EVOLUTION OF GDP GROWTH IN MOZAMBIQUE, SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA AND THE WORLD BETWEEN 2005 AND 2010 (EIU, 2010) 

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... the war, the country had increasingly become dependent on foreign financial assistance from both the East and the West in the form of grants and loans. As a result, debt became another important driver of the country’s policies. Mozambique joined the Bretton Woods institutions in 1987 to gain access to international funds. Since then it has tried to apply the models promoted by IMF and World Bank (Abrahamsson & Nilsson, 1995; Hanlon, 1996). Between 1992 and 2010 Mozambique’s economy grew at an average rate of over 6% per year, more than the average of Sub-Saharan Africa ( Figure 3) (EIU, 2006) (EIU, 2009). Gross National Project (GNP) grew from US$2.6 billion in 1992 (Abrahamsson & Nilsson, 1995) to US$37.0 billion in 2000 to US$91.4 billion in 2009 (current prices) (World Bank Group, 2011). In April 1998, its rapid reform and recovery was rewarded with a debt pardon under the Heavily Indebted Poor Counties (HIPC) Initiative, making it the sixth country to benefit from this Initiative and ensuring some US$1.4 billion (in nominal terms) in debt relief (World Bank Group, 2011). The rapid pacification of Mozambican society and its strong macroeconomic performance have turned the country into a “donor darling”, receiving US$ 65 per person per year in aid. In comparison, Tanzania and Uganda (which have almost the same GDP per capita as Mozambique) and Malawi (which is much poorer) each receive only US$ 42 per person per year (Hanlon, 2010). Initially, economic growth was reflected in lower poverty levels. Between 1997 and 2003, the incidence of poverty – defined as the inability to meet basic nutritional needs – declined from 69% to 54% (GOM, 2004). Since then, poverty reduction has stalled, and in some regions the poverty incidence has increased, with the recent overall average at 55% (GOM, 2010). Economic growth and the reduction of poverty have important impacts on resource use. During the war, 3 the volume of timber extracted annually from the forests had dwindled from 110,000 m in 1986 to 3 3 50,000 m in 1991 (DNFFB, 1992). It plummeted again to 14,500 m in 1993. But with the end of warfare the forests became accessible again and extraction increased. Currently, the legally extracted volume of logs (round-wood ) i s about 120,000 m 3 per year, i.e., about the same as before the war (Figure 4). The graph in Figure 4 is based on data from the National Directorate for Forests and Wildlife (DNFFB, 1992), Falcão (Falcão, 2005) and the General Inspection of Finance (IGF, 2010). It shows the decrease in logging caused by the war and the rapid recuperation after the onset of peace. It also illustrates the changes in the licensed (and therefore registered) exploitation of the forests and woodlands for two other resources, firewood and charcoal, converted into Round Wood Equivalents (RWE). The first available 3 data refer to 1991, when the government registered the extraction of the equivalents of 11,540 m for 3 firewood and 8,310 m for charcoal. In 1997, the extracted volume of firewood was the equivalent of 3 3 almost 130,000 m and of charcoal more than 282,000 m . Since then, the registered extraction of firewood has decreased, and that of charcoal increased, to a value of more than 1.3 million bags or 3 470,000 m RWE. As a result, charcoal (measured in RWE) is currently the most important resource extracted from the forests. The current level of exploitation has given rise to a fierce debate about its sustainability. The Ministry of Agriculture (MINAG) has maintained that the current logging level is less than the annual allowable cut and is therefore sustainable (Anonymous, 2010). IGF, however argues that MINAG neglects the combined impacts of illegal logging, the concentration of logging on a small number of species such as Chanfuta ( Afzelia quanzensis ), Mondzo ( Combretum imberbe ), Messassa ( Brachystegia spiciformis ), and Jambire ( Milletia stuhlmannii ), and charcoal burning. IGF estimates that the real level of extraction is six times the annual allowable cut and therefore seriously jeopardizes the sustainability of forest resources in ...