Áreas de conservação transfronteiras e seu impacto junto às comunidades locais, 1992-2000: o caso de Chimanimani, distrito de Sussundenga, Manica

Abstract

Since the mid-1990s, as part of the democratization of the political system after the 1992 general peace agreement and the first legislative and presidential elections in 1994, Mozambique has been making efforts to recognize the important role played by rural communities. in the management of natural resources, implementing numerous more participatory development projects. Thus, the Transfrontier Conservation Areas Project of Chimanimani was centrally conceived and is being implemented since 1996, in the district of Sussendenga, province of Manica, covering the area of ​​and around the Chimanimani mountain range that extends in parts of the territories of the Republic of Mozambique and the neighboring Republic of Zimbabwe. This project's main financial partners are the Ford Foundation and the World Bank. The context of the project fits within the rural development policy e. resulted from the need to conserve the rich biodiversity of Chimanimani and the need to improve the quality of life of local communities.

The implementation of the project was only possible on the basis of an understanding between the protagonists of the project and the local elites, that is, the local communities. Thus, this understanding constitutes a plausible alternative in the participation of the community in the project's activities as a local workforce. In many cases, the positive results were obtained thanks to the participation of these communities that, although inexperienced or not specialized in the activities assigned to them, proved capable. This project has been seen as one of the main means of improving the socio-economic structure of the Chimanimani communities. The main key to the sustainability of the project is centered on capacity development at all levels through training local communities, taking into account the experiences gained in other participatory projects such as Campfire in Zimbabwe and Tchuma Tchato in Tete. The Chimanimani ACTF project is at its final stage, despite the work already carried out, tainted by a notorious exclusion of interested actors, particularly local communities, the objectives set by this project have not yet been fully achieved, demanding greater mobilization, repairs and consensus, because uncontrolled fires and indiscriminate hunting, carried out by people from local communities, still occur in the usual way. It was probably the fact that the implementation of the project suited the needs and interests of the local communities in the construction of socio-economic infrastructures such as a school, a shop and a mill that has survived until then, as a project with a certain impact on the communities involved(TRADUÇÃO NOSSA)