In the 1500s, large areas of moist tropical lowland forest covered about half of Sierra Leone. Evidence provided by archaeologists and anthropologists suggests that population densities were very low, and that most people practiced slash-and-burn agriculture, with possibly only localized impact on the forest. Agricultural change was initiated after the first wave of European colonization in the mid-sixteenth century. Initially, impacts on the forest remained low as only scattered trading and mission posts were founded on the coast and along some of the major rivers.

Demand for ship timber for the British Navy, based on the Freetown Peninsula to control the slave trade, increased significantly from 1816. Loggers started working along lines of penetration afforded by the major rivers. The combined effects of slash- and-burn agriculture and logging remained unevaluated for almost a century. The first detailed studies on environmental degradation were conducted in 1909 and 1911. These studies concentrated on water resources (Unwin, 1909) and soil degradation (Lane-Poole, 1911). Both studies however attributed large-scale deforestation to "wasteful" and "reckless" shifting cultivation. At the same time, severely degraded areas were noted in many of the mountainous regions in the south and east in the areas of intense nineteenth-century timber cutting and along the railway line, which had been established to transport the cash crops that the colonial government was promoting.

The formation of the Sierra Leone Forestry Department in 1911 was a direct consequence of two surveys conducted in 1909 and 1911. Forestry ordinances were legislated in 1911 and 1912. After protracted negotiations with district commissioners, 13 reserves were proposed as shown in Table 1.

Source: Conservation in Africa, People, Politics and Practice. (Correspondence, 18 March 1913, correspondence number 2671165).

The administrative structure set up within the Forestry Department to manage these reserves, as summarized in Figure 1 below, has not changed significantly over the years.

This organizational structure effected administrative as well as practical monitoring functions. Between 1911 and 1923, it is clear that the Forestry Department's policy of reforestation had three main aims:

• to check environmental degradation due to shifting cultivation,
• to control water supplies through reforestation, and
• to realize economic benefits from reforestation by using economic crops (gum copal, timber trees, etc.).

The program finally adopted by the Forestry Department in 1918 had seven clear guidelines:

• Conserve existing forests and stop encroachment;
• Introduce markets for forest products that did not involve deforestation;
• Restrict burning (from slash-and-burn agriculture) as much as possible;
• Reforestation of abandoned land;
• Search for suitable rotations;
• Not to encourage the cultivation of cocoa and rubber unless markets could be found; and
• Competition with other colonial products should be avoided.

In the heightened awareness after the World War II, a land use and soil conservation survey was commissioned in 1950 (Waldock, Capstick, and Browning, 1951). The major results were the identification of 10 degraded areas. Specific aspects of the upland farming system were seen as causal factors: bush fallow periods of less than five years and two and three year cropping, which lead to serious soil erosion. Once again, in accordance with the previous joint focus of the Departments of Agriculture and Forestry, emphasis was placed on increased swamp rice cultivation as an upland soil conservation measure. This laissez-faire attitude toward conservation remained in force until the publication of the first National Development Plan 1974/5 – 1978/9. This plan recognized that the lack of a comprehensive environmental database was hindering attempts to stimulate productive and environmentally sound agricultural developments. A reconnaissance survey of Sierra Leone's land resources was made between 1975 and 1980 (FAO, 1979). The findings were presented as land use systems and crop suitability maps.

However, according to the Wildlife Conservation Act (1972) three categories of land could be set aside for wildlife protection: strict nature reserves, national parks or game reserves, and game sanctuaries. Subsequently another category of non-hunting reserves, in which hunting is prohibited, was added. Later, Phillipson (1978) in his review of wildlife conservation suggested the need for a network of conservation areas to preserve vegetation types and fauna. He recommended 18 key areas for conservation. Subsequent surveys (Oates, 1980; and Davies, 1987) and mangrove studies (Chong, 1987) modified Phillipson's recommendations, which resulted in a new list of priority areas for protection (Table 2). The government accepted these recommendations in principle, but little practical action has been taken to date. Only the Tiwai Island Game Sanctuary has been officially designated. The proposed Outamba-Kilmini National Park has been notified but is yet to be gazetted, although surveys, park development, and conservation education were in progress in the area until the civil war. The Mamunta-Mayoso Game Sanctuary has not been gazetted or effectively protected or developed.

Non-hunting Forest Reserve/Game Reserves (FR)

Natural Parks (NP)

Strict Nature Reserve (SNR)

Game/wildlife Sanctuary (WS)

Nature Reserve (NR)