Parque Nacional da Gorongosa Moçambique

Community of Nhangúo receives 20 percent of GNP revenues

Nov 27, 2009 - Gorongosa National Park

The Gorongosa District Government, on the past 27th of October, proceeded with the assignment of a cheque of 88.623,95 MT in favor of the community of Nhangúo, represented by the Ngaiwanwe Nhangúo Association, led by the local Natural Resources Management Committee.

The monetary value corresponds to the quotient of division of 20 percent of the revenues derived from the tourism fees of Gorongosa National Park (GNP), regarding the 2007 economic outcome.  An equal value was proportioned by four among 15 resident communities in the buffer zone of the conservation area now referred to as namely Nhambita, Tambarara and Sandjungira.  They all benefited in an equal amount the past year, in the scope of the Mozambican legislation about forests and wildlife. 

Nhanguo receives its portion late because only recently has it obtained a bank account in which the consigned profit money was transferred by the licensed entity. 

The presentation ceremony united members of the district and local government, representatives of GNP, leaders of community authorities, people of the region and of other nearby zones, among other guests. 

The administrator of the district of Gorongosa, speaking in the occasion, said that "GNP is a national heritage and generates benefits for Mozambicans", of whom he asked "the greatest involvement of everybody in its conservation is through the inspection and management of uncontrolled burnings, poaching, deforestation as well as the removal of the vegetation cover along the hydrographic basins". 

João Oliveira explained that without ecosystems the Park will stop being a place of tourist appeal and will consequently stop generating socioeconomic benefits for the local communities and the Country in general. 

"If animals are killed, trees are cut and farms are made along he rivers, the tourists will not have more reasons for visit Gorongosa and the Park will remain without money to continue building schools, hospitals and fountains, finance community development projects, create job opportunities, and contributing to the profits of the State" – he concluded. 
 

In his turn, the director of GNP Community Relations, Mateus Mutemba, described the origin and the form of deduction of the percentage of the 88.623,95 MT delivered, as being within the signed long-term management Agreement between the Government of Mozambique and the "Gorongosa Restoration Project" (formerly-Carr Foundation), aiming at the restoration of GNP. 

In parallel, he appealed for the reinforcement of good neighborhood relations between the surrounding communities, aiming at the protection, conservation and promotion of the sustainable use of natural resources. 

The vigorous appeal was released regarding Nhangúo doing less in matter of defense of the integrity of that area of total protection.  "Several fires reached the Sanctuary of the PNG in the beginning of the past September, however, the register of the fire detection satellite images indicated that some of them had begun in this community", referred Mateus Mutemba. 

In another development, he explained that "starting from next year the distribution of the 20 percent of the profits consigned in favor of the communities of the buffer zone will be on the basis of the level of their participation in the conservation of the Park, meaning, those who work will receive more money and those who take on less will have little reward".  For this, he said, the Park will sign agreements of conservation with each one of the communities of the park buffer zone, establishing all the rules and obligations of each part.


Nhangúo commits to controlling burnings and hunting
The community of Nhangúo, with more than two thousand people, publicly assumed in the end of the action, a commitment to preserve the distinct ecosystems of GNP. 

The president of the Natural Resources Management Committee, Martinho António, when he spoke to those present in the name of the collective said "we are happy with what just happened.  Nobody of the zone believed in the availability of 20 percent of the profits of the Park in our favor.  We thought that was a lie of the Government when they spoke if it". 

Knowing the certainty of the benefits, Martinho António, lent an oath in which said "if we set fires and hunted animals of the Park, from today we will stop doing so”, under the strong applause of the participants, in gesture of agreement to the abandonment of the previously practiced illicit activities. 



The Community already decided in what to invest
Being impossible to resolve all of their needs with the funding received, the population of the chiefdom of Nhangúo, in the locality of Púnguè, in Gorongosa, has many, but it already knows how the money will be used. 

According to Francisco Júnior, member of the Natural Resources Management Committee, the community that was united there days ago in a consultative forum with an aim to enlist the local problems and in the respective prioritization, decided to use the budget for the construction of an emergency post in the region and that which, by happiness remain, will be used in the financing of agricultural projects.  Nhangúo is one of the communities in which GNP lends the service of a mobile clinic because of the distance of the community from a health unit. 


Ceremony in a festive environment
The Chibango Mapaza Cultural Group of Gorongosa, coming from the district town-headquarters, under the leadership of José Chibango, gave more light and color to the party with songs and good dances to the rhythm of drum sounds played with a lot of expertise. 

The inhabitants of Nhangúo showed themselves to be very satisfied with the money, having shown their joy through the traditional dances of Mapaza and Djole. 

The party finished with a lunch of fellowship in the home of the Chief Abreu Nhangúo, where the people ate and drank. 


Carlitos Sunza
GNP Department of Communications