Mecuburi Forest Reserve is located in Nampula Province of Mozambique. It is the largest forest reserve in Mozambique, established in 1950 to protect and conserve the Mecuburi River and provide hardwood timber (Mushove & Matakala 2001). The triangular shape of the reserve is created by dirt roads connecting three towns in the region north of the city of Nampula.
Mecuburi is one of 13 forest reserves in Mozambique. Forest reserves, unlike national parks, allow for controlled use by local communities and timber utilization by the government in ideal scenarios. However, due to the civil war in Mozambique from 1977-1992, the reserve has been extensively used for slash-and-burn agriculture. Of the total 230,000 hectares, it is estimated that only 50,000 hectares of "generally well-preserved mature" forest existed in the 2005 assessment of forest reserves in Mozambique (Muller et al 2005).
Like many protected areas in Mozambique, the reserve has been degraded heavily by fire for rotational slash-and-burn agriculture and hunting. Additionally, due to civil war, much of the wildlife that would have existed in this area has disappeared. Some studies indicate that Mecuburi is used by a small herd of elephants to migrate, but the increased fragmentation of the wider landscape may change that route in the future.
In 2021, Eden Mozambique partnered with the government of Nampula Province and Mecuburi District to support restoration activities within a 50,000 hectare portion of Mecuburi Forest Reserve. Moving forward, we will be bringing an additional 100,000 hectares under restoration, in addition to targeted agroforestry initiatives in nearby farms.