VZCZCXRO9592
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHTO #0521/01 1171036
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 271036Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY MAPUTO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0249
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0380
RUCLRFA/USDA FAS WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MAPUTO 000521 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR OES/PCI, OES/ENV AND AF/S 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SOCI EAGR ECON ETRD PGOV PREL EINV MZ
SUBJECT: FAMOUS AUTHOR PROVIDES A SNAPSHOT OF ENVIROMENTAL 
ENFORCEMENT 
 
¶1. (SBU) This cable represents the third in a series of 
innovative collaboration in environment/science reporting 
between Embassies Maputo and Pretoria.  Embassy Pretoria ESTH 
Officer and Maputo Economic/Commercial officer visited 
environment and science projects in Niassa, Sofala and Cabo 
Delgado Provinces and met relevant government and private 
officials in Maputo during a March 8-17, 2009 visit. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  Mia Couto, world famous Mozambican 
author, biologist and environmental activist, met with 
embassy officers to discuss environmental enforcement in 
Mozambique.  Couto noted that current resource extraction and 
farming practices are harming the environment, and that much 
of Mozambique's natural resources are sold to South Africa. 
He commented that the Ministry for Coordination of 
Environment Affairs (MCEA) does not have the capacity to 
conduct scientific studies or to enforce environmental 
regulations.  Jurisdictional disputes between MCEA and the 
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) 
complicate enforcement.  Couto said the Environmental Impact 
Assessment (EIA) process is used primarily for small 
factories or infrastructure projects; most investors simply 
ignore it.  END SUMMARY. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
Small Farms, Poor Farming Methods, No Zoning Laws 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Mia Couto provided Pretoria ESTH Officer, US 
Forestry Service International Programs Africa Program 
Officer, and EconOff an overview of Mozambique's 
environmental regulations and enforcement on March 13, 2009. 
He noted that most of the 20 million population rely on small 
(one hectare) farms.  Irrigation is primarily from rainfall 
or from water collected in small dams located throughout the 
country.  Modern technology such as improved fertilizers, 
better farming practices, integrated waste management would 
improve the situation.  Couto noted that Mozambique generates 
two gigawatts of electricity, but eighty percent is sold to 
South Africa.  Couto said about same percentages hold true 
for natural gas and coal. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Couto said there are no zoning laws.  He advised 
that in one coastal region a former mayor allowed 
construction that destroyed native vegetation, causing 
erosion.  Couto opined that these areas are "headed for 
disaster" unless environmental laws are enforced because the 
water table is very low in these regions.  He noted that the 
rural poor live along the sea, in natural parks or in 
protected areas, all of which are densely populated.  The 
World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) has been pressuring the 
government to relocate people, creating social and ethnic 
tension. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Couto commented that bush fires, river sanitation 
and poor water management are serious problems.  There is 
little infrastructure and "lots of pressure" on natural 
resources.  The primary fuel source is charcoal which leads 
to deforestation; current agricultural practices exhaust the 
land; a growing population needs more and more land causing 
competition for valuable land. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
Enforcement Challenges:  Ethnic Tensions and 
Jurisdictional Disputes 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Couto said the situation is most complex along the 
coast because there are numerous ethic groups, including the 
Makonde, Mkua, and Kimwani who were Muslim slavers in former 
times.  Couto notes there are "ancient bad feelings still 
from slavery."  He commented that the groups have different 
languages and that the Makonde were Frelimo leaders, creating 
political tensions and making a unified approach "difficult." 
 Couto said that tensions have increased in recent years as 
tourism opens more opportunities.  He said there is little 
scientific knowledge about these areas, and no ecological 
information.  He noted that these groups need more training 
on ecological issues, saying, "They think the only disaster 
is an oil spill." 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Couto said that competing jurisdictions complicated 
environmental enforcement.  National parks and protected 
areas were moved into the MCEA approximately five or six 
years ago.  All the buffer zones still fall under MARD, which 
has no environmental division.  Neither ministry has the 
jurisdiction to deal with mangroves, corals, or fisheries. 
Couto says the most efficient government entity is the 
 
MAPUTO 00000521  002 OF 003 
 
 
Natural History Museum and the best source of soil erosion 
information is the National Institute's Agricultural Research 
Unit. 
 
