Government Sets Up Lake Niassa Partial Reserve

27 April 2011

Maputo — The Mozambican government on Tuesday approved the establishment of the “Lake Niassa Partial Reserve”, as the latest addition to the country’s protected areas.

The government spokesperson, Deputy Justice Minister Alberto Nkutumula, told reporters that the creation of this reserve seeks to preserve the species living in the lake, increase the household income of lakeside communities, and promote eco-tourism.

The initiative, he added, “seeks to contribute to the conservation of biodiversity and the protection of the resources available in the reserve, so as to promote their sustainable use for the benefit of current and future generations”.

“Lake Niassa is a world reference point”, said Nkutumula. “It is the third largest lake in Africa, and is 700 metres deep”. There are over 700 species of fish in the lake.

“But many human activities have been undertaken on and around the lake, to the detriment of the fauna and flora”, he said. The declaration of the Lake as a reserve was intended to halt these environmental threats, by limiting damaging human activities.

In addition to the reserve, covering 47.8 million hectares, the government has also established a buffer zone around the reserve, covering an additional 89.3 million hectares.

The government also approved a resolution designating Lake Niassa as a “Ramsar Site”, which should be included in the list of Wetlands of International Importance. These sites take their name from the Iranian town of Ramsar, where the international convention on the protection of wetlands was signed in 1971.

AllAfrica – All the Time