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Protecting Natural Resources Services
Sierra Leone is a tropical country with abundant rainfall of about 2’500mm per year. The project is irrigated by the Rokel River near Makeni and will use just 2% of the annual rainfall flowing through the river. A hydroelectric dam built by the Italian government and put in operation in 2009 maintains the flow of water throughout the year and avoids any downstream impacts of the project.
Addax Bioenergy has become the first company in Sierra Leone to pay for water use. Where water sources have been affected by the project, we have replaced them with new wells or boreholes, significantly improving the local community’s access to clean, safe and reliable drinking water all year long.
Additionally, we have embarked on a program to protect 1,700 hectares of forest in the project area with the objective of establishing woodlots, expanding and developing buffer zones and eco-corridors and assisting in meeting the immediate needs of local communities, as well as offsetting any potential impacts to natural forestry during the construction phase. In 2012, 56,000 seedlings of mixed variety were potted and 26,100 trees of mixed variety were planted.