The Freetown of Eugenia Kargbo's childhood was idyllic. In the early 1990s, Sierra Leone's capital city was still untouched by civil war, and the nearby rainforest was thick and verdant. "Freetown used to be a very beautiful city," Kargbo told Business Spotlight. "Its hillsides were home to many trees and flowers. Over the last 20 years, we've seen that beauty gradually fade away as a result of urbanization and climate change."
Today, Eugenia Kargbo is Africa's first chief heat officer — a role created in Freetown to help combat the danger of extreme heat to public health. Urban environments tend to trap heat, and many cities are getting hotter, with potentially deadly consequences for the inhabitants, particularly the very young, the elderly and the poor. Around the world, the role of chief heat officer is spreading as communities look for ways to cope with rising temperatures.
The years 2015-2022 were the hottest on record. Globally, there has been a 74 per cent increase in deaths associated with extreme heat since 1980, according to a study published in the medical journal Lancet in 2021. Jennie Stephens, a professor of sustainability science and policy at Northeastern University, in Massachusetts, explains that "extreme heat is one of the most dangerous and acute impacts of the climate crisis, and cities are realizing that they need to focus on how to respond."
In Freetown, temperatures can soar to 40 degrees Celsius during the dry season. Around 35 per cent of the city's residents live in overcrowded shanty towns and are particularly vulnerable.
On the front line of climate change
In 2017, heavy rains caused devastating floods and a landslide in Freetown, killing more than 1,100 people and leaving another 6,000 homeless. Kargbo says this was an "eye-opener" to what climate change really means in this part of the world. Rapid deforestation had created the conditions that caused the landslide, so the United Nations started a programme to help replant the barren countryside.
Initially, Kargbo studied political science at the University of Sierra Leone and business administration in Milan, Italy, before starting a career in finance. Since 2018, she has worked at Freetown City Council, taking on her new role with zeal. She explains that climate migration has caused Freetown's population to rise sharply in recent years. "The population kept growing, and there was a lack of urban planning," she says. "When this opportunity came, I grabbed it, knowing that I have the passion and capacity to really make a difference."
Freetown's mayor, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, began the Transform Freetown initiative, which aims to mitigate the effects of climate change in the city. Kargbo's role as chief heat officer was created as part of this project, supported by the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center at the Atlantic Council.
The Resilience Center's director, Kathy Baughman McLeod, told Business Spotlight that the role of chief heat officer is vital. "Extreme heat is both one of the most overlooked and most deadly climate hazards. It is killing more people around the world than any other climate-driven event, and urban populations are often most at risk. Freetown is on the front line of this crisis. It is the capital of one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world."
Professor Stephens agrees that city authorities must take the danger of rising temperatures seriously and target measures to protect those most at risk. "Rather than responding in a crisis during a specific extreme-heat event, this position allows the city to plan ahead, and create a range of strategies for reducing disruption, suffering and death from extreme heat," she explains.
Awareness and action
In the early days of her job, people were puzzled by Kargbo's title. "We have chiefs here, and they're the heads of different communities," she smiles, referring to the country's members of parliament. "I spent a lot of time explaining my role. When you start having conversations, people understand. They know it's important."
As chief heat officer, Kargbo has had rubbish-dumping sites converted into public gardens with trees that offer shade. She's helped to erect coverings at open-air markets, so that the women selling goods there aren't exposed to direct sunlight. Baughman McLeod says that Kargbo's work directly benefits people. "A large part of the work she does centres on identifying who the most vulnerable people are — and implementing the best interventions to help them. We see excitement and collaboration with Freetown residents. They see the opportunity for projects like the one Eugenia is leading — to build new market-shading infrastructure with solar-powered lights — to keep them cool while also extending the market hours, providing more economic opportunity."
Hunter Jones is a project manager for the National Integrated Heat Health Information System at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), based in Washington, DC. He worked with Kargbo on a heat mapping project, analysing temperatures around Freetown so decision-makers can see where their help is needed most. Jones explains that campaigns make the topic of heat visible and create opportunities for discussions about heat. "Freetown is fortunate to have a chief heat officer who serves as a focal point for this issue, and who is taking action on many fronts," he says.
Action is indeed abound. The #FreetownTheTreeTown campaign was launched in 2020 by the city's mayor, and Eugenia Kargbo is a part of it. Evans Lyndon Baines-Johnson, a project coordinator at Freetown City Council, explains that its aim is "to address the devastating effects of climate change that have plagued a city once known for its beautiful green hills and serene coastline." It is a reforestation initiative, using funding from the World Bank to plant over half a million trees. Its impact has led to increased understanding of global warming in the capital. "Awareness of the importance of trees to biodiversity conservation is slowly growing with residents now electing to plant and care for trees," Baines-Johnson says. "More than 2,000 households have planted trees in and around their compounds."
Hope for the future
For Freetown City Council, the hope is to develop this awareness further. In January 2023, the mayor launched a climate action plan in the city. Along with her colleagues, Kargbo spoke to residents in Freetown as part of the #BeatTheHeat campaign, focused on teaching schoolchildren about climate change and explaining why heat is known as a "silent killer". Kargbo hopes that her work will inspire others. "I hope to create something that other African cities can learn from and leverage," she says. "Together, we can fight climate change."
Sierra Leone's citizens are becoming ever more aware of the effects of climate change on their country — and what they can do to help reduce its impact. In September 2022, Kargbo was listed as one of TIME magazine's next rising stars. As the importance of her work becomes increasingly clear, it is up to other cities and countries to follow suit.