Countering Wildlife Crime in Parks & Reserves
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2022-01
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In June 2020, BIOFUND established the Emergency BIO-Fund to channel financial resources to public and private sector protected areas in Mozambique and to enable the basic operation of law enforcement activities during the period when there were no tourism revenues due to the COVID- 19 pandemic, as well as to provide some replacement revenues to local communities in and around protected areas.
Phase 1 of the fund was initiated in July 20201 initially for private operators (as they depend entirely on tourism revenues) through donations to cover 50% of the salaries of rangers for a period of 3months. Given the evolution of the pandemic nationally and globally, in September 2020, the BIOFUND Board decided to extend the support to cover 100% of salaries, as well as for operational costs of public and private conservation areas up until the end of June 2021. With a total value of$2.25 Million (USD), Phase 1 had initial funding of $1 Million USD from the BIOFUND Endowment(released in June 2020), $1 Million USD from the Government of Sweden through theMozBio2/World Bank project, and $249,000 USD from USAID/SPEED+. With a committed team,internal financial capacity, rapid disbursement mechanisms and new funding partners, BIOFUND managed to timely spread the funding support to many protected areas.
However, because COVID-19 continued to have a negative impact on tourism flows in 2021, in April2021 the Board of BIOFUND approved the extension of the program until December 2021. During the extension period or Phase 2 (July - December 2021), the European Union provided funding of750,000 Euros and immediately afterwards, it again had the reinforcement of 249,000 USD from USAID through SPEED+ that were channeled to the Conservation Areas under public and private management. Under the Emergency fund, USAID/SPEED+ Project is therefore contributing with approximately 32% of the total cost of the program for Phase 2 of the fund.
In summary, this project was successful in attracting private sector entities, maintaining employment in remote rural areas in the wildlife economy, and keeping these businesses solvent during an incredibly difficult year in which virtually no normal revenues were possible. This has only been possible with the support and assistance of BIOFUND and partners to make this project a reality to support biodiversity conservation in Mozambique.
Details on project impact and main results are described in the following chapters.