Parque Nacional da Gorongosa Moçambique

50th Anniversary Celebration of GNP (1960 – 2010) - Speech by Greg Carr

Jul 24, 2010 - Gorongosa National Park

Speech by Greg Carr, member of the Oversight Committee of the Gorongosa Restoration Project, during the 50th Anniversary Celebration (1960 – 2010) of Gorongosa National Park.

"As we all know, the earth was formed 4.5 billion years ago.  
One billion years ago the first multi-celled life appeared. 
470 million years ago, land plants emerged.
And then, insects, reptiles, mammals and birds. 
200,000 years ago, humans who look like us first walked the earth.   

We humans, latecomers to the planet, now number 6.8 billion individuals.  There will be at least 9 billion of us by mid-century.   And what about the population of the other species? 
As our numbers grow, we cause their extinction.   Why?
For one: habitat destruction – natural ecosystems are lost to expanding city and suburban settlement, to commercial forestry, commercial farming, overgrazing, over use of fire, soil erosion and mining. 

Global warming is causing changes to habitats.  Species with a narrow range of tolerance are going extinct.  Species who depend on them will go extinct, in a death spiral.  Scientists estimate we might lose 25% of all species this century (plants and animals).

Should we infer that humans are doing well as we dominate the planet? 
No.  At least 2 billion of the coming increase of 2.5 billion additional humans will be among the poorest of the poor, many of whom live on less than $2 / day--the people most vulnerable to habitat loss, climate fluctuations, flooding, drought, and depleted soils. 

The greater Gorongosa ecosystem is a microcosm of this planet-wide story. 
Our community neighbors are some of the poorest people in the world. 
Our ecosystem is stressed with deforestation, declining and polluted watersheds, extirpation of species, and degraded farmland.  


Gorongosa Anniversary and Restoration
This year we celebrate the 50-year anniversary of Gorongosa Park—a world treasure of biodiversity.  If Gorongosa and other nature reserves around the world flourish, they can play a large role in protecting species and their habitats, so that we won’t--necessarily--lose a quarter of the earth’s species this century. 

However, we have a new philosophy about the purpose of national parks than we did 50 years ago.  We now recognize that a national park must help the human beings who live around it and not only preserve nature.  The twenty-year “public private partnership” for the co-management of Gorongosa’s restoration provides us with a mandate to pursue the duel objectives of human development and biodiversity protection.  Indeed, anyone who excludes one goal or the other from their perspective is missing the point about the interconnectedness of the two. 

Humans need nature:  ecosystems provide clean air, water, fertile soil, shelter, nutrition, a multitude of natural resources, aesthetic and spiritual rewards.  Conversely, nature needs us.  Natural ecosystems will not survive unless humans are motivated to conserve them. 
To generate the political will for conservation human needs must be addressed as we ask societies to set aside and protect biodiversity hot spots.   

A piece of local African wisdom illuminates that we are one with nature: 
I quote:  “We recognize the power of the almighty through a thunderous storm; we feel the reliability and comfort of the eternal with the rising sun;  we celebrate nature’s many qualities apparent or hidden in every form.  Each plant, rock, animal and person tells the story of creation and serves to nurture, teach and guide us on life’s journeys.” 

Pursuing the challenges of biodiversity protection and human development does not need to create a loser for one side as it creates a winner for the other.  The activities of our project support both goals: 
--sustainable agriculture protects the soil as it increases farm yields; 
--eco-tourism provides employment, which values the ecosystem intact (tourists want to see animals, trees and beautiful landscapes), 
--healthy hydrological systems provide clean water for both nature and humans,
--forestry projects restore mountainsides as they create jobs, cool the air and preserve the earth,  medicinal plants and other sustainable forest products. 

Community Education Center
Today we inaugurate our new Community Education Center as we celebrate the Park’s birthday.  The Center will be the location where the multi-disciplinary efforts converge.  The debates at our project are vigorous. We experience a collision of passions by those practitioners who are concerned about these serious issues—both human and environmental.

The professions of ecology, forestry, wildlife science, agronomy, human health, land planning, economics, social science, ecotourism and more…all must collaborate in the planning and execution of the Gorongosa Restoration Project--and rely upon local knowledge and local leaders--in order for this interconnected ecosystem to support its multiple constituents, large and small. 
 
In closing, I would like to quote from Nelson Mandela, who said: 

 “…the first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself. Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility.”

This project will give all of us an opportunity to grow our own characters—
as we learn from our mistakes, as we negotiate conflicts with each other and open our minds to other perspectives, as we humble ourselves, and as we dissolve our egos through immersion in this greater ecosystem, of which we are just one component."


Gorongosa, 23rd of July, 2010
Greg Carr