Lubango - The Mandume Ya Ndemufayo University (UMN) and the Academica de Autores (ASA) in central Huíla province launched an environmental project Tuesday, focused on the recovery of native forests in the municipalities of Caconda and Lubango.
Called ‘UVANJE’, the project has is funded by the US Forest Service with 50,000 dollars and will initially be carried out in Lubango city, more precisely at the Higher Polytechnic Institute of Huíla, in Serra da Chela, Senhora do Monte, in an estimated 4 kilometres long and 500 metres wide.
The aim is to increase the area's forest cover with native species, an initiative that has already taken its first steps, with approximately 30 seasonal agricultural workers dedicated to conserving native forests, conserving springs and planting trees in the conservation perimeter of the Preciosa Water Factory and the surrounding area.
The project foresees the participation of traditional authorities and the community, involving community leaders from the neighborhood, in the tasks of collecting seeds, creating and maintaining community nurseries of native trees and trees of forestry interest, helping them to diversify their income, while at the same time preserving the environment.
Speaking to ANGOP on the sidelines of the launch of the project, UMN's vice rector for scientific affairs and postgraduate studies, Francisco Mayato, said the idea is to create forest nurseries with native species.
According to the academic, the university is there to investigate and understand the constraints that exist and make germination easier.
‘Another challenge will certainly be to introduce these species to degraded sites to see how they develop outside the greenhouse environment in which they are being raised,’ he said. BP/MS/AMP
