The Government has already restored more than 80% of the mangrove, of the five thousand hectares planned by July of this year, as part of the implementation of the National Program for the Restructuring of the Mangrove Ecosystem, which began in 2021.
Mozambique is an oceanic country that is annually affected by bad weather that endangers marine species as well as the populations living in coastal areas. Mangal is pointed out by the Ministry of Sea, Inland Waters and Fisheries (MIMAIP) as an important resource to solve these problems.
In the country, more than 90 hectares of this ecosystem are devastated annually, a factor that is a concern for MIMAIP, which plans to restore five thousand hectares throughout Mozambique by July of this year.
“As a country that is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, which has plagued us cyclically, such as cyclones, floods, and droughts, the current stage of degradation of the mangrove ecosystem is very worrying. So we have no other alternative: we must act and act now, otherwise we risk mortgaging our future”, explained the Minister of Sea, Inland Waters and Fisheries, Lídia Cardoso quoted by O País.
The minister, who was speaking as part of the World Oceans Day, said that sea pollution, illegal fishing and the proliferation of garbage are other problems that compromise the health of marine ecosystems.
“We must recognize that our subsistence lies in a healthy ocean, in the sustainable exploitation of its resources and, above all, in our collective and integrated action in its defense,” Cardoso justified.
To achieve the goals, MIMAIP has been carrying out strategies to reduce solid waste in the oceans, with more emphasis on the plastic bag, as explained by the national director of Maritime and Fisheries Policies, Felismina Antia.
“We need to discourage the export and marketing of the plastic bag. The goal is to ban it and our action plan will contribute with concrete measures. We have registered tons of this waste in each province, in addition to ‘ghost nets’ that are used for fishing,” Felismina Antia explained.
In order to find strategies for a better preservation of the marine ecosystems, Mozambique will participate in the second United Nations Oceans Conference, which will take place in Lisbon this month.
