The Mozambican government is taking part in an international conference in Washington, USA, on 16 and 17 April. At the event, the Executive hopes to mobilise funds to reach the 550 million dollars needed to implement actions to protect the Miombo forest.
“With this conference, we hope to increase the funding package for better implementation of this initiative to protect the Miombo forest,” said the Minister of Land and Environment, Ivete Maibaze.
She recalled that in 2022 an action plan was drawn up with a budget of around 550 million dollars, and that Mozambique has already managed to mobilise 154 million from its partners and is now trying to raise the rest.
Ivete Maibaze revealed that the conference in Washington will kick off with a ministerial meeting and panel discussions, with the head of state, Filipe Nyusi, scheduled to speak on Wednesday (17) and the verbal adoption of the Declaration of Commitment on the Miombo forest.
The meeting, which will be attended by members of the US Congress and African Parliaments, aims to promote investment opportunities within the framework of the implementation of the Maputo Declaration on Miombo, with a view to achieving the goals on climate change, biodiversity conservation and integrated sustainable development.
The Maputo Declaration on the Miombo Forest, signed by Mozambique, Angola, Botswana, Malawi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, establishes priorities for the sustainable management and governance of the natural resources of the Miombo ecosystems.
The forest provides numerous goods and services that guarantee the livelihoods of more than 300 million inhabitants of these countries, including tropical and sub-tropical grasslands, thickets and savannahs, making it the largest tropical dry forest ecosystem in the world. It is responsible for maintaining the Great Zambezi, one of the most important transnational river basins.
According to figures released in 2023 by the national director of Forestry, Cláudio Afonso, Mozambique loses 267,000 hectares of forest every year, pointing out that in the country it extends from the northern part of Inhambane to the provinces of Manica, Tete, Sofala and Zambézia, in the centre, and Nampula, Niassa and Cabo Delgado, in the north.
In July last year, the Global Environment Facilities (GEF) and the Italian Cooperation Agency announced that 17.6 million dollars would be made available to Mozambique for the revitalisation of forest reserves, restoration, institutional support and the implementation of the country’s forest monitoring system.
The event organised by the International Conservation Caucus Foundation (ICCF) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), in partnership with the Mozambican Government, is the result of an initiative implemented in August 2022 by the Mozambican President, Filipe Nyusi, during the signing of the Maputo Declaration on the Miombo Forest.
