Why Freetown’s famous tree planting scheme doesn’t work in other African cities and planets

Since 2020, more than 1 million trees have been planted in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Known as “Freetownthetreetown,” the planting plan is celebrated with an ambitious plan to plant another five million trees by 2030 and another five million by 2050.

The mayor’s global network known as C40 cities and other urban development experts calls it a “highly replicable” solution for the environmental crisis in urban Africa.

Planting helps Freetown deal with excessive heat, annual seasonal flooding, landslides and other environmental issues. Due to its geography, narrowed between wooded mountains and coastlines, due to its widespread poverty, the city is one of the most vulnerable in the world to the effects of climate change.

Deforestation in Freetown’s mountains led to a landslide that killed 1,100 people in 2017, leaving at least 3,000 homeless people due to timber, charcoal and residential space. Freetownthetreetown is a response to this disaster.

It is also an important historical background. I have been studying Freetown’s colonial history and the changes in the historical meaning of the tree. From the spiritual meaning of trees in Indigenous West African culture to their use in colonial planning schemes, Freetown trees have been the center of political struggles over urban landscapes.

Planting trees should not be viewed simply as a general social benefit. The trees are embedded in a wider power structure. From colonial tree plantings aimed at reorganizing Freetown into a European-style city to 21st century green capitalism, to what has “tokens” become marketable “carbon offsets” commodities, the trees are not apolitical.

Tree planting projects alone cannot solve environmental problems in cities in Africa. As the world heats up, we need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Green capitalist planting plans do not reduce greenhouse gas emissions with sources.

Climate Solutions

FreeTownThetReetown is organized through Treetracker, an app used by community producers who plant and care for seedlings grown in nursery. They use the app to tag the geographical location of each new tree and track the tree’s growth with photos.

Community growers, primarily women and young people, receive payments from the city government once a quarter in the form of tokens that can be exchanged for cash. Thanks to this community, the project achieved tree survival rates of over 80%.

Since 2020, the project has received around US$3 million (£2.4 million) mainly from the World Bank and Global Environmental Facilities.

However, the project is supposed to cover its own costs by selling carbon offset tokens to foreign countries and businesses. Buyers buy these and “cancel” their own carbon emissions. For example, US pollution airlines could claim that purchasing carbon offset tokens from Freetownthetreetown reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

The carbon offset scheme has been criticized by scholars and journalists for exaggerating the speed and speed at which it can reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions. They are accused of distracting attention from difficult tasks that require moving away from the pollution of energy sources.

Charcoal is the most important product of deforestation in Freetown’s mountain peninsula, as it is used by city residents as cooking fuel. But it is very polluted. People living in informal communities are encouraged to move to cleaner cooking fuel. Some briquettes are even made from human waste. Freetown is trying to reduce its extremely low carbon emissions.

Treetown tension

The tension between conservation and exploitation of Freetown’s mountain forests has been around for centuries. Freetown was established in 1792 by British settlers as a place for resettlement for enslaved people across West Africa. The mountain forest was cut down and turned into wood from the board house in Freetown.

My study of the history of Freetown in the late 19th century revealed that the giant ironwood tree, with a trunk of over 15 meters, is a place of highly spiritual and ritual importance in the area of ​​Brookfields.

Many former enslaved people in Yorubaland, southwestern Nigeria today, believed that Tetsuko was home to a powerful spirit. It was thought that the witches would hold meetings around them.

The ironwood tree of Brookfields was feared. But that was also respected. The procession of Bond, the secret society of all women, visited a tree with offerings such as corn and cloth.

The colonial government planted new trees to distinguish the streets of Freetown’s grid. However, Fleetonians did not like new trees. They suspected they were holding mosquitoes and snakes. Twenty years after the initial planting, most were cut down by city residents. The colonial government has sought to override understanding of West African trees by imposing a new order.

Planting plans must pay close attention to the history of government-led confiscation to successfully transform cities. Freetownthetreetown began tackling this history head-on by co-creating this planted city with its community. This is an important task. However, caution is needed when simply transplanting technical solutions from Freetown to other cities in Africa.

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