Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique

What determines the importance that local people assign to the landscape in which they live? How does this compare to conservation values? CIFOR asked a team from the Tropical Resource Ecology Program (TREP) at the University of Zimbabwe to find out. Gorongosa National Park (GNP) in Mozambique was selected as a test site, since the TREP team was already working there with park authorities to prepare a management plan.

TREP developed and used a distinct approach from the one CIFOR designed for Malinau. The approach was firstly to develop a spatially explicit conceptual model of how communities value their local landscapes, and then collect field information from two study sites to confront the model with reality. In a parallel exercise, the team developed maps of the conservation value in the two sites based on detailed investigations of the vegetation. This did not involve local participants.

The Gorongosa approach provides a contrasting case study for comparison, to enrich the understanding of landscape value. The landscape value model developed by TREP is presented on the Resilience Alliance website.

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Publications:

Lynam, T., Cunliffe, R. , Mapaure, I. , Bwerinofa, I. (2003). Assessment of the value of woodland landscape function to local communities in Gorongosa and Muanza districts, Sofala province, Mozambique. CIFOR, Bogor, Indonesia.