Mozambique - Transfrontier Conservation Areas and Tourism Development Project

Page 1 Project Information Document (PID) Report No. 32720 Project Name MOZAMBIQUE - Transfrontier Conservation Areas and Tourism Development Project Region Africa Sector Forestry (50%); General agriculture, fishing and forestry sector (40%); General industry and trade sector (10%) Theme Biodiversity (P); Other environment and natural resources management (S); Environmental policies and institutions (S); Other financial and private sector development (S) Project P071465 Supplemental Project P076809 Borrower(s) REPUBLIC OF MOZAMBIQUE Implementing Agency(ies) MINISTRY OF TOURISM, TFCA UNIT AND DNAC Address: Ministry of Tourism, Avenue 25 de Setembro, 1018 - P.O. Box 614, Maputo, Mozambique Contact Person: Dr. Bartolomeu Soto, Head, TFCA Unit Tel: 258 1 420979 / Fax: 258 1 306212 Environment Category B (Partial Assessment) Date PID Prepared June 20, 2005 Auth Appr/Negs Date May 10, 2005 Bank Approval Date October 15, 2005 1. Country and Sector Background Poverty - At the end of the conflict in 1992, Mozambique was listed as the poorest country in the world. Since then it has experienced a relatively high rate of growth (averaged 8.5 percent, and GDP per capita increased by 6 percent per year between 1995-2002). However, the benefits of this growth have been concentrated in Maputo and other urban areas. Rural areas, where 71 percent of Mozambicans live, continue to be affected by extreme poverty. The challenge for Mozambique is to continue to achieve high rates of economic growth while widening the distribution of the benefits. Biodiversity - Mozambique falls within the biodiversity-rich Zambezian biogeographic region, and contains a wide diversity of habitats including mountainous, woodland, wetland and coastal/marine ecosystems. Its 2,700 km of coastline is unique in the East African Marine Region in terms of the quality, diversity and species richness. Many of the most important areas are on, or very close, to international frontiers and well-established conservation areas and tourism routes in neighboring countries. These large areas are important both for their biodiversity richness and because they contain topographic and ecological gradients and transition zones, and historical corridors for large-scale animal movements (terrestrial and marine). Among the most significant are the Chimanimani massif and the Maputaland area and Lebombo mountain range (notable for their high levels of endemism), the Gaza area adjacent to South Africa