A exploração de lenha em Nhacoongo e os seus efeitos no meio ambiente local entre o periodo de 1974 à 1992

Abstract

The present work focuses on a historical approach, on the exploitation of firewood in Nhacoongo. in the period between 1974 and 1992. The main objective of this study is to analyze the main practices that led to the scarcity of firewood in the region. Based on the hypotheses raised, we argue that in the exploitation of firewood in Nhacoongo. factors such as migration, shifting agriculture, communal villages, drought, civil war and the positioning of the Railways in the process were extremely important and decisive. The process of migration at the local level manifested itself in two ways: first with the movement of men of working age to South Africa to work in the mines and, secondly, with the rural-urban migration from Nhacoongo to city ​​of Inhambane, especially after the civil war. In the eighties there was a reduction in the number of people hired in the region. Upon returning to their area and without a job, firewood became one of the immediate targets for exploration and sale. On the other hand, the migrants who left for the city carried with them typical country habits regarding the use of domestic energy. Thus, the consumption of firewood became more widespread in the city of Inhambane. As for the communal villages started in Mozambique in the liberated areas in Inhambane Province and, in particular, in Inharrime district, they only gained importance from 1980 onwards. It was in this context that in 1981 the village of Mafassane in Nhacoongo was built. Its implantation and development meant exploration of forest resources, firewood for the kitchen, other purposes and various materials for the construction of their houses. Drought and war were two other factors that negatively contributed to the use and exploitation of firewood locally. With agriculture as the economic support, with the drought the community's subsistence base was called into question, accentuating the level of poverty. Once again, forest resources were one of the immediate alternatives for alleviating hunger. With regard to the policy adopted by the C.F.M Delegation of Inhambane, although this was not their vocation, it contributed to the current situation of firewood scarcity in Nhacoongo. The aforementioned institution used only medium-sized firewood in its locomotives. However, in the act of producing firewood, it also cut the thin and thick, selling it to workers, the population and bakeries, thus contributing to an under-exploitation of local forest resources. The dissertation concludes that the main factor of the shortage of firewood in the region was the low socio-economic profile that the local population and surroundings lived through, without alternatives for survival and, therefore, resorted to firewood that allowed them to raise some exchange currency(TRADUÇÃO NOSSA)