Mozambique’s Maputo National Park balances the needs of humans and wildlife

By Refinaldo Chilengue for Prestigio Magazine

Conservationists are using a variety of tactics to maintain a relative harmonious coexistence between humans, flora and fauna in Mozambique’s Maputo National Park (PNM), an area until recently known as a Special Reserve of Maputo, located in the district of Matutuine in the south of Mozambique.

The combined efforts mean authorities at PNM manage to mitigate the human-wildlife conflict and avoid costly resettlement operations for populations long established within the perimeter of this conservation area.

The Pfuka Guengo Association (i.e. Acorda Guengo), is part of the strategy adopted by the PNM managers, with support from several partners, including the Joaquim Chissano Foundation, Peace Parks Foundation, ComON Foundation and Mozbio.

The Pfuka Guengo Association, which brings together 22 members, 20 women and two men, develops activities such as conservation agriculture and beekeeping, under the auspices of specialists provided by the PNM.

The agronomist Gil Muthemba, who has worked for the PNM for 14 years, helps members of the Pfuka Guengo Association to generate extraordinary results in a portion of land located in the buffer zone, where some members previously survived by exploiting the flora and fauna in the area.

It also includes Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve, which is very rich in habitats, virgin

beaches, mangroves, meadows, coastal forests on dunes, several lagoons, still hosting about 350 species of birds, thus making the area a paradise for birdwatchers.

“Here we do conservation agriculture, which is in harmony with nature, especially because our products are preferred by consumers because they are organic,” said Muthemba, who says he has no reason to complain about the response to market demand.

Sisters Filda and Teresa Sibia, 46 and 40 years old, respectively, both widows, are part of the Pfuka Guengo Association, and today they say they are “happy and fulfilled”, when compared to the “difficult times” spent during adolescence. They escaped to South Africa at the height of Mozambique’s civil war, living as refugees because their hometown, Matutuine, was ravaged by the war.

“In Manguzi we were very ill, we worked as domestic servants and were also exploited in the agricultural fields of South African farmers and, as minors and war refugees, we had little room for manoeuvre or negotiation skills. We just had to submit to the imposed conditions,” recalls Filda, with her sister Teresa, who today holds a management position at the Pfuka Guengo Association.

The two women, now each with their own home, are part of the group of families that have voluntarily left the park grounds and settled in the buffer zone, where they practise multiple conservation activities for their livelihood.

“Today I enjoy some financial independence. With the income from the Pfuka Guengo

Association I can buy food and seeds for my agricultural fields. The idea now is to build a house with definitive material to prevent animals, especially elephants, from tormenting me,” said Teresa.

“Meanwhile, I live in a house strategically built to resist the onslaughts of the elephants,” she added, pointing to a picturesque house reinforced with huge tree trunks to withstand elephant interference.

“When the elephant is unable to knock something down with its legs or trunk, it will look for a branch and will hit the target,”said Rodolfo Cumbane, conservation officer at PNM, referring that to minimise damage, the tourist resort has trained community members to help control violent animals.

The discomfort created by the incursions of animals on residents established within the PNM, combined with the absence of social infrastructure, especially canteens, schools and hospitals, end up encouraging people to choose to settle in the buffer zones.

“We here at the PNM do not promote resettlement programs as such, because it is complex and costly, but some people have asked to leave the park for other areas of their choice and we support them, within the scope of the voluntary departures program,” said Cumbane.

Maputo National Park has the status of a special area on the basis of Legislative Diploma nº994 of 23 July 1960 and today occupies approximately 104,000 hectares.

The expectation today is that the approximate 130 families still living within PNM understand that the best place to live is the buffer zone.

“One day we will have the area reserved for conservation without human inhabitants, because those who are already outside are sending persuasive messages to those who are still here, in addition to the fact that living with the animals is not the best,” says Cumbane.

The PNM conservation officer changes his countenance when it comes time to detail the map of fatal events that in two years resulted in the death of five people in the area.

He added that while people remain inside the park, mitigation measures are being applied to scare away wild animals, without resorting to the use of lethal means. For this purpose, lanterns, chilli peppers, burnt oil and other techniques are used, including reflective tapes.

In addition to encouraging the creation of the Pfuka Guengo Association and supporting its functioning, the PNM also helps communities in the buffer zone with other initiatives, including the creation of girls; clubs, environmental clubs, offering scholarships mainly for the benefit of girls, and training in arts and crafts to a total of 72 community members, mostly young people, as Cumbane assured us.

This article is reproduced here as part of the African Conservation Journalism Programme, funded in Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe by USAID’s VukaNow: Activity. Implemented by the international conservation organization Space for Giants, it aims to expand the reach of conservation and environmental journalism in Africa, and bring more African voices into the international conservation debate. Written articles from the Mozambican and Angolan cohorts are translated from Portuguese. Broadcast stories remain in the original language.

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