Mozambique launches new Forest Information System

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Mozambique launches new Forest Information System

2:47 CAT | 29 Mar 2022

The World Bank estimates that Mozambique loses 256,000 hectares of forest annually. [Photo: Twiter / @FAOMozambique]

The Mozambican authorities launched, in Maputo on Monday, a digital Forestry Information System (SIF) that will promote transparency, compliance with legislation and the computerization of forestry information.

It is estimated that Mozambique has 31.7 million hectares of forests, with at least 449 species of trees and a volume of 800 million cubic metres of wood.

The World Bank representative Ivan Remane, who attended the recent dissemination of the results of the Forest Operators and Governance assessment in Mozambique, said that the main causes of deforestation were the burning or clearing of areas of forest to make space for crops and livestock, illegal logging and the exploitation of forests for the production of firewood and charcoal.

These factors contribute to the loss of thousands of hectares of forests in the country, and the World Bank is injecting more money to protect natural resources.

“In this context, the World Bank, through the ‘Mozffet’ forestry investment project, has institutionally supported the forestry sector. The World Bank, in recent years, has increased its support to the Government of Mozambique, currently worth around US$900 million spread across projects managed by the Ministries of Land and Environment, Agriculture and Rural Development, and Fisheries, Sea and Inland Waters, with a view to the promotion and sustainable management of natural resources, including forests,” Remans detailed.

Deputy Minister of Land and Environment, Fernando Bemane de Sousa, said that the Forest Information System (SIF), due to come into operation on April 1st, would improve the management and sustainable use of forests and ensure the standardisation and alignment of operating processes.

“All forestry operators, industries, inspection and monitoring units of the value chains of forest products will benefit from this system,” he said. “The SIF will also give the rural communities that live around forested areas, greater transparency in the benefits and rights granted to them,” he asserted.

And one of the innovations of the SIF is the real-time issuing of forestry licences, as demonstrated by a technician from the Ministry of Land and Environment.

The SIF has technical support from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, FAO representative Hernâni Coelho Da Silva explained: “This system can capture and manage information in real time, in order to guarantee greater commitment to the management of forest resources.”

By Amandio Borges

*É oficial✅. O Ministério de Terra e Ambiente, com apoio técnico da @FAO, lançou hoje, em Maputo, o Sistema de Informação Florestal (SIF) que, a partir do dia 1 de abril, passará a ser usado em todo o País* #Mozambique #forestsystem #forests pic.twitter.com/eFMhC8ylxq

— FAO Mozambique (@FAOMozambique) March 28, 2022