Recent studies, carried out by MICOA, GTZ - PRODER, reveal that uncontrolled fires in Mozambique are responsible for the devastation of about 30 million hectares (ha) per year and the main causes of these fires are linked to human action, constituting 90% of the total fires carried out.
The Niassa Special Reserve (NSR) has about 48 communities, where the vast majority are practitioners of itinerant agriculture, a practice characterised by deforestation and the use of fire. Aware of the risks of burning, NSR conducts annual firebreak campaigns and this year the campaign started on 3 July and so far, 20 people have been hired for this work, men and women from local communities, which also allows them to be equipped with techniques to mitigate uncontrolled burning.
In addition to the opening of the firebreaks, training on the use and interpretation of fire data through Ororatech (a real-time fire monitoring platform) and the collection and management of geo-referenced data was held in May this year in Mbatamila, NSR's headquarters.
This 3-day activity was part of the institutional capacity building programme of the National Administration of Conservation Areas (ANAC) and has financial support from the United States Forest Service (https://www.fs.usda.gov/) through its international programme office, which has been making efforts to monitor and respond to fires in real time in conservation areas in Mozambique.