Assessing Locally Managed Marine Areas

Improvement of the management and governance of two Locally Managed Marine Areas in northern Mozambique 

 

What are we doing? 

Since 2019, ZSL has been supporting the creation of two Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMAs) in Bandar and Mecufi (southern Cabo Delgado province) which are now fully operational. Besides the socioeconomic and ecological assessments undertaken early 2019 to design the co-management measures, no further assessments have been carried out since their inception, to determine the management effectiveness of the LMMA model or the governance of the two LMMAs. 

Having been operating for two years, we are at a critical junction in the operations of the LMMA to determine if the current co-management practices deliver the social and environmental goals laid out in the LMMA co-management plan. A new community-based approach to protected areas, LMMAs have recently been legally recognised in Mozambican law (Regulamento da Pesca Maritima, Decreto n.° 89/2020), so the results of this assessment will provide evidence to inform not only improvements in management effectiveness and governance of the LMMAs but inform the emerging policies and community of practice of LMMAs more broadly.  

By assessing the effectiveness of the co-management measures and the quality of governance using IMET and SAGE diagnostics, we will be utilising tools and methods already employed in Mozambique’s terrestrial PAs, facilitating much needed synergies between community-led and government-led PA efforts in Mozambique. These assessments will result in clear result-oriented recommendations especially (i) to improve the definition of the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders in LMMA enforcement, (ii) for vulnerable community members to access sustainable livelihoods, (iii) to build local capacity in mangrove rehabilitation and (iv) to engage community members in socioeconomic and biological monitoring. The implementation of these recommendations will enhance the effectiveness of the two LMMAs in order to ensure conservation targets are achieved while ensuring environmental and social risks are mitigated and any emerging risks identified. 

As a result, BIOPAMA STGA will contribute to develop a model of assessment of LMMAs together with the Provincial Direction of Sea, Inland Waters and Fisheries (DPMAIP) who support our work through a MoU (with Ama). This model will provide support to DPMAIP to report the LMMAs performance to both national and international levels, which will be scaled across the emerging LMMA network in Mozambique, and to CBD against conservation targets of the National Strategy and Action Plan of Biological Diversity of Mozambique (NBSAP – 2015/35) and help DPMAIP take the necessary actions to improve LMMAs efficiency and governance. 

Impact  

We aim to develop result-oriented priority actions (i) to improve the definition of the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders in LMMA enforcement (because of the risk due to restricting access to resources then priority actions will include mitigation measures regarding potential impacts on livelihoods for the communities), (ii) for vulnerable community members to access sustainable livelihoods (because of the risk due to gender-related inequalities, priority actions will include mitigation measures regarding our gender-based approach), (iii) to build local capacity in mangrove rehabilitation (because of the risk due to mangrove plantation, priority actions will include mitigation measures regarding the introduction of trees sourced in other areas to manage the spread of disease) and (iv) to engage community members in socioeconomic and biological monitoring.