Putting the Pieces Together: Reflections on Water, Wildlife, and the Future of Environmental Governance in Sierra Leone

Environmental governance is often described as complex. But sitting on the panel at the Environment Protection Agency’s (EPA) Collaborating Learning and Adapting Conference, it became clear that the challenge is not complexity alone. It is coherence. Too often, we treat water, forests, biodiversity, and communities as separate issues, when in reality they are deeply connected parts of the same ecosysystem.

The fireside chat on “Collaborating for Water and Wildlife” brought this reality into sharp focus. At the center of the discussion was the Western Area Peninsula, a landscape that quietly sustains Freetown. It is home to critical biodiversity, but more importantly, it provides over 90 percent of the city’s water supply through the Mile 13 Dam . Yet this same ecosystem is under growing pressure from deforestation, land-use change, and unmanaged human activity.

What emerged from the discussion is that environmental governance in Sierra Leone is not failing because we lack policies or institutions. It is struggling because the connections between them are not strong enough.

From data to reality on the ground
One of the most compelling parts of the conversation was how evidence is beginning to shape our understanding of the problem. Rising turbidity, fluctuating water flows, and increased treatment costs are not just technical issues for utilities. They are warning signs of ecosystem stress. When forests are degraded upstream, the effects travel downstream into households, clinics, and schools.

This is where the Western Area Peninsula Water Fund stands out. It represents a shift from reacting to crises toward using data to guide prevention. But data alone is not enough. It must be understood, shared, and acted upon collectively.

Reframing catchment protection as a WASH governance issue
A key message emphasized during the discussion is that catchment protection must no longer sit at the margins of the WASH sector. It is central to it.

For too long, water supply has been treated as an infrastructure issue, while environmental protection has been seen as a separate agenda. This separation is no longer tenable. If the sources of water are not protected, investments in infrastructure will continue to face sustainability challenges.

Bringing catchment protection into WASH governance means integrating it into planning, financing, and accountability systems. It means that ministries, utilities, local councils, and civil society actors must treat ecosystem health as a core service delivery concern, not an external factor.

The power and limits of institutions
The panel brought together a range of actors, from government agencies and utilities to civil society and community representatives. Each has a role, but no single institution can address the challenge alone.

Government provides regulation and coordination. Utilities bring operational insight. Civil society helps bridge the gap between policy and people. Communities offer local knowledge and act as frontline stewards of the environment.

What became evident is that collaboration cannot remain at the level of dialogue. It must translate into shared responsibilities, joint financing mechanisms, and coordinated action on the ground. The Water Fund offers a promising model, but its success will depend on how well these relationships are sustained.

Communities at the center of the solution
Perhaps the most grounded perspective came from the community level. The drivers of environmental degradation are not abstract. They include land pressure, livelihood needs, and limited alternatives.

Communities are already responding through local initiatives such as tree planting, informal monitoring, and stewardship practices. However, these efforts often lack the support, incentives, and recognition needed to scale.

If environmental governance is to succeed, it must move beyond protecting ecosystems from communities to working with communities as partners. This requires investing in local capacity, creating livelihood alternatives, and ensuring that conservation efforts are fair and inclusive.
The structure of the session moved the discussion toward a critical question: what next? Each panelist was asked to make a concrete commitment. This was an important step because it shifted the conversation from analysis to accountability.

For WASHNet, the path forward is clear. We will continue to strengthen multi-stakeholder platforms that bring together government, civil society, and communities. We will support the integration of catchment protection into WASH governance frameworks. And we will advance citizen-led accountability mechanisms that ensure commitments are not only made but tracked.

In closing, a critical reflection was raised that lingered beyond the panel. WASHNet’s Musa Ansumana Soko’s question was simple but difficult to ignore: what is truly holding back progress when the evidence is already clear?

As a country, we are no longer short of evidence, and we are not lacking political commitment. What we are being tested on now is our ability to act together. Protecting the Peninsula is not just about conserving a forest, it is about securing the future of our water, our people, and our nation. The time for alignment is now, because the cost of delay is one we can no longer afford.” — Musa Ansumana Soko concludes

We have the data showing the scale of degradation and what is at risk. We have the technical solutions. We have seen political commitment from the highest offices, including the President’s declaration of the Western Area Peninsula watershed as an emergency priority, and the Vice President’s leadership in launching the Western Area Peninsula Water Fund. These are not small signals. They represent a strong national commitment.

Yet progress remains slower than it should be.

This points to a deeper challenge, not of knowledge, but of implementation. Bridging the gap between evidence, political commitment, and coordinated action is now the most urgent task before us.

Putting the pieces together
Environmental governance will continue to feel like a jigsaw puzzle as long as we approach it in fragments. Water, wildlife, climate, and communities are not separate pieces to be managed independently. They are parts of a single system that must be understood and governed as a whole.

The Western Area Peninsula reminds us of what is at stake. It is not just a forest. It is the source of life for a city.

If we are serious about sustainability, then our approach must change. We must move from isolated interventions to integrated systems. From short-term responses to long-term stewardship. And from working in silos to working together.

That is how the pieces begin to fit.