Functions and organizational structure of the proposed Natural Resources Management Facility in Mozambique

The proposed Natural Resources Management Facility (NRMF) seeks to achieve poverty reduction and employment generation through ecologically sustainable, economically viable and people-participatory management of natural resources (resources of waters and soils, coastal and marine resources, ecotourism, energy resources, mineral and other resources). The NRMF will have five functional divisions for technology policy, environmental education, extramural cooperation, technical facility and information network, and international cooperation. At the heart of the NRMF is a state-of-the-art analytical laboratory (with ICP-AES, GC-ECD, GC-MS, etc.) in Maputo. This will be networked with five field stations which will have portable instruments for water, soil, food, etc. analysis. The NRMF will custom-design integrated natural resource management models for different areas of the country, in the context of their particular biophysical and socio-economic environments. Innovative management techniques have been developed to make the NRMF sustainable and largely self-financing. The NRMF will cooperate with, and assist the member countries of SADC (Southern Africa Development Community) in environmental management for mutual benefit, and could, hopefully, serve as a pilot model for the countries of sub-Saharan Africa. Received: 30 September 1997 · Accepted: 3 February 1998