The government of Nampula province, northern Mozambique, has defended the need to join forces with various institutions to tackle the challenges related to the exploration and environmental protection of the Primeiras and Segundas Islands, which also cover Zambézia province.
According to the newspaper Noticias, the appeal was made recently by the director of the Environment Service in Nampula, José Luís, representing the provincial secretary of state, during the closing of the first training course for wildlife and marine inspectors.
According to the official, the environmental protection area of those islands, which includes the districts of Moma, Angoche and Larde in Nampula and Pehane in Zambezia, faces various threats to its biodiversity, caused by the illegal commercialisation of endangered fauna, predatory fishing, marine pollution and the destruction of natural habitats.
To face these challenges, José Luís emphasised the importance of coordinated actions between the government, local communities, partners and other entities, in order to guarantee a sustainable environmental legacy for future generations.
The director also emphasised that one of the concrete actions that has been adopted to protect biodiversity in the archipelago of the First and Second Islands is the training of environmental inspectors who have committed themselves to working to preserve the marine ecosystems of the environmental protection area.
The training of these professionals is one of the activities of the Biodiversity Promotion Project, implemented by the National Administration of Conservation Areas (ANAC), in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund and with funding from the European Union.
The First and Second Islands environmental protection area was declared in 2021 and is the second largest marine conservation area in Africa, covering more than 1,040,000 hectares.
