Mnazi Bay Quirimbas TFCA

Change activity: Engagement of Community Members in the Reduction of NonClimate Stressors in Mnazi Bay Quirimbas Transfrontier Conservation Area
Progress:
The Mnazi-Bay Quirimbas TFCA was fully represented by two counterparts, Baldeu
Araquechande from Mozambique and Redfred Ngowo from Tanzania.
In the Mozambique component, at Quirimbas National Park an Audit was carried out
in a meeting with two communities (Biaque and Ibo) and the technical working group
at the annual monitoring meeting in December 2013. One of the challenges faced
here was translation of climate change discourse to local languages. The
remedial solution was to bring examples of climate change that could be expressed
in local languages, grouping them and putting them in a bag that does not have a
name yet. There has been a lot of rainfall on the Mozambique side which has
prevented activities on the ground for many months, however September is expected
to experience the start of accelerated implementation. The Mozambique counterpart
was able to raise some funds to support project implementation.
Just to let you know that our roads are still damaged due to the rains. For that reason our
movements still conditioned and as a consequence the implementation of activities is affected. The
good news is that we submitted our change project to the foreign affairs of Italy and we are elected
do get the funds. We are now finalizing the contractual arrangements. That means we will start the
project within 3 months. (Araquechande Baldeu, June 26, 2014).

In the Tanzania component, at Mnazi Bay-Ruvuma Estuary, the project leader in

Tanzania has met with community leaders and communities of fishing practice,
where climate change issues have been identified and adaptation / mitigation
measures have been agreed upon. Youth, women and school groups have
been identified to participate in the change project on both sides of the TFCA.
The local community comprising of women, youth and schools are involved in
mangrove plantation. In June and August 2014 there were school visits in the
community to check on progress on the mangrove plantation. There has also been
appointment of a volunteer in the community to monitor the progress of mangrove
plantation. The volunteer usually does community visits every Wednesday.
There have been some attempts for cross border collaboration. Baldeau from
Quirimbas has planned to visit the Mnanzi Bay, while Redfred Ngowo has planned to
visit Quirimbas however logistics so far have been a challenge. Communication still
takes place via emails and telephone (source Redfred Ngowo). The Mnazi Bay
Quirimbas TFCA is at a conceptual level that does not have a management/ strategic
plan yet. Dear Redfred, July is the month that I will visit you. The bridge is repaired
and road is ok. I will let you know the dates (Araquechande Baldeu, June 26, 2014).
The story below is a true story that depicts changes that have taken place in Mnazi
Bay TFCA over the years, the changes are associated with climate change, it also
shows different world views of how communities describe the changes they are
experiencing and is therefore proof for need to translate climate change discourse
into local language in which communities may be able to understand easily, rather

than scientific discourse which makes little meaning to them. The CCAM project is
one among many projects in the TFCA to respond to climate change in the
community, and younger generations have been involved in mangrove plantation,
and in the long run this will have long term benefits to all generations.
1999, Nwandlelene, a 75 year old man who lived his life as the head of family where he was
responsible to perform duties that are men activities in the Shangane culture (open fields for
agriculture, fishing, hunting, gather non timber products in the vegetation around his area, etc.)
was sitting in front of a small lake that he used, in the past, to fish, trap birds and small mammals
for the food supplement of his family. The lake that he was looking at does not carry a lot of water
and birds and fish are no longer abundant compared to the time when he was young. I was
passing nearby and he called me and said Son, you see what the war did to this lake. It is almost
dead and the rain is running away from this place because of the human blood that was spilled in
this area during the war. The spirits are very upset with us and decided to concentrate
themselves in the sky to serve as an umbrella that stop the rain to drop water in area. After few
minutes he continued. Son, if we want to save ourselves and the future generations, we need to
perform a serious ceremony to beg the spirits to move away from our sky and let the sky to drop
water in our land, to restore the function of this lake for the benefit of the future generations.
Definitely he knew that the atmosphere was invaded by something that was driving the changes
in the Earth and these needed to be removed in order to bring life to normal (spirits or carbon
dioxide?)

This true oral tradition is being used in the TFCA in 2014 as one of the tools for
introducing the subject of climate change adaptation. The communities have started
to plant mangroves in the estuarine areas in Mnazi bay as they are aware of the
human impacts that have atmospheric proportions. Young people in and out of
school and women are actively involved in the planation of mangroves and in
educating each other on the importance of sustainable utilisation and the link they
have to fish production, and wave action regulation (ecosystem services and
ecological infrastructure).