Perceptions of the forestry and wildlife policy by the local communities living in the Maputo Elephant Reserve, Mozambique

A survey was undertaken in the Maputo Elephant Reserve to establish the level of people's dependence on wildlife, and their perceptions of the extant Forest and Wildlife Policy and the associated legislation, including the new Land law. The underlying assumption was that the local communities residing in the Reserve may not have been involved, or consulted in the process of formulating the policy and legislation. Results overwhelmingly confirmed this hypothesis - as 65% of the community members interviewed were unaware of the approved Forest and Wildlife Policy, and associated Legislation. 74% had never even heard of the new Land Law, 88% indicated they were not involved in any management of natural resources in the Reserve, and the majority, 53% had never even heard of any community-based natural resource management programme. The widespread unawareness of the various enabling mechanisms established by the Mozambican Government to ensure that rural people actively participate in, and sustainably and tangibly benefit from the management of natural resources is of great concern. More particularly so, as the frameworks, and strategies for achieving this have been developed under the Transfrontier Conservation Areas Project (TFCA). This study recommends, inter alia: (i) that the Directorate for Forestry and Wildlife establishes a Community Education and Public Relations Unit (CEPRU) in the Maputo TFCA in order to improve community awareness of the opportunities, and various enabling policies and legislation, especially with respect to communities' rights vis-a-vis ownership of land and the associated natural resources; (ii) the introduction of community-based tourism as a means of diversifying communities' income base. Currently nearly 82% of community members in the Reserve depend on consumptive use of wildlife, and as the human population grows the pressure may overwhelm the resource base. Generation of revenues through community-based tourism may be an incentive for communities to adopt biodiversity conservation based market economy as an alternative to their subsistence livelihood styles.