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The village of Nhamacuenguere, located in the Gorongosa National Park (PNG) buffer zone in Dondo district, Sofala province, may have a community conservation area by the end of the year.
The possibility was raised by Armando Araman, director of Conservation and Community Development Services in this region of the country, during a public hearing on the proposal to create such a space.
According to Araman, the purpose of the consultation was to hear reaction to the proposal from different social strata.
Another motivation, Araman said, was the resurgence of Gorongosa, where the wildlife population had increased, spreading different species into areas where communities practice subsistence activities.
“In light of this, in coordination with the government, we saw that it was necessary to give back to communities rights to natural resources, and the best way was to create an alternative which can conduct the integrated management of wildlife, forests and others,” he explained.
Araman stressed that such an interest was expressed through participation with the community itself.
The community had also designated the area to be allocated for the creation of the community conservation area – 5,000 hectares in the western part of Nhamacuenguere.
Regarding the animals most often seen in the village, Araman mentioned waterbuck (pivas), elephant, buffalo and lion as among other species whose numbers had grown the most.
After public consultation, the next step will be to produce a proposal to be discussed by the Technical Council of the Ministry of Land and Environment, Araman explained.
The Secretary of State in Sofala, Stella Zeca, remarked that the conservation area would constitute a space for sustainable use in the public and community domain, delimited under the management of one or more local communities holding the right to use and enjoy the land (DUAT rights).
Zeca emphasised that these communities must acknowledge the ecological value of the resource, protect and conserve the resource, and establish sustainable use and management models to increase their income.
The creation of a community conservation, Zeca said, presupposed the active participation of the communities in its use, and a better framework for such enjoyment.
The secretary of state said that the consultation meeting aimed to gather opinions to enrich the proposal to create a community conservation area in the village of Nhamacuenguere, in Dondo district.
The community leader of the Nhamacuenguere area, Lucas Quembo, declared himself pleased with the idea of creating a community conservation area locally, and said that such a step would be very important for the population.
Quembo noted that animals create many problems for farmers, especially during planting, when much was destroyed by species escaping the park, while others attacked people.
He welcomed the possibility that the initiative might create more jobs for residents of the region, while at the same time making it more attractive to tourists.
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