Our Planet Reviewed Programme Report N°1 the Coastal Forests of Northern Mozambique 2008-2009 Expeditions

Our Planet Reviewed programme report n°1 The Coastal Forests of Northern Mozambique 2008-2009 Expeditions In-country Partner : Instituto de Investigação Agrária de Moçambique (IIAM) March 2011 The « Our Planet Reviewed » initiative Current efforts to establish priorities for conservation and management are based on existing knowledge, and rarely, if ever, involve the painstaking process of acquiring adequate new information. An unfortunate consequence of this approach is that we focus our efforts on learning more about what is already reaso- nably well known (e.g. charismatic mega-fauna, birds, etc.) while neglecting other equally important components of biodiversity (e.g. invertebrates, fungi, etc.), which are often excluded altogether from consideration. « Our Planet Reviewed » is a new initiative for filling key gaps in our knowledge of the world’s major biodiversity areas. The new challenge for our project teams is to apply their scientific and technical knowledge in regions of the world where the most pressing issues of Biodiversity and Conservation converge. We will thus focus on areas that are recognized as globally important for biodiversity, but where numerous knowledge gaps constitute a serious impediment to sound conservation and resource management decisions. Filling gaps in key areas of the world Global conservation assessments and the establishment of conservation priorities require robust and reliable information on the distribution of biodiversity across the planet. Yet this information is often mapped at a very coarse spatial resolu- tion relative to the scale at which most land-use and management decisions are made. Furthermore, most biodiversity mapping tends to focus selectively on better-known (and often more emblematic) elements, such as larger vertebrates. Despite significant efforts made over the last several decades, the biodiversity of our planet remains largely unknown and is disappearing many times faster than we discover it. The National Museum of Natural History (MNHN) in Paris and Pro-Natura International, are now developing a new initiative to help address this issue, aimed at significantly boosting our knowledge of the Earth’s biodiversity by filling gaps through the exploration and description of a carefully selected set of key sites. In line with a major multi-disciplinary expedition (Santo 2006, Vanuatu) and several earlier projects (New Caledonia, Pa- nama, Philippines), we aim to sustain this effort and take full advantage of the experience we have gained by carrying out additional expeditions over the next decade that will focus on little-known sites and on neglected animal and plant groups, especially those whose study requires special organizational skills and logistical resources. This report contains the preliminary results of the 2008-2009 « Our Planet Reviewed » expeditions in Northern Mozambique. Downloaded from one of the following web sites : http://www.laplaneterevisitee.org/fr/114/retour_de_mission http://www.iiam.gov.mz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=94&Itemid=161 The Botanical component of the expeditions was leaded by Jonathan Timberlake (Kew) and the report section for Botany has already been published separately as an e-report on the Kew web site: http://www.kew.org/science/directory/projects/CoastalForestsOfNort.html The Zoological component was leaded by Jean-Yves Rasplus (CBGP) and preliminary results are assembled in the section on zoology. Two additional contributions by Phil Clarke, one of the members of the botanical team, focus on two areas surveyed in 2008 and 2009 and document a series of personal observations. These two separate reports provide a comprehensive baseline geo-referenced photo documentation of the region. • Clarke, G.P. (2010) Report on a reconnaissance visit to Lupangua Hill, Quissanga District, Cabo Delgado Province, Mozambique, with notes about Micklethwaitia carvalhoi. 20pp. Downloaded from www.coastalforests.org • Clarke, G.P. (2011) Observations on the Vegetation and Ecology of Palma and Nangade Districts, Cabo Delgado Pro- vince, Mozambique. 