Towards the Legal Recognition and Governance of Forest Ecosystem Services in Mozambique

Abstract

S NORFOLK AND M COSIJN 2013(16)2 PER / PELJ / 212 Box 1 -Definition of forest and woodlandsThe UN Framework Convention on Climate Change defined forests and woodlands as having between 10% to 40% canopy closure. FAO (2000) defines forest ecosystems as areas that are dominated by trees (perennial woody plants taller than 5m at maturity), where tree cover exceeds 10% and the area is larger than 0.5ha and includes areas for production, protection, multiple use or conservation, and stands on agricultural land. This was the basic definition used by the Millenium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) In the Mozambican Law on Forestry and Wildlife (Law 10/99 of 7 th June) forests are defined as "vegetation cover capable of supplying wood or vegetative products, sheltering fauna and which exercise a direct or indirect effect on soils, climate or hydrology regimes". The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Report (the MA) 2 identified that the development of improved governance systems to control and reduce the degradation of all ecosystems services including forests was of key importance. This governance needs to be adaptive, including ensuring that the following components are integrated: TOWARDS THE LEGAL RECOGNITION AND GOVERNANCE OF FOREST ECOSYSTEM SERVICES IN MOZAMBIQUE S Norfolkit must focus on policy and institutional intersections and cooperation at various levels;(ii) it must be flexible to rapid change, and ensure that policy and legal changes are incremental and adaptive with continuous learning;(iii) it must create mechanisms for sustainable forest management (SFM) and livelihoods by securing the rights to forestry goods and services; and (iv) it must create regulatory mechanisms which control activities, develop compensation mechanisms for those, and develop multi-scalar knowledge and stakeholder sharing, social networks and learning mechanisms.However, governance systems are rarely adaptive. Instead they tend to be "stuck" in what is called the local minima (or lowest functioning system). These are in many cases dependent on the history of countries, how the governance systems have evolved, and whether or not these systems are open and transparent and able to adapt quickly, but along a gradient of transition and evolution rather than in a "knee-jerk" response that does not build on the best of existing structures. 4Within the context of Mozambique, this paper examines the state of forest ecosystem services, the dependency of the population on these systems for their well-being, if an adaptive governance regime is being created which will ensure the resilience of the forest ecosystem services including the legal framework, the institutions operating within this framework, the tools available and their functioning, and how cooperative governance is operating. Forest ecosystems, especially the miombo woodlands, are also critical for water quality, groundwater recharge, and flow retention, as they surround many of the lakes, major rivers, such as the Limpopo, Zambezi, Messalo, and Rovuma Rivers, and the ephemeral small ...

Integration of Ecosystem Services into Land Use Planning in Mozambique

“…Some ES researches have been conducted at national level, such as modelling land cover changes and impacts on production and monetary value of ES Cabral 2017, 2018). We can also find some examples at sectoral level, such as the assessment of forest (Norfolk and Cosijn 2013). Therefore, the universities can contribute to bridge the gap between theoretical and practical integration of ES in land use plans, and to make visible their relevance/contribution for achieving territorial development goals and welfare.…”

“…The assessment outcomes showed that, in five out of the 10 provinces of Mozambique, all ES were threatened, and improvement in the management of ES was recommended to go along with poverty alleviation (Wong et al 2005a). Other assessments pointing to the need for improving LUP were carried out for Mozambique, such as environmental threats and opportunities assessment (Byers et al 2013) and the state of forest ES and wellbeing (Norfolk and Cosijn 2013). ES have also been assessed monetarily and through the impact of land cover changes on ES (Von Maltitz et al 2016;).…”

Legal frameworks enabling sustainable land-use investment in Mozambique: Current strengths and opportunities for improvement

“…321 This is intended to enable the government to establish sustainable quotas for harvest of forest products. 322 In the case of simple licenses, a simpler and less onerous management plan and inventory are required. 323 The Forest Act also recognizes local communities' subsistence rights to all forest resources.…”