The Niassa Special Reserve celebrated today, 5th of June, the World Environment Day, under the theme “We will conserve biodiversity to guarantee the life of Planet Earth”.
The central celebrations took place in the village of Nampequesso, Mecula District, in Nissan Province and were guided by the Administrator of the District of Mecula, Mr. Armindo Bindo, having also counted on the presence of the Warden of the National Special of Niassa, Nilton Cuna, the Program Director, Local Leaders, members of the Government of Mecula District and employees of the Niassa Special Reserve.
Picture 1: Mr. Nilton Cuna, WCS Program Director, and Mr. Baldeu Araquechande, Niassa Special Reserve Warden.
In his speech, the Warden of Niassa Special Reserve, Baldeu Araquechande, praised the responsibility that this event brings to all humanity at a time when the world is facing the Covid-19 pandemic, showing the interdependence between human health and the health of the planet.
“This year, World Environment Day invites us to rethink how our economic systems have evolved and what impact they have on the environment, at a time when a million species of plants and animals are at risk of extinction, mainly due to human activity, ”said Baldeu Araquechande.
Aligning on the same tuning fork, the Mecula District Administrator drew the attention of local communities in the sense of increasingly paying more attention to the way they manage natural resources, and especially to the need to increasingly improve the interaction with these resources, both fauna and flora, since they must be managed sustainably so that the planet earth is in balance and so that the future of future generations is not compromised.
He ended his speech by talking about the need for our positive conscience in relation to Covid-19, saying that we must incisively comply with the guidelines of Mozambique President, Felipe Nyusi, regarding the prevention of the virus.
The ceremony included other activities, such as the delivery of 250 capulana masks produced locally by the Niassa National Reserve to the Mecula District Administration, which made the appropriate distribution in the village of Nampequesso.
Two tap water tanks were also installed, for public use for hand washing, as well as the planting of 10 native tree seedlings, the chanfuta specie, and 520 fruit trees.
Picture 2: Local community receiving the new public water tank to wash the hands
This year's theme is biodiversity, at a time when societies are called to become aware and rethink their relations with nature, being celebrated by the Niassa Reserve, at a time when it saw its new category approved, becoming called Niassa Special Reserve, and at a time that 2 years have passed without the record of poaching the elephant in the largest conservation area in the country.
World Environment Day is the main vehicle of the United Nations to encourage global awareness and action for the environment, and has been held annually since 1974, having become a vital platform to promote progress in the environmental dimensions of the Sustainable Development Goals ( ODS).