Leaders representing eight coastal communities along the Western Area Peninsula have signed a declaration committing to joint management and protection of the region’s beaches, in a ceremony held at Bureh Beach on September 28.

The declaration was signed during a coastal dialogue meeting organised by the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs (MTCA) to mark World Tourism Day, and lays out a shared framework for sustainable coastal management, environmental resilience, and tourism development along the Peninsula.

The Western Area Peninsula’s beaches, including Bureh, Lakka, Tokeh, and River No. 2, are among Sierra Leone’s most visited tourist destinations and a source of livelihood for surrounding fishing and hospitality communities. Organisers of the dialogue framed the declaration as a way to balance growing visitor numbers with protection of the coastline and the interests of the communities who live along it.

MTCA has been engaging coastal communities on environmental protection measures over the past year as part of a broader push to grow tourism as a pillar of the economy alongside mining and agriculture.