Tree Planting for Climate Resilience in Freetown, Sierra Leone

This report provides an economic valuation of the new phase of the "Freetown the Treetown" initiative in Freetown, Sierra Leone, which uses nature-based infrastructure (NBI) to combat deforestation and climate change. The assessment evaluates two planting scenarios to determine the societal and financial returns of reforestation efforts aimed at reducing natural hazards and carbon emissions.

• The "Freetown the Treetown" initiative, supported by the World Bank, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and the Global Environmental Facility, aims to plant, digitally track, and grow 1 million trees. The new phase of the project seeks to scale these efforts by restoring mangrove forests, protecting the water supply, and restoring the Western Area Peninsula Forest to mitigate risks from extreme heat, floods, landslides, and coastal erosion.
• Freetown faces significant environmental pressure due to rapid urbanization and population growth, which has led to the loss of approximately 500,000 trees annually, increasing the city's vulnerability to climate-driven hazards.
• The Sustainable Asset Valuation (SAVi) assessment analyzed two nature-based infrastructure (NBI) scenarios for tree planting by 2050: Scenario 1 (3.7 million trees) and Scenario 2 (5 million trees). By 2050, the total cumulative, net discounted benefit (at a 4% discount rate) is projected to be USD 21.68 million for Scenario 1 and USD 26.45 million for Scenario 2.
• The project offers a high societal return on investment. For every USD 1 invested, the societal return is USD 2.94 for Scenario 1 and USD 2.79 for Scenario 2, with discounted returns of USD 2.14 and USD 2.04, respectively. The primary drivers of these benefits are avoided infrastructure damage from sea level rise, coastal erosion, landslides, and floods, as well as income generation and the prevention of loss of life.

APA

Kapetanakis,, R. B. C. G. (2025). Tree Planting for Climate Resilience in Freetown, Sierra Leone. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/tree-planting-freetown-sierra-leone

Chicago

Kapetanakis,, Ronja Bechauf,Edoardo Carlucci,Marco Guzzetti,Michail. Tree Planting for Climate Resilience in Freetown, Sierra Leone. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2025. https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/tree-planting-freetown-sierra-leone.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Kapetanakis, |first1=Ronja Bechauf,Edoardo Carlucci,Marco Guzzetti,Michail |title=Tree Planting for Climate Resilience in Freetown, Sierra Leone |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=9 January 2025 |url=https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/tree-planting-freetown-sierra-leone |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{kapetanakis2025tree, author = {Kapetanakis,, Ronja Bechauf,Edoardo Carlucci,Marco Guzzetti,Michail}, title = {{Tree Planting for Climate Resilience in Freetown, Sierra Leone}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2025}, month = jan, url = {https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/tree-planting-freetown-sierra-leone}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }