Agroforestry initiative unites communities, restores biodiversity, sustains life.
Credit – Dadzie Tarura, Conservation Biologist, Ecologist, Rural Development Data Analyst
Well-planned agroforestry systems have great potential for balancing environmental restoration, economic development, and social sustainability. Yet their success depends on active engagement by the local communities that benefit from and steward these systems. Nowhere is this truer than Gorongosa Mountain, a vital ecosystem within Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park.
Mount Gorongosa serves as the lifeblood of the park, feeding rivers that sustain its flora and fauna. As a biodiversity hotspot with at least 15 endemic species it represents the southernmost extension of montane tropical forests. Yet its future is precarious after losing nearly half of its forest cover.
Restoring Gorongosa Mountain.
In 2021, Gorongosa National Park’s Scientific Department launched an agroforestry initiative to restore the mountain. Spanning five hectares, project staff led the planting of nearly 3,000 trees from nine native species. But the effort is about more than planting trees—it’s about growing a sustainable future.
A model for community engagement.
The park team collaborates closely with Gorongosa Mountain’s communities to make sure the project is successful. Recent activities focused on education, monitoring, providing support and empowerment and included:
– Lectures on the importance of agroforestry for environmental health and livelihoods.
– Observing birds, insects, and plants to measure ecosystem recovery.
-Providing cowpea beans and native seedlings to families for food security and reforestation.
-Training women to produce enriched porridge using crops like peanuts and beans from the agroforestry system.
Engaging local knowledge and addressing local needs and values are central to the project’s success which includes involving children, women, and other community members in moving the project forward.
A blueprint for the future.
As the mountain’s forests return, Gorongosa’s people, wildlife will benefit from the ecosystems they call home.
That’s why healthy agroforestry systems on Gorongosa Mountain are more than an environmental initiative; structured and supported, they are a blueprint for sustainable living.
Linking biodiversity restoration with community well-being demonstrates how well conservation can thrive when it grows from local engagement.
