Producing land in Freetown’s coastal settlements

In this video, Mr. Abu Sesay, from Cockle Bay, and Mr. Bob Jones, from CKG, discuss land reclamation.

Land reclamation is common throughout Freetown’s coastal settlements, and is known locally as “banking”. The process expands coastal areas, often using garbage and mud, to make space for housing. These reclaimed areas are regarded as high risk, and are especially vulnerable to flooding, as they are often at sea level.

Moreover, in some cases, “banking” contributes to the destruction of mangroves, which are protected ecological sites. As such, these reclaimed areas are extremely precarious and have been threatened with eviction by environmental agencies as well as other authorities. However, their residents are already some of the most vulnerable in the city, who had no other choice than building on very risky ground. These threats further increase their vulnerability whilst reducing their capacity to plan and improve their lives.

To learn more about how the threat of eviction effects residents in these settlements, please see videos 2.11 and 2.12. The locations from this video and more information on the settlements are available on the Freetown interactive map at point 8 (CKG) and point 9 (Cockle Bay).