On March 27th and 28th 2024, Maputo City hosted a training session for technicians from the National Administration of Conservation Areas (ANAC) on the new Ministerial Diploma 55/2022, which approves the Directive on Biodiversity Offsets which consists of the measurable conservation results that come from actions designed to compensate for significant residual impacts on biodiversity resulting from development projects after appropriate measures have been taken to avoid and minimize the impacts and restore the affected areas.
According to the mentioned Diploma, in order to guarantee the viability and permanence of the offset results, they should preferably be developed within the conservation areas or in other Important areas for biodiversity outside the conservation area network (enforcing their protection and formal management). Therefore, recognizing the role of ANAC in the implementation and management of biodiversity offsets in Mozambique, the National Directorate for the Environment (DINAB) in coordination with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Foundation for the Conservation of Biodiversity (BIOFUND), through the COMBO+ Program (Conservation, Mitigation and Biodiversity Offsets) promoted this training with the main aim of strengthening the capacity and awareness of ANAC technicians on the new Ministerial Diploma nº 55/2022 of May 19 on the implementation of biodiversity offsets in Mozambique, ensuring that ANAC is effectively engaged and prepared to actively contribute to its implementation.
The event was attended by 27 participants (including Technicians, Conservation Area Administrators and trainers), where topics were covered on (i) the general overview and structure of Ministerial Diploma No. 55/2022 and its respective Implementation Manual, (ii) the role of offsets and Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) in achieving national targets, (iii) technical tools (e.g. Red Lists of species and ecosystems, ecosystem map) and platforms (e.g. Biodiversity Portal - SIBMOZ) developed for the implementation of offsets and their respective status.