J. For. Sci., 2024, 70(2):79-90 | DOI: 10.17221/74/2023-JFS

Applying the European Union (EU) assessment initiative of forest sustainability in Africa: A case study of the timber harvesting impact on the environment in Sierra LeoneOriginal Paper

Petra Hlaváčková1, Sheku Kemoh Mansaray1, Samuel Antwi Darkwah2, Iva Živělová2
1 Department of Wood Products Economics and Policy, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Brno, Czech Republic
2 Department of Regional and Business Economics, Faculty of Regional Development and International Studies, Mendel University in Brno, Brno, Czech Republic

The European Union (EU) provides both financial and expert support for sustainable forest management initiatives and also boosts compliance with such initiatives in Africa. Thus, there is a need to monitor the progress of implementing such initiatives. The objective of this paper is to describe the role of timber harvesting entities in environmental impact discussions, and to also identify the role of EU institutions in promoting forest sustainability in Sierra Leone. Data were collected in a controlled survey from four communities, using a questionnaire formulated according to guidelines recommended by Babbie and Mouton (2010). The reliability test shows a 0.68 internal consistency among the latent variables (Cronbach alpha test). The selected four communities were Bambawo, Dia, Basara, and Menima, with a population of 6 000, 5 400, 7 500, and 5 600 inhabitants, respectively (Stats SL 2021). A Confirmatory Factor Assessment (CFA) was used for a descriptive statistical analysis of the data. The results showed that the environmental impact has an eigenvalue of 1.08, where only variables with a factor loading exceeding 0.5 were used. The paper concludes with discussions and relevant recommendations on mitigating the impacts of timber harvesting on the environment within the study area.

Keywords: climate change; forest management; knowledge transfer; mitigation; sustainable forestry

Received: June 30, 2023; Revised: November 19, 2023; Accepted: December 6, 2023; Published: February 28, 2024  Show citation

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Hlaváčková P, Mansaray SK, Antwi Darkwah S, Živělová I. Applying the European Union (EU) assessment initiative of forest sustainability in Africa: A case study of the timber harvesting impact on the environment in Sierra Leone. J. For. Sci. 2024;70(2):79-90. doi: 10.17221/74/2023-JFS.
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