------------------------------------------- 
Government Lacks Scientific and Managerial 
Capacity To Enforce Laws 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Couto commented that the government lacks capacity 
to conduct scientific studies.  There are no science 
advisors, and the government has issued only minimal 
environmental guidelines.  MCEA has no inventories of 
biodiversity, river conditions, habitats, or ecosystems. 
Couto said, "No one has any idea how much soil erosion has 
occurred or why."  He commented that the government "only 
sees rivers as energy producers and does not value the social 
and ecological aspects."  Couto said MCEA "wants to be in 
charge of everything, but has no perception of priorities or 
even an agenda."  He stated that MCEA makes decisions without 
science or environmental knowledge.  He gave an example of 
100 elephants being killed because MCEA could not figure out 
what to do with them.  He also noted that political 
corruption is present in both ministries. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Couto believes the situation is worse now than in 
the 1970s when there were small traders everywhere.  He says 
there are no factories, and few processing plants.  He 
commented that people only buy what they can consume and most 
of that comes from South Africa.  He deplored the 
government's decision to create farm cooperatives, stating 
that the government had no idea how to supply the communes 
with services or how the communes would produce goods or 
services for sale.  He said no one thought about the 
necessity of building schools, markets, or banks for these 
communal farms. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
EIA Process ) Promising Start, But No Enforcement 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Couto then discussed the EIA process, noting that 
it began in 1998, and has not changed much since then.  He 
said the EIA is the main tool to integrate environmental 
issues into development and project implementation.  The bulk 
of the EIAs are conducted for small factories and 
infrastructure projects such as power lines, roads, or water 
works.  He noted that enforcement is "very weak because the 
government lacks manpower."  He commented that investors 
simply ignore EIA rules because nothing happens to them.  He 
sees the coastal area as the most problematic. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Couto's company has been conducting EIA awareness 
workshops, targeted at oil/gas prospecting for the past few 
years.  They have developed a special course for 
parliamentarians.  Couto commented that a few years ago it 
was difficult to find anyone qualified to act as an on-site 
environmental manager, but his company has now trained forty 
people in this capacity. 
 
-------- 
BIO NOTE 
-------- 
 
¶12.  (SBU) Mia (Antonio Emilio Leite) Couto was born in 
Beira, Mozambique to Portuguese immigrants.  He studied 
medicine at Lourenco Marques University from 1971 to 1974. 
When Mozambique became independent in 1975, Couto dropped out 
of school, finding work as a journalist, and then as director 
of the Mozambican Information Agency after 1977.  Between 
1978 and 1981 he edited a weekly magazine and was editor of a 
newspaper.  He resigned from these posts in 1985 to return to 
school at the renamed Eduardo Mondlane University, earning a 
biology degree in 1989.  He continued to study biology at the 
graduate level and began teaching at the university.  He 
eventually became an environmental biologist at Limpopo 
Transfrontier Park, and is now the Director General of 
IMPACTO, an environmental project analysis and implementation 
firm. 
 
¶13.  (SBU) Couto's first book of poetry appeared in 1983.  He 
published collections of short stories in 1986 and in 1994. 
Many of his stories concern Mozambique's civil war.  His 
first novel was published in 1992, followed by a detective 
novel in 1996.  An international jury at the Zimbabwe 
International Book Fair called his first novel, 'Terra 
Sonambula (Sleepwalking Land)', "one of the best 12 African 
books of the 20th century."  In 2001 he won the Mario Antonio 
 
MAPUTO 00000521  003 OF 003 
 
 
prize from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation for his novel 
'Under the Frangipani.'  In April 2007, he became the first 
African author to win the annual Italian Latin Union Award of 
Romantic Languages, which includes authors from Portugal, 
France, Columbia, Spain, Italy and Senegal.  Couto was only 
the fourth Portuguese language writer to win this 12,000 euro 
prize. 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶14.  (SBU) COMMENT:  Couto was frank and candid in his 
assessment of environmental enforcement in Mozambique.  If he 
is correct, and there is no reason to doubt him, the lack of 
scientific information and trained managers, along with 
corruption, hampers environmental enforcement.  Programs 
providing assistance in conducting scientific studies and in 
training government officials in enforcement would help meet 
the gaps noted by Couto.  Training programs such as the one 
developed in part by the USG for the South African 
Environmental Enforcement Managers might be useful models. 
END COMMENT. 
Chapman