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Mozambique, South Africa, and Swaziland say that the marine reserve of Ponta de Ouro, in the far south of Mozambique, may be declared A World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) by December this year.
This move is to ensure improved protection and conservation of marine species such as turtles, whales, and dolphins.
The decision to fix December 2008 for this procedure was taken during a meeting on Bazaruto island, off the coast of the southern province of Inhambane, on Saturday, between the Mozambican, South African and Swazi tourism ministers.
The Mozambican Minister, Fernando Sumbana, said that the governments are currently working with local communities in order to ensure that declaring Ponta de Ouro a World Heritage Site does not cause any kind of problems. There is a potential conflict because fishing is the major source of income among communities around the reserve. But conservation of the biodiversity of the region is also very important, since it will bring more tourists to the area.
"We intend to declare that area as a World Heritage Site by December this year", Sumbana said. "This should have happened before, but it is something that takes a lot of work and consultations with the communities. It is important to ensure that all interests are accommodated, particularly those of the communities, who live on fishing, and also to deal with the issue of building infrastructures in the areas, all to guarantee consensus and good implementation of the work, so that we get the desired results".
The Bazaruto meeting also discussed the creation of a sanctuary for wild life linking the parks of Tembe, Futi, and the Maputo Special Reserve. On this matter, the meeting decided that the sanctuary will be built by June 2009, and the idea is to separate rural communities from animals, particularly elephants.
Currently, the work being done is to ensure the safety of the surrounding communities and prevent wild animals from attacking people and destroying their property.
"We have material and financial conditions to build the sanctuary. What we are doing now is to ensure, first of all, safety of the communities in that area. We are working to erect a fence to ensure that people and their property are not affected by this movement, and create a psychological environment for everyone to feel protected and at ease with the building of the sanctuary", said Sumbana.
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