Human wildlife conflict in Maputo National Park

Park authorities attempt to create livelihood activities that are compatible with wildlife conservation

(Wolfgang Hasselmann)

By Alexandre Manhiça for Radio Mozambique

Human wildlife conflict is a great concern for communities living near Mozambique’s protected areas, and for government authorities tasked with managing natural resources. In the last two years alone, Maputo National Park, named for the capital city nearby, has recorded about 210 cases of human-wildlife conflict, loss of seven human lives, injury to four people, death of 96 domestic animals and destruction of 174 hectares of agricultural crops.

As a way of mitigating human-wildlife conflict and poverty, the park management is developing specialised agriculture with the communities. The permanence of households in the conservation area and the difficulty of the managers of the Maputo National Park to carry out the resettlement of the families that are inside the park, has negative implications for the lives of human beings and contributes to the reduction of biodiversity.

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This article is reproduced here as part of the African Conservation Journalism Programme, funded in Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe by USAID’s VukaNow: Activity. Implemented by the international conservation organization Space for Giants, it aims to expand the reach of conservation and environmental journalism in Africa, and bring more African voices into the international conservation debate. Written articles from the Mozambican and Angolan cohorts are translated from Portuguese. Broadcast stories remain in the original language.