WASHINGTON, D.C.—USDA Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small visited a Forest Service-supported mangrove project in Matola Rio, Mozambique, at the end of February. She and U.S. Ambassador to Mozambique Peter Vrooman learned about the land management expertise that the Forest Service provides, and they met community members who are growing mangroves for livelihood and environmental gains. They discovered how difficult it is to move in the thick tidal mud by planting a few seedings before departing the nursery site. The mangrove seedlings that community members nurture provide stock for mangrove restoration campaigns in Maputo Bay and the Limpopo Estuary.

Collaborators from the Eduardo Mondlane University and the university president were on hand to talk about the research that they are conducting within the Forest Service-supported community mangrove sites. That research can help guide climate change adaptation strategies. One issue they are researching is what mangrove species can thrive in various sediments and elevations.

Mozambique has more than 2,000km of coastline exposed to cyclones and storm surges that gain speed across the Indian Ocean. Mangroves help buffer low-lying coastal communities from the damage these storms inflict. They also enhance fisheries by providing food and shelter, and they are one of the world’s most efficient plants at capturing carbon.

The International Programs Office of the Forest Service has been providing natural resource management technical assistance in southern Africa for more than 20 years. In Mozambique, it partners with the U.S. Agency for International Development and U.S. Department of State to support activities that strengthen the resilience of ecosystems and communities. USAID funds the community mangrove restoration project and nursery restoration projects in the Milange District. It also funds Forest Service-implemented fire management projects.

The U.S. State Department funds the Forest Service’s work in countering illegal logging and succulent and cycad illegal trade in Mozambique. In December, 47 representatives from multiple Mozambique and U.S. government agencies shared challenges and solutions to preventing and combating illegal logging as part of a workshop organized, in part, by International Programs.

The Forest Service also partners with the World Wildlife Fund and the wood technologies lab of Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo to train Mozambiquan forestry technicians and law enforcement officers on wood identification techniques and the use of a field manual and modern equipment. Participants can now screen and positively identify harvested timber and help put an end to the trade of illegal species.