Metla promotes forest research in Mozambique
Metla is promoting forest research that supports the sustainable use of natural forests in Mozambique. Concrete research results are derived from the growth trends of the Miombo and Mopane woodlands as well as the wood properties and uses of other less well-known wood species from Mozambique. The work is conducted under a development project managed by Finland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
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| The wood technology laboratory of IIAM. From the left: IIAM’s Researcher Alberto Manhiça, Risto Laitalainen, Chief Technical Advisor for the Support to National Forestry Programme in Mozambique, and IIAM’s Researcher Jacob Bila. Photo: Metla/Sinikka Västilä. |
Exporting expertise and importing experience
Metla's partners in the “Forest Research Capacity Strengthening in Mozambique 2012–2014 (FORECAS)” project are the Agrarian Research Institute of Mozambique (IIAM) at the Faculty of Agronomy and Forest Engineering and the Eduardo Mondlane University. The project is financed by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. It is part of the National Forestry Programme of Mozambique, supported by Finland.
“While strengthening the forestry research capacity in Mozambique, we increase our own knowledge of the forest industry of developing countries. In total, 14 researchers and experts from various units of Metla take part in this three-year research project”, says Project Coordinator Sinikka Västilä, Researcher at Metla. The project was launched on 12 June in Maputo. The first meeting of the steering group and the kick-off event for stakeholders were also held on that day.
The project goal is to promote the applied forestry research carried out by various institutions in Mozambique to support the sustainable use of natural forests. This is achieved through the development of methodological skills related to wood growth and yield and forest science, as well as by promoting the introduction of research results into practice, developing research data management practices and the related information service, and supporting the research management team.
The instruments for transferring know-how include courses, workshops and seminars that are led by Finnish experts and organised in Mozambique, as well as guided training periods organised in Finland. “Another aim of the project is to establish a wood science laboratory in Mozambique and provide the necessary training on how to operate it,” Västilä says.
Two participants of the first on-the-job training on wood technology organised under the FORECAS project in Joensuu, Clerica Mucudos and Alberto Manhiça, were taught how to define technical properties of wood.
Their target material was the Mozambican Msasa (Brachystegia spiciformis), the bean-pod tree. It is one of the less well-known wood species selected for the project, but it has excellent potential for further processing. The on-the-job training aims at increasing the capacity in Mozambique to assess the properties of local wood species and their usability in the local wood product industry.
Among other activities, the training programme in Joensuu included an excursion to Kukkola Farm’s arboretum, led by Professor Erkki Verkasalo.
Photo: Metla/Robert Prinz.
The forest sector is vital to Mozambique – but many deficiencies can be found
Forests account for 51 per cent, or 41 million hectares, of the total area of Mozambique. It is one of the most forested countries on the African continent. The forest sector is important to Mozambique: its share of the GDP is four per cent. As much as 80 per cent of energy consumption is derived from the use of firewood and charcoal. Other important non-timber forest products include grass, bamboo, reed, medicinal herbs and edible wild plants. The forest industry produces small amounts of hardwood lumber. Through sustainable forestry, Mozambique’s economic growth can be significantly supported, because the majority of the country’s population is dependent on forests and other natural resources in one way or another.
The biggest concerns related to Mozambique’s forest sector include uncontrollable forest fires, shifting cultivation and illegal felling. Investment in the forest sector has been marginal due to large financial risks, undeveloped funding markets and the weakness of the local infrastructure. In addition, a weak knowledge base has prevented the forest sector from being developed. More information is required on domestic wood species, their growth and possibilities for use, for example, and the FORECAS project is hoped to provide the required expertise for researching them. This is needed, because the interest of international companies in developing the forest industry sector in Mozambique has grown in recent years.
Further information
- Customer Manager, Researcher Sinikka Västilä, sinikka.vastila(a)metla.fi