Conservation planning in Maputaland

Introduction

The project "Transnational conservation planning in the Maputaland centre of endemism, southern Africa" was initiated in June 2003. It is based at the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology and funded by the British Government through their Darwin Initiative for the Survival of Species.

The Maputaland centre of endemism (MCE) is an area of approximately 20,000 km that covers parts of Mozambique, South Africa and Swaziland. It is internationally recognised for its conservation value, as it contains high numbers of endemic plant and bird species, five internationally important wetlands and a World Heritage Site.

Unfortunately, this unique biodiversity is increasingly threatened by the spread of subsistence agriculture and over-harvesting, which are the product of the region’s nutrient-poor soils and high poverty levels.

As a result, there is a need for a conservation planning system to underpin the Trilateral Protocol signed in 2000 to create a Transfrontier Conservation Area, which recognises ecotourism and natural resource harvesting as the optimal forms of land use. Existing planning projects are hampered by a lack of capacity and suitable data and, in some instances, an ad hoc approach that does not involve the relevant stakeholders.

This project seeks to address these problems by producing a user-friendly conservation planning system to identify optimal land-use systems. This project also seeks to build institutional capacity, both by providing outside help and by strengthening links between the three nations.

Latest news:

10/2/07 - Final project newsletter now available

10/12/06 - Conservation planning report now available