Summary: Tommy Garnett is dedicated to environmental conservation and sustainable development; he has fought environmental injustice through clean-up events, awareness-raising campaigns, and trainings in Freetown and elsewhere in Sierra Leone. In 1992, Garnett established the Environmental Foundation for Africa (EFA) to help address the environmental impacts of conflict and destructive mining. Despite challenges, Garnett initiated land reclamation and reforestation projects in Sierra Leone before the outbreak of the Sierra Leone Civil War. He believes that he has a duty to ensure the safety of future generations.

Profile: Tommy Garnett is an Agriculture and Development Economics Expert who began his career as a high school teacher in Kenya. In 1992, he established the Environmental Foundation for Africa (EFA) at the time of the Rio Earth Summit in Brazil. Escalation of war in 1997 forced Garnett and the EFA to relocate from Sierra Leone to Liberia, where more than 50,000 Sierra Leonean refugees were lodged in refugee camps.

By the end of Liberia’s own civil war—which saw many Liberians returning home from neighboring countries and the establishment of multiple returnee camps—the EFA became a partner to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). The goal was to implement environmental action in refugee and internally displaced peoples’ camps (IDPs) all over Liberia. At the close of the civil war, the EFA returned to Sierra Leone, where it has been operating since.

Garnett is also a member of the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication since 1998 and has co-authored many reports focusing on environmental education, nature conservation, and the impact of conflict on biodiversity. He manages programs in Sierra Leone, including the Tiwai Island Wildlife Sanctuary, and heads the Biodiversity and Renewable Energy Learning Centre.

As part of its strategic mission, the EFA believes that, in order to protect the natural environment in Sierra Leone, citizens must address the root causes of environmental degradation in the region. In 2005 the organization suggested linking all environmental players under one network to be known as the Green Actors of West Africa (GAWA), with a mission to synchronize environmental efforts, transfer skills, and speak with one unified voice on the most urgent environmental threats facing West Africa.

Studying the data, Garnett has discovered that there is a significant treetop loss in Africa—twice the rate of the world average, Less than 10% of Sierra Leone’s forest cover remains, which is affecting water sources during dry season, enhancing the risks of floods and landslides in the rainy season, and increasing carbon emissions, the latter of which contributes to the global threat of climate change. Garmett points out that existing forest protection and replanting efforts are inadequate and have yet to become a priority in Sierra Leone. As a result, he advocates for programs that protect existing forests, repair and re-plant degraded land, and provide environmental education for children.

Garnett’s work has not come without sacrifices. Some critics and cynics have written that “global warming and climate justice issues are white-people and first-world issues.” And Garnett’s stance on environmental protection is so firm that many policy bearers provide obstacles more than support. In addition, given the traditional and conservative society where he works, it has become difficult to control encroachment into protected zones such as the Western Area Peninsula Green Belt as a result of urbanisation. Nonetheless, Garnett maintains that it is his duty and that of many other campaigners to “call leaders to action for endlessly putting citizens’ lives at risk by not doing enough to tackle climate change.”

“We understand the risks,” he says, “but for nearly three decades, the main thrust of EFA’s work has been to help conserve and protect rich biodiversity and threatened ecosystems of West Africa, especially Sierra Leone. We are empowering local communities to restore degraded environments and also contribute to poverty reduction through environmental education and advocacy, protection, and management of Tiwai Wild Life Sanctuary, and promote eco-tourism activities for sustainable livelihoods in forest edge communities.”