Niassa, Mozambique, Oct. 18, 2024 (Lusa) - The Niassa Special Reserve (REN), the largest in Mozambique, needs $8.4 million (€7.7 million) annually for management and maintenance, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the protected area's co-manager, announced on Friday.
‘This indicator reflects that we are still far below the 50% of needs,’ said Afonso Madopo, director of WCS during the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the creation of the REN, a date marked on Thursday.
The Niassa Special Reserve is managed under a public-private partnership with the Government of Mozambique through the National Administration of Conservation Areas (ANAC) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).
‘These investments have been crucial not only for biodiversity conservation but also for the socio-economic development of the communities,’ said Afonso Madopo.
Established in 1960, the Niassa Game Reserve - created as a game reserve on 9 October 1954 - located in the north of the country, is the largest protected area in Mozambique, covering 42,400 square kilometres, and is home to some of the largest populations of species in the country, such as elephants, lions, leopards, buffalo and others.
The reserve is part of the Niassa-Selous Transfrontier Conservation Area, which was established through a bilateral agreement between Mozambique and Tanzania.
According to information from the Ministry of Land and Environment on the 70th anniversary, investments and legal reforms over the last ten years ‘have brought new dynamics and huge gains to conservation areas, particularly the Niassa Special Reserve’.
‘The reduction in illegal activities, with the highlight being the zero deaths of elephants by poachers as of 2019 and for three consecutive years, and the growing increase in fauna in the order of 10% to 27% are some of the greatest achievements of the government and the reserve's administration in particular,’ the information adds.
Also at the REN anniversary ceremony, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which has funded various environmental programmes in the area, said it will continue to do so in the coming years.
‘We will continue to support initiatives that conserve wildlife and empower communities to protect their natural resources,’ said Helen Pataki, USAID's director in Mozambique.
According to WCS data, it is estimated that the Niassa National Reserve represents 21% of Mozambique's Protected Areas Network and 51% of its parks and land reserves, making it "part of an elite and increasingly rare group of only seven protected 'mega-areas'" in sub-Saharan Africa.
According to WCS, the main challenges in the Niassa National Reserve are the need to increase and train the number of inspectors, increase aerial surveillance, increase the means to enable a more reactive, proactive and efficient monitoring and inspection capacity and establish more partnerships to cover the costs of training and the acquisition of means to mitigate human-wildlife conflict and community work.
PVJ/ADB // ADB.
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