ANAC and Peace Parks Foundation join forces to stop forest devastation
Mozambique’s National Administration of Conservation Areas (ANAC) and its strategic conservation partner Peace Parks Foundation (PPF) are working together on the Inhaca Island in the Maputo Bay to stop devastation of native species forests for the extraction of firewood for bread making and other uses.
To that end, on Saturday both ANAC and PPF handed over 14 gas ovens to as many bakers on Inhaca.
On the island it is also worrisome the unsustainable destruction of extensive areas of mangrove forests and other practices harmful to the health of marine habitats and the entire marine environment and ecosystems.
Te region of Salamanca, an area with the largest vegetated dunes in the world and contained within the Maputo National Park (PNM) and the Maputo Sustainable Use Protection Area, is also facing with the problem of housing construction along the coastline, due to rapid demographic growth.
The ovens were delivered to Inhaca Island on Saturday, by the administrator of Maputo National Park in which the island is part of, Miguel Gonçalves, during an event witnessed by the Mayor of Maputo City, Enéas Comiche, and PPF Community Programme Manager Mateus Bila.
According to Bila, the ovens are a 30 thousand Euros investment, with a token contribution of 14 bakeries.
According to the source, the authorities were forced to speed up the process because both communities and the bakers, in particular, were increasing drastically extraction of wood for fuel, causing an accelerated forest devastation, which in the medium and long term, would have a major impact on the environment.
“This is a turning point in the approach to conservation. During the reserve re-categorisation process to PNM, we identified challenges linked to deforestation. We found out that communities were relying too much on mangrove exploitation and we concluded that it would important to help them to migrate from firewood to clean energy. That’s why we decided to invest on gas ovens ' he said.
Still on the island of Inhaca, the source assured that the consortium of organizations working on cross-border conservation areas, led by PPF, approved a 5-year programme for ecosystems preservation and livelihood diversification, which started last week.
PPF's mandate is conservation, but our mission also include to bring livelihoods to the communities to prevent heavy reliance on fishing”, he said.
For Gonçalves, both PNM and PPF interventions fall within their responsibility to the environment, due to excessive pressure on vegetation for firewood which was already reaching unsustainable levels on the island.
“As you know, the bakeries were very dependent on firewood, with all the consequences that entails. In fact, it was a major cause of concern” said the PNM administrator.
(AIM)
