Resumo de http://www.gorongosa.net/project/overview.php?l=eng -

Introduction
The Carr Foundation, a U.S. not-for-profit organization, has teamed with the Government of Mozambique to protect and restore the ecosystem of Gorongosa National Park and to develop an ecotourism industry to benefit local communities.
The thirty-year restoration project is guided by a Master Plan. The Master Plan is a document created by Park Management that consists of four components, namely: a Vision Statement and Mission Statement, a Sustainable Business Model, a Greater Gorongosa Ecosystem Zoning Plan and an Ecological Management Plan.
The Vision Statement portrays an optimistic view of how the Park and the Greater Gorongosa Ecosystem might look thirty years into the future. It is challenging, but achievable with effort, wisdom, and good fortune. The Mission Statement defines the dual objectives of the management of the Park:
the protection and restoration of the biodiversity and natural processes of the ecosystem and regional poverty alleviation through the establishment of ecotourism businesses and through other beneficial influences of the Park. The Sustainable Business Model is a pro forma business plan created by Park Management that presents a framework and an economic formula wherein Park Revenue generated by tourism and other activities is sufficient to fully fund the objectives of the Park Mission Statement.
The Zoning Plan includes a classification of land and water areas and a designation of permitted and restricted uses of resources.
The fourth component of the Master Plan is the Ecological Management Plan. Park Management, in consultation with the local communities, donor agencies, NGOs, specialists, and other stakeholders, is developing a holistic, integrated plan for the ecological management of the Greater Gorongosa Ecosystem.
Biodiversity Conservation
The rehabilitation of Gorongosa National Park in Central Mozambique represents one of the great conservation opportunities in the world today. Gorongosa is a region of high species diversity and ecological features found nowhere else. The key to continued species diversity on the planet is to protect critical areas.
The 4,000 square kilometer Park is located at the southern end of the Great East African Rift Valley. The Park includes the valley floor and parts of surrounding plateaus. Rivers originating on nearby 1862-meter Mount Gorongosa water the plain.
Seasonal flooding and waterlogging of the valley, which is composed of a mosaic of different soil types, creates a variety of distinct ecosystems. Grasslands are dotted with patches of acacia trees, savannah, dry forest on sands and seasonally rain-filled pans and termite hill thickets. The plateaus contain miombo and montane forests and a spectacular rain forest at the base of a series of limestone gorges.
This combination of unique features at one time supported some of the densest wildlife populations in all of Africa, including charismatic carnivores, herbivores and over 500 bird species. But large mammal numbers were reduced by as much as 95% and ecosystems stressed during Mozambique''s thirty-year civil conflict.
We are training a revitalized anti-poaching team and rebuilding Park infrastructure. We are conducting biological monitoring including a large herbivore count, carnivore survey, fish survey and vegetation map. We will create a permanent biological research center in the Park that will not only advance scientific understanding but also provide education and employment opportunities to Mozambicans.
Starting in 2006 we will reintroduce, in large numbers, the triad of bulk grazers (zebra/wildebeest/buffalo) that were responsible for maintaining the Gorongosa ecosystem in the past.
Community-Based Ecotourism
Conservation of biodiversity can only be accomplished within the wider context of national economies, social goals and short- and long-term human needs. Central Mozambique is challenged by poverty and an accompanying health crisis. Arincipal objective of this project is to utilize the natural assets of Gorongosa Park to develop an ecotourism industry.
We define this ecotourism as travel to Gorongosa National Park that will not cause damage to the environment and that will benefit the local people by creating employment and by generating resources for social services such as schools and health clinics. We favor small scale and dispersed sites of tourism activity that are less environmentally threatening and more emotionally appealing than large developments. These smaller concessions will also facilitate the direct engagement of the local people.
We seek to empower the community by involving them in the planning, decision-making, ownership and operation of these projects. It is our policy to involve the most vulnerable locals, including women. We intend to facilitate this participation by the creation of democratic councils, and by the creation of transparent relationships between government and civil society.
We want these ecotourism ventures to be integrated into the wider economy in order to create secondary and tertiary regional economic activity. Tourism earnings are generally higher than primary products earnings and have tended to increase at a higher rate than earnings from other export commodities. We thus believe that ecotourism is a promising industry for Mozambique and can contribute significantly to the country''s earnings of foreign exchange.

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