Mozambique Country Forestry Note
Mozambique has 34 million hectares (ha) of natural forests, covering 43 percent of its area. The predominant forest ecosystem is the miombo, covering about two thirds of the total forest area. Other forest ecosystems include internationally recogni...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2018
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/147761541432074205/Mozambique-Country-Forestry-Note http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30935 |
| Summary: | Mozambique has 34 million hectares (ha)
of natural forests, covering 43 percent of its area. The
predominant forest ecosystem is the miombo, covering about
two thirds of the total forest area. Other forest ecosystems
include internationally recognized biodiversity hotspots,
such as the coastal forests in the south, afro-montane
forests in central Mozambique, and coastal dry forests in
the north; and the second-largest area of mangroves in
Africa. Forests are an important contributor to the
country’s economy and a source of employment, income, and
livelihoods in Mozambique’s rural areas. The sector
contributed about USD 330 million to GDP in 2011 and
directly employed 22,000 people (FAOSTAT, 2011). Forests
provide goods and services to local communities, including
food, energy, medicine, construction materials and
furniture. In some rural communities, miombo woodlands
contribute almost 20 percent of household cash income and 40
percent of subsistence (non-cash) income. Forests provide
ecosystem services of both local and global value. These
include climate regulation through carbon sequestration and
storage, watershed protection through soil erosion control,
water quality and quantity provision, as well as habitat for
globally important species, such as Africa’s iconic large
mammals and unique endemic species, such as the Gorongosa
Pygmy Chameleon and Vincent’s Bush Squirrel. Based on the
recent National Forest Inventory (NFI, 2018), the country’s
above- and below-ground carbon stock totals more than 5.2
billion tCO2. This carbon store is central to the country’s
climate change mitigation commitments. Promoting sustainable
forest management in Mozambique requires significant
financing, as it entails changing the land use behavior of
millions of smallholders and creating incentives among
national stakeholders to manage forests sustainably, as
opposed to extracting the most from them in the short-term.
Mozambique has developed a Forest Investment Plan that
identifies how resources would be used. Further resource
mobilization is needed to scale it up and replicate it in
other landscapes. |
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