The country’s timber exports have fallen by 75% in the last four years, totalling 2 million tonnes in 2023, according to a report by the National Statistics Institute (INE), as reported by Lusa.
The document, entitled Basic Environmental Indicators for 2023, reveals that between 2020-23 the quotas for the volume of wood allowed for felling by species progressively decreased. In 2023, the reduction was 12.7% compared to the previous year, with the volume of wood available for felling reaching 49,525 cubic metres, of which 5,369 cubic metres of species considered ‘precious’, such as chacate-preto or pau-preto.
INE emphasises that this reduction in felling quotas has had a direct impact on timber exports. In 2019, the volume exported peaked at 7923 million tonnes, but since then the country has seen consecutive falls: 3132 million tonnes in 2020, 2276 million tonnes in 2021, and 2649 million tonnes in 2022.
The report also highlights that the amount of wood processed into logs, i.e. without industrial processing, fell in 2023 to the lowest value since 2020, totalling 50,027 cubic metres.
The 2023 Basic Environmental Indicators data is based on the collection and processing of administrative data provided by the sectors that deal directly or indirectly with environmental issues, according to INE.
In addition to the drop in exports, Mozambique loses around 267,000 hectares of forest every year, according to information provided by the national director of Forestry, Cláudio Afonso. ‘We have registered some concerns because around 267,000 hectares of forest are lost every year,’ he said during the first meeting of the Technical Committee for the Operationalisation of the Maputo Declaration on the Sustainable and Integrated Management of the Miombo Forest, held in July.
To mitigate the effects of forest loss, the global fund announced in July 2023 that it would make 764.2 million meticals available to revitalise Mozambique’s forest reserves, support ecological restoration and implement forest monitoring systems. In addition, the Italian Cooperation Agency pledged to invest a further 318.4 million meticals to support the sustainable management of Mozambique’s forests.
