Maputo — The Foundation for the Conservation of Biodiversity (BIOFUND), a Mozambican non-governmental organization, has around 100 million dollars available over the next seven years to support biodiversity conservation initiatives.
The figure was announced on Thursday, in Maputo, by the Coordinator of BIOFUND's Biodiversity Offset Program, Denise Nicolau, at the opening of a Conference on Marine Biodiversity.
According to the coordinator, taking into account the role played by the government in the process, the amount will be used to strengthen marine, terrestrial, coastal and aquatic conservation.
"In this process, the government has a legal framework in the marine conservation sector and marine policies for companies that develop activities in the maritime zone', Nicolau said, adding that the country has been struggling with the over-exploitation of marine resources practiced by artisanal and industrial fishermen.
Therefore, she said, the country must advance with robust laws and legal instruments that oblige the sector to comply with national biodiversity targets.
"The government must continuously engage in the preservation and conservation of biodiversity through legislation', she said.
For his part, the general director of the Solo Graphic Institute of Mozambique, António Hoguane, who is also the Chair of Marine Sciences at Maputo's Eduardo Mondlane University, said that in 2020 the government started an intensive program to restore the country's mangrove forests.
"As a result of this initiative, 6,000 hectares of mangroves have been restored, exceeding the target of 5,000 hectares by 2024,' he said, adding that "the advances in restoration are due to the inspection service carried out by the National Maritime Institute, which has carried out inspection activities on a national scale.'
Hoguane stressed that the recovery of ecosystems has improved the lives of communities in several domains.
"In areas that were once affected by the intrusion of sea water, which did not allow the development of agriculture, farming is now possible, as the mangroves prevent the expansion of sea water into cultivated areas', he said.
The two-day event counts on the collaboration of Mozambique's Ministry of the Sea, Inland Waters and Fisheries, and the Peace Parks Foundation, among other partners.
