The Mozambican Ministry for the Coordination of Environmental Action is working to create Natural Resource Management Councils to deal with such questions as the devastation of forests caused by the cutting down of trees for firewood and charcoal.The Permanent Secretary at the Ministry, Mauricio Xerinda, told reporters on Friday that these Councils should teach local communities who to care for forests.Xerinda was speaking during in an interval in an Environment Ministry planning meeting held in Namaacha, on the border with Swaziland. The meeting brings together representatives of the central and provincial bodies of the Ministry to draw up the environmental parts of the government’s Economic and Social Plan for 2012, and the Programme to Support the Environment Sector 2011-2015.
Xerinda stressed that, as from the second half of this year, the Programme to Support the Environment Sector is entering its second phase. It is thus important to check what was achieved during the first phase. “We have to verify the activities which showed weakness due to the financial deficit so that they can be strengthened in this second phase”, he said. So far 30 million US dollars have been disbursed for this programme by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).Xerinda recognised that the state budget for environmental activities is very limited, and the Ministry must resort to support from outside partners to cover the gap.
The key areas for the programme, he said, were strengthening environmental management, educating communities about how to handle their environment, and publicizing environmental norms.
“For 2012, we are relying on inter-sector coordination on all environmental issues, counting on support from all the other sectors, with the Environment Ministry as the coordinator, and each sector doing its part to ensure continuity of the programmes that are under way”, said Xerinda.As examples of these programmes he stressed the government’s initiative for every schoolchild to plant at least one tree per year, and the drive for every community leader to take responsibility for a forest.
Xerinda stressed that, as from the second half of this year, the Programme to Support the Environment Sector is entering its second phase. It is thus important to check what was achieved during the first phase. “We have to verify the activities which showed weakness due to the financial deficit so that they can be strengthened in this second phase”, he said. So far 30 million US dollars have been disbursed for this programme by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).Xerinda recognised that the state budget for environmental activities is very limited, and the Ministry must resort to support from outside partners to cover the gap.
The key areas for the programme, he said, were strengthening environmental management, educating communities about how to handle their environment, and publicizing environmental norms.
“For 2012, we are relying on inter-sector coordination on all environmental issues, counting on support from all the other sectors, with the Environment Ministry as the coordinator, and each sector doing its part to ensure continuity of the programmes that are under way”, said Xerinda.As examples of these programmes he stressed the government’s initiative for every schoolchild to plant at least one tree per year, and the drive for every community leader to take responsibility for a forest.
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