Lifeblood to a Wilderness: The Niassa Reserve of Northern Mozambique скачать в хорошем качестве

Lifeblood to a Wilderness: The Niassa Reserve of Northern Mozambique

The Niassa Reserve is situated in the far north of Mozambique, with the Rovuma River forming the borderline with Tanzania. It is the biggest wildlife sanctuary in the country, covering an area of about 16,200 square miles, which is about the size of Switzerland. Although it was proclaimed in 1954 as the country's first game reserve, it had no formal protection until recently. The country was plunged into war in 1964, and during the long period of conflict northern Mozambique was largely depopulated as local communities fled to the safety of neighboring countries. Peace finally came in 1992. The government realized that the people would return to the Niassa, so it was essential to put in a sound management plan to protect the area's wilderness while recognizing crucial human needs. A Norwegian businessman, Halvor Astrup, was instrumental in rehabilitating the Niassa Reserve. He recognized the reserve's inherent potential whilst flying over the area during the civil war. At a time when most of the country's conservation areas were significantly devastated, wildlife numbers, especially elephants, appeared to be relatively healthy. After the end of the war, Astrup became involved in negotiations with the government to demarcate the reserve's boundaries, formulate a management plan and establish the revolutionary concept of a public-private management company to administer the reserve. S.G.D.R.N, headed by Anabela Rodriques, was the private company contracted by the government until 2012, when the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) took over. Astrup paid to establish the basic infrastructure and run the reserve day-to-day. He invested a lot of his personal wealth into development but realized that for the project to work, it had to be self-sustaining. The plan for the reserve was initially modeled on a core, protected area with no consumptive utilization encircled by a buffer zone of hunting concessions. It was understood from the start that it would be difficult to run photographic safaris until wildlife populations were rehabilitated and the reserve's infrastructure developed. However, wildlife numbers in the buffer zones were stable enough to conduct hunting safaris, the key species being elephant and lion.