Help 5 communities restore forests in Mozambique

Exciting news!  Micaia Foundation will very soon begin implementing a 4-year project in Chimanimani that will enable us to scale up work started in the forest restoration project.

With support from GlobalGiving friends, we were able to play an important role in helping communities, devastated by Cyclone Idai, start the process of restoring their forests. In agreement wih local people, we focused on 'useful' plants - trees and shrubs that provide food or medicine for domestic use or even marketing, as well as food for bees, while contributing to plant-based biodiversity. 

Now, with thousands of trees safely established, and communities once again involved in natural resource management, we have a great platform for the new project. Over the next four years, Micaia Foundation will be working with all the communities throughout the buffer zone of Chimanimani National Park. We will be facilitating local land and natural resource mapping as a means of ensuring that local people can have greater security in the face of possible commercial investment. We will also be working to expand opportunities for people to earn part of their livelihood from harvesting and marketing natural products. And this means that we will be building on the forest restoration work by encouraging further planting of indigenous trees and shrubs. 

Another important 'next step' from this small project, is that the communities we are working with will also have the opportunity to collaborate in larger-scale forest restoration to be funded by the Mozambican Government with support from the World Bank. There will soon be a process of consultation with communities, led by the national forest research institute. One of the lasting benefits of GlobalGiving donors' support to Micaia is that it has created capacity (skills, knowledge, and confidence) as well as some practical experience, for communities to get involved and to push for restoration to include more'useful' plants. 

One of the most important elements of the forest's recovery is the support it provides for beekeeping. In the last few years, Micaia has supported a big expansion of beekeeping across the Chimanimani area. The honey produced from the diverse forests is rich and very tasty. Today, more than 700 beekeepers from Chimanimani communities make a living from selling honey to the Mozambique Honey Company, a social enterprise that Micaia helped establish back in 2011. Cyclone Idai destroyed hundreds of beehives, but with support from various partners, Micaia helped beekeepers start over. Now, with the forest recovering, more of the beehives are full and honey is ready for harvesting.

The point is, in a place such as Chimanimani, Mozambique, when the forest thrives, so do the people. 

The COVID-19 pandemic led to the Government of Mozambique declaring a state of emergency and this will stay in place at least until the end of June. We have had to adapt our field activities but we have not stopped work.

As the project draws to a close, we have turned our attention to planning for the future. Having completed the initial phase of planting in the five communities, we recently did a ‘health check’ on the status of the tree seedlings. Our field officer visited all of the communities and went with community members to see a selection of the planted seedlings. We were delighted to learn that almost all of the trees are now well established.

Talking with community members, it was clear that while most people understand the need for conserving the forest, their real focus is on the multiple resources that the forest provides. This includes food, medicine, fire wood, and building materials. It is not surprising, therefore, that people prefer to plant trees that have clear benefits for local people.

In the final phase of the project, therefore, we are preparing a central nursery that will prioritize a small number (7) of the native species that are most valued by local people whilst also being key species in the forest. We have purchased 2,800 additional seedlings to ensure that we can have a further phase of planting out when it is the ideal time, probably in late October. Meanwhile, we have collected seed from the forest and we will endeavour to develop a further stock of seedlings for next year and beyond.

If all goes well, the modest operational costs of the nursery – the Nursery Manager and Assistant – can be covered by selling seedlings to private farmers and also to other development projects.