FAO support for Mozambique’s forestry sector

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FAO support for Mozambique’s forestry sector

9:17 CAT | 03 May 2018

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has announced that it is to make 500,000 euros (just under 600,000 US dollars) available to support the fight against illegal logging in Mozambique.

According to an FAO press release, illegal logging is a barrier to the establishment and maintenance of efficient markets and sustainable logging practices in a global economy that increasingly requires guarantees that timber production is legal and sustainable. In addition, FAO warns that illicit practices have resulted in increased environmental damage and loss of revenue for the government of Mozambique.

Therefore, FAO has taken the decision to provide the funding to support government institutions, civil society, and the private sector in their efforts to combat illegal logging and support the legal trade in forest products.

The programme will focus on reforms in governance and capacity building to help meet European Union standards for timber exports. It will be guided by the roadmap of the working group made up of the National Directorate of Forests, the European Union, and FAO.

In the first phase grants of up to 55,000 euros are available for strengthening wood tracing, whilst in the second phase grants of up to 100,000 euros will be available for pilot projects to research, design, and test a timber tracing system in strategic areas. Grants will also be given for the formalisation of committees on natural resource management for the monitoring and control of forest resources.

Last November, the Minister of Land, Environment and Rural Development, Celso Correia, warned that although forests still cover just over half of the country, this percentage is declining. He explained that this was due to slash and burn agriculture, the exploitation of wood fuel, notably charcoal, and illegal logging. According to the minister, the rate of deforestation is about 0.58 per cent annually – which means that about 219,000 hectares of forest cover is being lost every year.

Source: AIM