Maputo — Mozambique loses around 267,000 hectares of forest per year, according to the National Director of Forests, Cláudio Afonso.

The Director, who was speaking in Maputo, on the sidelines of the First Meeting of the Technical Committee for the Implementation of the Maputo Declaration on the Sustainable and Integrated Management of the Miombo Forests, explained that with the forest areas that are lost, Mozambique could have taken advantage of non-timber forest products such as medicinal plants that could provide a great deal of income.

The two day meeting, which was opened by President Filipe Nyusi, will also discuss the regulations governing the functioning of the technical and ministerial committees and the biennial action plan of the eleven countries in the Southern African region that adopted the Miombo declaration.

For the implementation of these actions, Mozambique has already raised around 17 million dollars, out of a total of around 30 million dollars needed for the implementation of the plan of action, which should be in force for a period of two years.

The Miombo forest in Mozambique occurs in the northern part of Inhambane province in the south of the country, and across all of the central and northern provinces.

The pressure on the resources of the Miombo forest, according to Afonso, is at its most intense in the provinces of Zambézia, Nampula, and Niassa, despite the low population density of Niassa.

Participating in the event, among others, are national directors of forests from the eleven countries that adopted the Miombo Declaration, members of the SADC secretariat, staff from related ministries, cooperation partners and members of the "Miombo Network'.

The Miombo declaration was adopted in August 2022 and establishes the need for the countries of Southern Africa to join efforts to increase options for the protection and conservation of the Miombo forest and the development of the Greater Zambezi region.