Identifying and prioritising important areas for biodiversity and conservation in Mozambique

It has long been recognised that biodiversity has been heavily impacted by ongoing human activities which has led to massive losses of species and habitats. The consequences of this are profound, as it compromises the functioning of ecosystems services, such as the provision of clean air, water and food, and exacerbates poverty levels and inequality, particularly in developing countries where climate change events are frequent and severe. Nearly the entire world recognises that this trend needs to change now and the inspiration comes from the Convention on Biological Diversity’s vision of “living in harmony with nature by 2050”. A key part of achieving this vision involves establishing conservation areas to halt biodiversity loss. However, there is growing recognition that, as well as creating protected areas (PAs), we need to account for other area-based conservation measures (OECMs), with a focus on putting local communities at the forefront of conservation initiatives to enhance their well-being and livelihoods. This approach is largely welcomed as conservation will be used as a tool to promote social cohesion and higher potential to achieve national and local targets. There is also a recognition that these new conservation areas need to focus on sites that are important for biodiversity, as many species and ecosystems are under-represented in current PA network.

This thesis consists of four chapters that use spatial conservation prioritisation analysis to identify important sites for biodiversity and people at the national and transfrontier levels in Mozambique. I tested the Important Plant Area (IPA) and the Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) criteria and provided a novel way of delineating their boundaries. Building from this, I applied systematic conservation planning to identify the best places to establish new OECMs in the Maputaland transfrontier biodiversity hotspot then I scaled this up to a national level of Mozambique based on meeting conservation targets. Next, I described a process I co-led to identify KBAs for the whole of Mozambique. Finally, I used national KBA and IPA data to identify priority areas for conservation at a national level, assessing the effectiveness of the current conservation area network for meeting biodiversity targets. This thesis provides insights into how Mozambique’s network of PAs and OECMs could be developed but implementing these plans will require governments and civil society to develop and implement context-specific projects that are led by local communities.