enclave of thatched huts, surrounded by women and children sitting around two cooking fires. Orange flames lick the sides of several large kettles of fish stew. Each fish was hard to come by. “Before, we were catching good fish. Now, we’re not,” Lahai says. He is deputy chief of the village, where approximately 90 people survive off earth’s bounties, from harvesting oysters, to deep sea fishing, to farming and growing palm fruit.

• 03/12/2020
• David Goodman

“The water is pushing very hard on our islands and communities,” recounted the Bonthe Deputy Mayor, during a recent meeting with USAID staff in the southwestern district of Sierra Leone. His description captures the profound impacts that climate change is having on coastal communities.

• 04/29/2019
• Julia Bradley-Cook