Technical Assistance to the Center for Sustainable Development

The Centre for Sustainable Development focuses on environmentally and socially sustainable development of the rural areas of Mozambique in which community based natural resources management (CBNRM) is of particular interest. The Project was installed under the Ministry of Environment (MICOA) as a semi-autonomous national level institution in Chimoio. The Project operated in three provinces, Manica, Sofala and Tete, in which several pilot areas were chosen for implementation of sound natural resources management practices. The overall (devlopment) objective of the Project was environmentally and socially sustainable development and natural resources management in rural areas of Mozambique, primarily in provinces of Manica, Sofala and Tete.

The purpose of the Project aimed to ensure that:

• The Centre for Sustainable Development in Chimoio is established to promote the above objective in an institutionally and financially sustainable way.
• The Centre has a co-ordinating role in storage and retrieval of environmental data. Design and establishment of an integrated environmental information system is also foreseen.
• Particular attention is given to the identification of environmental diagnostics for land-use planning purposes, and guidelines were developed for application at provincial and district levels.
• Improved guidelines, procedures and practices for sustainable development are also prepared.

ORGUT served in a sub-consultancy role to the lead firm Scanagri Finland.