By Millicent Senava Mannah
As climate change accelerates across the globe, Sierra Leone is facing its own environmental crisis. Rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, flash floods, coastal erosion, and prolonged dry seasons are disrupting lives and threatening food and water security. But for women and girls, who are already burdened by inequality, the impact is especially severe. The intersection of climate vulnerability and gender inequality has created a hidden emergency, one that requires urgent, gender-responsive solutions.
In Sierra Leone’s rural and agricultural communities, women play a central role in food production, water collection, and household care. They make up more than 60 percent of the agricultural workforce and are responsible for growing key subsistence crops like rice, cassava, and vegetables. Yet, they often lack access to land ownership, modern tools, and financial support. Most female farmers operate under insecure land tenure and use outdated methods, making them particularly vulnerable to climate disruptions.
When floods destroy crops or droughts dry up farmlands, as seen in districts like Bombali, Tonkolili, and Koinadugu—it is women who struggle to feed their families. With clean water and firewood becoming scarce, they must travel longer distances, increasing their physical burden and limiting time for income-generating activities. In many cases, girls are pulled out of school to help, or married off early as a way for families to cope with economic stress.
Climate-related disasters also increase the risk of gender-based violence. During floods or mass displacement events, such as those seen in Freetown, women and children are often the most affected, facing poor shelter, inadequate sanitation, and unsafe environments in camps.
Despite these challenges, women across Sierra Leone are not just victims of climate change, they are leading efforts to adapt. In rural areas, women’s farming groups are adopting climate-smart agricultural techniques such as composting, mulching, using drought-resistant seeds, and practicing water conservation. In Moyamba and Bo, cooperatives are blending traditional knowledge with modern farming methods to improve resilience.
In northern districts like Tonkolili and Bombali, women are building local seed banks and sharing early warning information about climate risks. In coastal areas like Bonthe and Pujehun, women are replanting mangroves, advocating against illegal sand mining, and raising awareness about deforestation.
Urban women are also stepping up. In Freetown, grassroots women’s groups are organizing neighborhood clean-up drives, mapping flood-prone zones, and supporting safer waste management practices to prevent landslides and flooding. Women-led NGOs are training girls in environmental education and emergency preparedness.
While women play key roles in building resilience, they remain underrepresented in Sierra Leone’s formal climate adaptation efforts. Gender is not yet a central focus in the country’s National Adaptation Plan (NAP) or in major environmental strategies. Women’s participation in local disaster planning committees and national climate governance bodies remains limited.
A lack of sex-disaggregated data also hampers efforts to understand how climate impacts men and women differently. As a result, adaptation programs often fail to address the specific needs of women and girls. Moreover, climate finance rarely reaches women-led initiatives or female farmers, limiting their ability to scale up successful strategies.
Structural barriers, such as gender norms and limited access to education and digital tools, continue to prevent many women from taking leadership roles in climate adaptation.
To build true climate resilience in Sierra Leone, adaptation efforts must be gender-sensitive and inclusive. This means empowering women to lead in climate planning and decision-making at community and national levels, ensuring equal access to resources such as land, agricultural tools, climate finance, training, and clean energy technologies. It also requires incorporating gender analysis in all climate risk assessments and response strategies, using data that reflect the diverse experiences of women and girls. Investing in education and skills development for girls and women, especially in science, technology, environment, and innovation fields, is vital. Finally, supporting women-led organizations and community groups through direct funding and partnerships will help expand local climate solutions.
As Sierra Leone adapts to the growing challenges of climate change, it must recognize that gender equality is not a side issue, it is central to climate justice. Women are not merely vulnerable groups; they are problem-solvers, knowledge holders, and changemakers.
Building resilience requires more than infrastructure and policy, it demands a bold commitment to empowering those most affected. By placing women at the center of climate adaptation, Sierra Leone can build a greener, fairer, and more sustainable future for all.
