This fact was determined during the monitoring visit to the Magoe National Park (PNM) held recently by the BIOFUND team, in the context of approving the Park’s entry into the BIO-Emergency Fund. In this way, it will benefit from the payment of wages to its 68 existing rangers.

The PNM covers an area of 355,852,044 hectares. It consists of a semi-closed forest, where species of dry vegetation are dominant, notably Colophospermum mopane (mopane) and Adansonia digitata (baobab). It contains a variety of species of wild life, including buffaloes, elephants and crocodiles. The PNM has also been receiving support from BIOFUND since September 2019, for paying operational costs which guarantee that inspection activities are undertaken.

The Administrator of the Magoe National Park, Luís dos Santos Namanha, said that the BIOFUND financing will inaugurate a new era for the park’s activities. He added “the Mágoè National Park was created in 2013 and was operating without any financial partners. With the financing from BIOFUND, it was possible to expand the number of inspection posts from 5 to 9, which helped increase the wild life population, in terms both of species and of numbers. The new support from the BIO-Emergency Fund will revive the protection of the international migratory corridors for wild life between Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Zambia and vice-versa”.

This is one example of the more than 12 Conservation Areas, which are maintaining their inspection activities during the Covid-19 pandemic, thanks to the BIO-Emergency Fund.