130pp. Downloaded from www.coastalforests.org The 2008-2009 expeditions in Mozambique were made possible by generous contributions from the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and the Total Foundation. Suggested citation : Pascal, O. (compiler) 2011. The Coastal Forests of Northern Mozambique, 2008 2009 expeditions. « Our Planet Reviewed » Programme report n°1. Pro-Natura international / Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris. 160 pp. ACKNOWLEDGmentS Many people helped with the preparation and execution of these expeditions, be- fore, during and after. In particular we wish to thank the following: In Maputo – Director of IIAM, Dr Calisto Bias, for institutional support; Director of Maputo Natural History Museum, Dra Lucilia Chuquela, and Carlos Bento for collecting permits; the Head of Plant Protection in the Ministry of Agriculture, Dra Serafina Mangana, for invertebrate collecting permits; Dr Anabela Rodrigues of SGDRN, Reserva da Niassa, and Madyo Couto of the Ministry of Tourism for advice; Dr Salomão Bandeira of the Department of Biology, Eduardo Mondlane University; and Brit Zolho of the Maputo office of WWF. In Paris – Bertrand-Pierre Galey, Director of the Paris Natural History Museum. The Landsat images were processed by Erik Prins (Prins Engineering, Copenhagen). In Cabo Delgado and Nampula – Prof. Oscar Monteiro of Cabo Delgado Biodiver- sity & Tourism (Vamizi-Quiterajo); the Governor and Provincial authorities of Cabo Delgado; the District Administrators of Palma and Macomia; Prof. Jorge Ferrão and Dr Isabel da Silva of the University of Lurio, Nampula; José Dias of the Quirimbas National Park and the WWF office in Pemba; staff of the Cabo Delgado Biodiversity & Tourism in Quiterajo, in particular Tomas Chipiri and Stanley Phiri, for field support; and the Artumas and Anadarko companies in Palma for accommodation. In Nhica do Rovuma we thank Hunters Mozambique LDA, the concession manag- ers, who allowed us to operate in their concession area, and the population of Nhica do Rovuma village who good-naturedly tolerated our presence for three weeks. People who helped specifically with the botanical and zoological studies are men- tioned under those sections of the report. Excellent logistical support for the two expeditions was provided by Khangela Safaris of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (Mike Scott, Markus Isselbacher, Mark Macadam, Tshaka- lisa Mpofu, Matthew Mundy, Adrian Nel, Richard Ngwenya, Russell Scott, Bernard Sibanda, Andy Trevella, David Vernon), and Charlie Mackie from Harare was the pi- lot during the aerial reconnaissance. The head of logistics, Roland Fourcaud, played a pivotal role in the success of the expeditions. Oscar Simbine Monteiro, who helped from the project’s start, was fundamental in organisational support in Mozambique. Funding for the expeditions was gratefully received from the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, the Total Foundation and the Fonda- tion de France. THE 2008-2009 « OUR PLANET REVIEWED » EXPEDITIONS to THE COASTAL FORESTS IN NoRTHERN MOZAMBIQUE: PROGRAMME HISTORY AND PROCEEDINGS Olivier Pascal Programme History • The Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa Tropical dry forests are among the most endangered habitats in the world, a real- ity obscured by the omnipresence of rainforests in international campaigns to limit tropical forest degradation and destruction. Of the planet’s 13 major terrestrial bi- omes, tropical dry forests are the most severely affected by humanity. Nearly half of these forests (48.5%) have already completely disappeared through being converted to other uses (this destruction figure corresponds to the minimum loss of this natural habitat, and does not take into account further degradation caused by selective log- ging or livestock grazing). A larger percentage of this biome has been destroyed than the temperate forests (46.6%) or the wet tropical forests (32.2%)¹. Under the joint initiative of Pro-Natura international and the Natural History Mu- seum in Paris entitled “Our Planet Reviewed”, we identified the need to study the dry forests of eastern Africa — especially those designated by conservation biologists as “The Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa”. These forests are one of 34 global biodiversity ‘hotspots’ in the list produced by the NGO Conservation International², which has become the roadmap followed by the majority of the conservation community, as well as by many policymakers. As well as being one of those 34 hotspots, the “Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa” are also part of the small group of hotspots (11 in total) that have suffered a loss of over 90% of their original natural habitat area. The remaining dry forests situated along the Eastern African coast are particularly threatened by their geographical lo- cation and by the economic context of the countries where they are found. Their urgent need for conservation is recognized by the international conservation move- ment. There are probably few places in the world where high biological importance, pressing conservation issues and the difficulties of achieving a realistic level of protection combine to such a large extent. ¹. J. M. Hoekstra & Al. : « Confronting a biome crisis : global disparities of habitat loss and protection » EcologyLetters (2005) 8:23–29 ². Hotspots Revisited (2005) http://www.conservation.org/publications/Pages/hotspots_revisited.aspx 1 In Mozambique, the

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