Covid-19: BIOFUND to support salaries of almost 1,000 environmental rangers in Mozambique

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Covid-19: BIOFUND to support salaries of almost 1,000 environmental rangers in Mozambique

1:49 CAT | 29 Jul 2020

File photo: BIOFUND

A fund announced in Mozambique in June will help pay the salaries of around 1,000 environmental rangers and inspectors who have seen their revenues drop because of the fall in the number of visitors caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The initiative is from BIOFUND, the Foundation for the Conservation of Biodiversity and is valued at US$3 million.

“The action will be implemented in two phases, the first of which will provide direct support to the public sector to cover the salary costs of approximately 150 rangers, and to the private sector to cover 50% of the salary costs of its rangers, currently estimated at 800 people,” BIOFUND says in a statement.

The first phase of support should last six months “and will be followed by a second phase, more comprehensive in terms of duration and support to be provided, depending on the evolution of the pandemic in the country,” the statement adds.

The action is called BIO-Emergency Fund, with the motto “Protecting Natural Resources in Times of Crisis”. Its objective is “to ensure the jobs of rangers, inspectors and essential personnel to support the inspection of conservation areas during the period of the crisis caused by the pandemic”.

The crisis “significantly affects revenues from tourism and biodiversity conservation areas”, it concludes.

According to the announcement made on June 10, the plan provides for the immediate availability “of a non-reimbursable support fund” and, in the second phase, support will also be given “to communities in immediately bordering areas, which, as a result of the Covid-19, have lost some of their usual income”.

Reducing the number of front-line environmental protection staff “cannot be an option,” BIOFUND asserts.

Mozambique had by Wednesday (July 29) a cumulative total of 1,748 cases of Covid-19, with 11 deaths and 616 recoveries.

Source: Lusa