More than 15 thousand hectares of native forest burn every year in Cabo Delgado, due to uncontrolled burnings, a phenomenon that worries the environment sector, which fights to stop deforestation, restoring the devastated species by planting seedlings.
According to Reinaldo Germano, director of the Provincial Environment Services, the uncontrolled burnings are not the only cause of forest destruction, having pointed out the itinerant agriculture, uncontrolled exploration of wood, firewood and coal production as being other forms that devastate extensive areas in Cabo Delgado.
These data were made public in the community of Ntocota, district of Metuge, as part of the celebrations of March 21, World Forests Day.
According to Germano, this year, the sector has planned to plant one thousand seedlings in each of the 22 centers that receive people displaced from the terrorist attacks in Cabo Delgado.
He justified that the measure aims to plant trees in these places, since they suffer a lot of pressure for extraction by the families settled there. Besides this effort, he also referred to the planting of native species by the timber operators who annually contribute with 600 thousand seedlings.
Still according to Reinaldo Germano, the province has a potential of about 3.7 million hectares of native forest and last year, the sector contributed with 22 million meticais to the State coffers, as a result of the licensing of timber exploration.
He also stated that this year, the sector expects to channel a little more than two million meticais to the local communities where the timber operators operate. This amount, he said, is part of the 20% of the licensing, destined to benefit the communities. Germano indicated that besides the replacement of the plants, the sector also promotes the conservation of species.
The ceremonies for March 21 in Cabo Delgado were directed by the Secretary of State of Cabo Delgado province, Armindo Ngunga, who in his speech referred to the importance of forests, stating that it is urgent to raise the population’s awareness for the valorization of this resource.
