In Mozambique, due to the high risk of drought, floods, and tropical cyclones and due to the large concentration of population in the coastal area, marine-coastal ecosystems and resources, including mangroves, are of fundamental importance. The conditions of Maputo Bay are excellent for their settlement, growth, and development. The archipelago that brings together Inhaca and the Portuguese Island is very rich in terrestrial and marine biodiversity. The great diversity of organisms and the fragility of the archipelago’s ecosystems were the two crucial factors that led to the establishment of forest and marine reserves on the two islands as early as 1965. The state of ecosystems and natural resources is relatively good, but various studies indicate that the situation could worsen with the growth of demographic and tourist pressure. In the districts, the main economic activities are fishing, subsistence agriculture, and tourism. Inhaca Island, in Maputo Bay, is an exclusive destination for local and international tourism. Tourism, the leisure segment, present on the island is ‘unbalanced’ towards short-term, high-end tourism, confined to hotels and resorts, with limited effects on the local population. KaNyaka, with a population of 6,098, has an illiteracy rate of 27% and 20% of the population has never gone to school. In the Municipality of Matola, the demographic pressure, due to very high population growth between 2007 and 2017, and the insufficiency of public services constitute an element of social difficulty. At the educational level, 23% of the population has not completed any school cycle and 83% has not attended high school. In both districts, there are serious conditions of socio-economic inequality that particularly affect women and girls, who are more exposed to phenomena of exclusion and become victims of crime and violence, both at home and in public spaces. The MangAction project – Preservation and enhancement of the environmental heritage for sustainable and resilient development in Maputo Bay intends to contribute to the definition and implementation of mitigation and adaptation strategies to climate change for vulnerable ecosystems in Mozambique (mangroves), by virtue of their fundamental role in the stabilization of coastal areas, in the provision of ecosystem goods and services and therefore for the role in carbon sequestration.
Promote the conservation and recovery of Mangroves in Maputo Bay as a guarantee of environmental protection and a source of sustainable income, from a gender equity perspective.
The intervention will directly benefit an estimated number of at least 4,913 people, of which approximately 52% women (2,562 women) and 48% men (2,351), in particular 502 beneficiaries in the 6-12 age group, 1,744 belonging to the 13.29 age group and 2,665 belonging to the over 30 age group.
Planned activities
- Promotion of female empowerment and social equity starting from the analysis of existing barriers.
- Promotion of agroforestry techniques in the agricultural production sector and development of alternative activities with low environmental impact and in terms of income diversification.
- Development of activities in the responsible tourism sector with low environmental impact.
- Recovery interventions and sustainable management of degraded forest ecosystems (mangroves and other relevant ecosystems) in the intervention area, including environmental education programs for local communities, with particular attention to children and young people.
- Enhancement and preservation of the natural and cultural heritage of the island of Inhaca.
- Creation of a permanent institutional coordination table between stakeholders involved in the management of the marine-coastal ecosystems of Maputo Bay, as a shared governance mechanism, and development of capacity-building programs for the benefit of officials and technicians of public institutions for the formulation of plans strategic and territorial management.