Minister Abdulai Calls For Concerted Effort In Climate Change Fight

Orange-Sierra Leone has again made another landmark achievement by taking the lead to correct the wrongs of climate change by suggesting mitigating factors to address environmental degradation in the country. At Orange Head Quarters in Freetown, various speakers who were given the opportunity to speak ahead of the World Environmental Day Celebration, registered their concerns for the safety of the environment.

Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Orange, Mimi Mugo, in her welcoming statement, touched on the need for everyone to be conscious about the environment. She spoke about the support Orange has been providing over the years, emphasizing how the planting of trees by Orange over the years has helped in managing the environment within Freetown.

Orange Chief Climate Officer, Danetta Younge, called on everyone to reflect on the importance of the environment, making mentioned of the Theme for this year, which she said could be used to renew commitment to promote biodiversity, conservation etc. She furthered that the company also received international and national recognition for its role in the environmental sector, adding that because of these accolades, they will redouble their efforts.

She disclosed that their plan for this year is to plant 10,000 trees; Reuse of refurbished items and Recycling of Orange devices. Environmental sustainability, she said, is not just a day event, but a continuous process.

Orange-SL CTO, Sylvanus Redwood Sawyer, explained in few words the support Orange has been providing to support the management of the environment.

On his part, the Wholesale and Roaming Director, Edward Sesay, spoke about the significance of such event, while enjoining all and sundry to collaborate in saving the environment.

CEO of Orange SL, Sekou Amadou Bah, said Orange wants to renew its commitment in protecting the environment, despite the challenge faced as a society, namely: climate change, deforestation, biodiversity, being cases that have had negative impact on society. He furthered that in the past 3 years, Orange has taken steps to reduce environmental impact, adding that last year the target was 20%, which they were able to achieve, and that this year’s target is 25 to 30 %, stressing that they are determined to achieve it. He maintained that such good targets can only be achieved through collective work.

He disclosed that last week they launched the ‘Engage yourself for climate change, engage yourself for the environment.’

“Engage yourself is a platform to show our willingness, and

I firmly believe each of us have the ability to make a difference in protecting the environment,” he concluded.

Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Jiwoh Abdulai, said “Environment business na all man business. I would like to thank the Orange CEO for taking the bold effort in tackling Environmental issues in the country…Globally we are all facing crisis of degradation, biodiversity etc. and in our ways, we are contributing to biodiversity cultivation. Most of these happen because of human activities.

“We are the ones who encourage timber harvesting that destroys the environment. We are the ones encouraging charcoal burning, and all are causing environmental issues. Frank discussion is what we need to address these issues, and

Government is looking up for such.

“Therefore, we will be going around the country to engage the public on how some human activities are destroying the environment. The Western area peninsular Park hosts the national water facility, which houses GUMA. We must protect the facility. We need to take action now to prevent further escalation of environmental degradation.

“2017 Motormeh incident is clear example of what we are saying, otherwise, if the dam, which contains millions of gallons of water, spills, it will be a disaster that will be worse than the motormeh disaster,” he said.

Orange Communication Officer, Mabel Mason, in her opening and closing statements, emphasized on the need for all to support the course and ensure we have a safer environment.