"Patterns of Forest Loss in One of Africa’s Last Remaining Wilderness Areas: Niassa National Reserve (Northern Mozambique) "

Abstract

Niassa National Reserve (NNR) supports Mozambique's largest populations of endangered fauna and sustains the livelihoods of > 40,000 people who utilise its natural resources. Accurately monitoring finescale spatial and temporal trends in land-use and tree-cover is increasingly used for monitoring the ecological state of conservation areas. Here we provide essential information on land-use changes in NNR to support ongoing conservation efforts in the region. We examined patterns of forest and woodland loss in NNR between 2001 and 2014 using high resolution maps of global tree-cover change, and compared this with changes in the wider region. We found that NNR lost 108 km 2 of forest (0.9 per cent of its 11,970 km 2 aggregated forest extent), with the majority (89 km 2 ) of forest loss occurring due to expanding agriculture around settlements and along main roads. Although this loss was substantial, it was lower than changes in the surrounding region, with the adjacent districts and Provinces losing 200 km 2 (3.2 per cent) and 6,594 km 2 (5.7 per cent) of their respective forest extents. We found NNR's diverse Miombo ecosystems are still intact and could support large mega-faunal assemblages, investment in ensuring the long-term success of NNR is an obvious global conservation priority.

Change in Terrestrial Human Footprint Drives Continued Loss of Intact Ecosystems

“…14,17,18 The results of these mapping efforts are influencing global policy discussions, 6,19 and informing on-the-ground decisions about where to undertake biodiversity conservation action. [20][21][22] Here, we provide the latest global maps of cumulative human pressure 23,24 for the years 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2013, and use the maps for the years 2000 and 2013 to assess how change in human pressure is altering Earth's terrestrial ecosystems. We used a human footprint threshold of <4 (on a 0-50 scale) to identify where land is considered ecologically intact (below the threshold) or highly modified and thus ecologically degraded (equal to or above the threshold).…”

Modelling Aboveground Biomass of Miombo Woodlands in Niassa Special Reserve, Northern Mozambique

“…The Niassa Special Reserve (NSR) is located in northern Mozambique and is one of the least explored places in Africa [38]. This area represents 30% of the total protected area in the country and is one of the last remnants of the miombo woodlands in Sub-Saharan Africa [39].…”

“…In addition, the reserve has high biological diversity that includes more than 800 species of plants, half of them endemic, several mammalian species, and over 400 bird species [40]. Thus, the reserve may contribute to global carbon storage and sequestration, and biodiversity conservation [15,38].…”

Change in terrestrial human footprint drives continued loss of intact ecosystems

“…These advances have facilitated the mapping of Earth's remaining marine and terrestrial wilderness 8,10,11 , improved measures and estimates of species extinction risk 12 , underpinned broader assessments of human impacts on ecosystems 13 and biodiversity [14][15][16] , and enabled the identification of protected areas and world heritage sites in danger 14,17,18 . The results of these mapping efforts are influencing global policy discussions 6,19 , and informing on-the-ground decisions about where to undertake biodiversity conservation action [20][21][22] .…”