Weather Alert: Heatwave in southern Mozambique until Friday - INAM
In File Club of Mozambique
The Mozambican authorities on Wednesday seized four trucks containing about 100 cubic metres of illegally logged African blackwood (or “pau preto”) in the locality of Cazuzu, in the northern province of Nampula.
Forest wardens say that the drivers of the trucks were unable to produce documentation proving that they had acquired the logs legally. The wardens believe that the timber comes from illegal logging activities in the Gile forestry reserve in the neighbouring province of Zambezia.
“According to the law, each of these trucks should be fined 500,000 meticais (10,000 US dollars, at current exchange rates), and this money will all revert in favour of the state”, said Luis Sandes, head of the Nampula provincial forestry and wildlife services.
African blackwood is a species threatened with extinction in Mozambique, and so the government recently suspended all exploitation of this species for a five year period, in an attempt to allow reforestation,
Despite this, large trucks have regularly been seen leaving the Gile Reserve loaded with logs of African blackwood and other previous hardwoods.
Leave a Reply
Be the First to Comment!
You must be logged in to post a comment.
You must be logged in to post a comment.