WCS delivered a presentation on September 20, 2024, in Maputo City, at a hybrid learning event promoted by USAID through the SPEED+ (Supporting The Policy Enabling Environment for Development) and RCC (Resilient Coastal Communities) programs under the theme “Payment for ecosystem services (PES): an untapped potential in Mozambique?” involving more than 40 participants from various stakeholders.
Eleutério Duarte, WCS Mozambique Project Assistant, during his speach at the event
The purpose of the event was to disseminate information on the concept of Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) in Mozambique and to explore the potential of this model and its benefits for coastal communities, biodiversity conservation and for the country as a whole.
WCS was represented on the panel by Eleutério Duarte, who had the opportunity to share the “Memba-Mossuril pilot project”, located in the north of Nampula, which aims to test and serve as a demonstration platform on how community initiatives to support the protection and improvement of coastal ecosystems can be structured to create effective incentives for conservation and generate income for communities through a performance-based payment system, which can be used under the biodiversity offset mechanism or others, such as blue carbon.
Communities from Mossuril District, Nampula Province, implementers of the Memba-Mossuril pilot project, showing their mangrove nurseries
The “Memba-Mossuril pilot project” is the beginning of an innovative PSE model and is being implemented with the coastal communities of the Memba-Mossuril districts in Nampula, being promoted within the framework of the COMBO+ program and the Blue Future project.