7 February 2011, Allafrica News - The Mozambican government and its partners are looking at the current level of deforestation and at new strategies to reverse the trend.

These issues were discussed in Maputo on Monday at a meeting in preparation for the drafting of the new National Strategy for Reducing Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+).

According to the Mozambican Environment Minister, Alcinda Abreu, the process of drafting the National Strategy is reaching an advanced stage.

The development of this strategy has had the support of partners, including the World Bank which in this preparatory phase granted 200,000 US dollars. This sum was earmarked for the preparation of the strategy, and additional funds are required for its implementation in the coming years.

At the meeting a preliminary document that will lead to the National Strategy was presented by the Mozambican government to its cooperation partners.

Speaking during the meeting, Alcinda Abreu stressed the importance of sharing ideas between the government and its partners, to allow all parties to learn from each other and to raise awareness of the challenges faced by all stakeholders.

According to the Ministry of Coordination of Environmental Affairs (MICOA), which is leading the process together with the Ministry of Agriculture, "this meeting is an opportunity for the government of Mozambique and its partners to find ways to study the efficiency of a system of payments for environmental services that can be an alternative to deforestation and degradation and find new opportunities in the carbon market through REDD+".

Once Mozambique has prepared its National Strategy and National Action Plan it will gain access to further funds from the World Bank.

At least 37 developing countries have also been selected to be able to use these funds for the implementation of their plans for reducing carbon emissions by curbing deforestation and forest degradation.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the event, the head of cooperation in MICOA, Telma Manjate, announced that the government is working towards implementing pilot projects, which include buffer zones for forest reserves.

According to Manjate, by 2014 the pilot projects will cost over 131 million US dollars.

Through these projects, the government intends to regulate the use of forest resources and reduce deforestation to sustainable levels.