Communication - Presse
France provides US$600,000 for training of maritime magistrates in Mozambique
The French government is making around US$600,000 available for the training of magistrates in Mozambique, with a view to operationalizing the country’s newly created maritime courts.
The maritime courts are an important step for Mozambique, ensuring that crimes related to fishing and maritime activities will from now on go to trial in their own forum, thus reinforcing the fight against illegal fishing and other biodiversity- related violations.
In a recent meeting with Mozambique’s Minister of the Sea, Inland Waters and Fisheries, Lídia Cardoso, the French Ambassador to Mozambique, David Izzo, also referred to the signing of a financing agreement with the company Aquapesca, located in Zambézia, whose main activity is the cultivation of marine shrimp, in addition to having invested in the sustainability of various youth entrepreneurship ventures.
The French ambassador also mentioned the implementation of the ECO-DDR project, which aims to strengthen the resilience of ecosystems and communities in the face of climate change. Conspicuous among these actions are the reinforcement of measures and training in mitigating the risk of disasters in the Zambezi Delta watershed; the protection, the restoration and sustainable management of the mangrove ecosystem on the same site; and the creation of a Climate Disaster Fund, within BIOFUND, to allow conservation areas access to funds for the reconstruction of infrastructure destroyed by natural disasters.
David Izzo also referred to the implementation of an international scientific project whose purpose is to ensure the health and productivity of critical ecosystems in the Indian Ocean region, with special attention to sea turtles.
This project is being implemented in the Maputo Special Reserve and will run until 2023.
The French diplomat also took the opportunity to draw attention to the lack of signage in the Mozambique Channel, a situation that could affect navigability, cause accidents and damage maritime safety.
The Minister for the Sea, Inland Waters and Fisheries highlighted the fruitful cooperation between the two countries and, in particular, with the sector she directs, noting that France was willing to provide assistance in ocean governance, aquaculture, research, artisanal fishing, combating to illegal fishing, as well as the establishment of the SADC Regional Fisheries Monitoring Control Surveillance Coordination Centre (MCSCC) in Mozambique.
Lídia Cardoso sought the French diplomat’s intervention in persuading French multinational TotalEnergies to support artisanal fishermen in Cabo Delgado with construction materials and small boats, so that they might restart activities paralysed by the action of the terrorists in the province.
