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Sierra Leone's First UNESCO Site Gola-Tiwai Complex
- 14 Jul 2025
- 2 min read
Sierra Leone’s Gola-Tiwai complex, comprising the Gola Rainforest National Park (GRNP) and the Tiwai Island Wildlife Sanctuary, has been inscribed as its first United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site, due to decades-long conservation efforts by a non-governmental organization Environmental Foundation for Africa (EFA).
- Tiwai Island, located on the Moa River, spans just 12 sq. km and hosts 11 species of primates, including endangered western chimpanzees and king colobus monkeys.
- Tiwai now serves as a biodiversity research hub and model for community-based conservation in West Africa.
- GRNP is Sierra Leone’s largest tropical rainforest, rich in biodiversity, including pygmy hippopotamuses and African forest elephants.
- EFA was established in 1992 and began conservation efforts in Tiwai in the early 2000s, especially after damage from Sierra Leone’s 1991–2002 civil war.
- During the war, deforestation, poaching, and illegal logging nearly destroyed Tiwai, but EFA led reconstruction, community engagement, and biodiversity protection.
- Despite the Ebola outbreak (2014), Covid-19, and extreme weather, EFA protected Tiwai and surrounding forests from ecological collapse.
- The UNESCO recognition is a landmark for Sierra Leone, validating grassroots conservation models rooted in local empowerment and ecological resilience.
| Read more: Sierra Leone |
