Speaking at the opening of the meeting, Environment Minister Luciano de Castro said that the initiative, involving 25 NGOs, should serve as a means for publicising environmental rules among Mozambican communities.
Through this initiatives, he added, the government hoped to strengthen the institutional and legal framework for the sustainable use of natural resources, through territorial planning and organisation, preventing and combatting environmental degradation, and ensuring community participation in environmental management.
"We have to ensure that natural resources are used in a rational and harmonious way, and that decisions on implementing activities that could damage the environment are preceded by assessment, thus guaranteeing sustainable development and the success of the Poverty Reduction Action Plan (PARPA)", said Castro.
The environmental strategy for the sustainable development of Mozambique, he added, recognised the importance of terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems, on all of which economic activities have been making a growing impact that needs to be controlled.
As part of this work, the Minister said, Mozambique now has reports and studies on the environmental state of its lakes, and coastal management projects for the Indian Ocean coast of Gaza and Inhambane provinces, and for the shoreline of Lake Niassa, by far the largest body of fresh water in the country.
He said that the government is proposing certain key environmental and biodiversity areas, such as the Bazaruto archipelago, off the Inhambane coast, and the Machangula peninsula and Ponta do Ouro, in Maputo province, for the status of world heritage sites.
SOURCE: AIM
