BACKGROUND
Gorongosa National Park and the surrounding landscape provides ecosystem services of food, freshwater and fuelwood to communities who have experienced conflict, food insecurity, and Cyclone Idai of 2019. The abundance and diversity of wildlife, decimated by decades of civil strife and poaching, has been restored alongside ecotourism and community infrastructure. Since 2008, USAID has invested $17 million, matched 2:1 by American philanthropist Greg Carr, in the conservation and development of Gorongosa National Park. With reintroductions of key species lost during the civil war, increased protection, and improved local livelihood options, the Gorongosa Project has restored ecosystem services and provided agriculture, education, and health services to communities in the buffer zone. This progress is notable, but tenuous unless further efforts succeed.
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Resilient Gorongosa promotes growth by protecting forests, water, and wildlife, which provide natural capital for agriculture, community forestry, and ecotourism development. Interventions focus on conservation enterprises such as coffee, cashews and honey are committed to reinvest profits into the Gorongosa project, sustaining integrated conservation and development programs in the long term. Interventions will also improve access to education, health, and water services for communities, with a focus on empowering women and girls. Biodiversity activities will strengthen community-based natural resources management, conservation science, and law enforcement to counter wildlife crimes. Education activities will address adolescent numeracy, literacy and life skills. Food security activities will support cyclone-affected farmers with training on improved technologies and improved links to markets. Health activities will support family planning, malaria prevention, and mother-child nutrition. Water activities will improve sustainable access to basic water, sanitation and hygiene.
EXPECTED RESULTS AND IMPACTS
● Improved capacity of Gorongosa National Park to preserve, protect and manage the park’s ecosystems.
● Increased scientific understanding of diverse ecosystems and the wider landscape.
● Increased civic participation in local development processes.
● Improved sustainable economic opportunities for men and women living around the park.
● Increased access to education, health, and water/sanitation/hygiene (WASH) services in the buffer zone, particularly for women and girls.
