When the capital of Sierra Leone launched a major campaign to provide shade amid sweltering heat, officials came up with a catchy slogan of what they hoped the city would become: Freetown the Treetown.
The West African city had been denuded by rapid population growth, conflict and unregulated development, increasing its vulnerability to rising temperatures. The tree planting plan uses an app to generate jobs and is helping a fast-urbanizing city fend off the dangers of climate change.
By this summer, Freetown is projected to have added 1 million trees since 2020 — a number nearly equal to its population.
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“This is really essential for reducing temperatures,” Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, the mayor of Freetown, said during a global heat summit Thursday.
