Mozambique: Illegal loggers fined 110 million meticais so far this year – report

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Mozambique: Illegal loggers fined 110 million meticais so far this year – report

2:11 CAT | 09 Nov 2020

Photo: Domingo

The Mozambican government has reformed the forestry sector and reduced the number of operators in the sector from 1,003 to just 384.

This year alone, 1,578 forestry inspection operations were carried out, culminating in the levying of 1,037 fines for various violations, to a value already exceeding 110 million meticais [about US$1.4 million].

The changes that are taking place in the forestry sector are producing increasingly encouraging results. This year alone, about 3,000 cubic metres of timber logs and 100 cubic metres of sawn timber were seized.

Last year, the Ministry of Land and Environment’s National Forestry Directorate (DNF) collected revenues estimated at 225 million meticais, of which 144 million resulted from licensing, 66 million meticais from fines, about eight million meticais from the sale of seized timber products and another eight million meticais from other sources of income related to the sector.

The increase in revenue springs from the implementation of Decree No. 25/2020, of 5 May, regarding the suspension of the processing of forestry exploitation areas, which reduced the number of forestry operators from 1,003 to 384.

“I believe that everyone is aware of the sector reforms introduced in the last mandate, one of which was controlling the number of operators in both the Simple License and Forestry Concession regimes,” National Director of Forests Imede Falume said.

Of the 1,003 operators licensed last year, 778 fell under the Simple License regime and 225 were forest concession operators. The National Directorate of Forests has applauded the reduction as improving the management of forest resources.

Source: Domingo