By Winnie Kamau
Luanda, Angola: Vice President (VP) of Angola, Bornito de Sousa has praised the ongoing rehabilitation project of Mangroves by OTCHIVA. He recently visited the area after 5 months to inspect the progress of reforestation.
The VP had earlier in March participated in the planting of Mangroves in the 44 hectares in Ramiros where more than 800 volunteers had come out to help.
He congratulated the OTCHIVA (wetland) Project for their recognition by the African Union for his exemplary contribution to the sustainability of the environment in Africa.
“We are happy to see the great project we started and we can see the Mangroves are growing. We appreciate Otchiva for the good work they are doing in rehabilitating the mangroves,” said VP Bornito.
Mangroves hold 80% of marine life and hundreds of migratory birds have long been destroyed on the entire coastline of Angola to give rise to buildings such as residences, resorts, hotels, whose impacts of this destruction are placing at risk not only the habitats of all species that depend on this ecosystem, but they are also leaving coastal communities and the shoreline vulnerable to possible erosion and flooding.
OTCHIVA project in Angola has dedicated itself to protecting and restoring the mangroves since its four years of existence. They have planted nearly half a million mangroves whose last reforestation campaign had the participation of the Vice President of the Republic of Angola who appealed to the provincial Governors, municipal administrators
“We need to pay more attention to this mangrove ecosystem in order to put an end to its destruction given its economic, environmental, and cultural importance,” said the VP.
OTCHIVA Project was recognized in Sierra Leone at the celebrations of the Wangari Maathai Day and the African Environment Day, as the Project’s objective is to create awareness of the Mangrove Protection Project and collaborate with partners on strategies for the protection of this ecosystem.
Reforested land was on the verge of desertification, there were no species, but during the visit with the Vice President they found, there were already many crabs, and flamingos were now landing to feed, showing that it is possible to recover the areas of degraded mangroves and protêgelas.
A visit by the Governors accompanying the Vice President saw them walk along the coastline of the island of Mussulo, where on the ground it was still possible to see the continued destruction of the mangroves for the purpose of construction of homes and businesses.
Fernanda Renée, founder of the OTCHIVA Project guided the verification visit by the Governors.
“It is very sad to still see that the mangroves are still being destroyed in my country, but we will not give up, as the objective is to continue to raise awareness and instill in everyone’s mind about the risk of mangrove destruction, as we are talking about the nursery of 80% of marine life, and I think that nobody would like to be located on a 1650 km coastal shore, without fish,” said Fernanda
A National Plan for the Management of Mangroves has been developed by the protectors of mangrove and they are asked for support for its implementation and questioned the Governors when the end of the destruction of the “NURSERY OF OCEAN .”
OTCHIVA project was started in the birthplace of Fernanda with the aim of saving the flamingos in her city whose habitat was on the verge of extinction. Today, the project has inspired other provinces on the coast of Angola and already have 1300 volunteers present in the mangrove restoration activities. OTCHIVA team also conducts campaigns to clean the mangroves, educate and raise awareness of the importance of mangroves, as well as scientific investigations into these mangrove ecosystems.
