The preservation of the environment and the protection of biodiversity are two key areas for the development of Mozambique.
The country has enormous potential in terms of natural resources and the majority of the population is directly dependent on biodiversity and ecosystem services for their survival.
Despite its high diversity, the flora of Mozambique has received limited research coverage and remains poorly known. The country's prolonged instability caused by the war of independence (1964-1975) and subsequent armed conflict (1977 -1992) resulted in a long period in which biodiversity research was neglected.
In the last two decades, fortunately, there has been a remarkable increase in botanical expeditions, marking Mozambique among the countries with the highest rate of discovery of new species in Africa. The most recent study, an updated list of the vascular plants of Mozambique (Délcio Odorico et al., Phytokeys, January 2022), contains taxonomic classification, biological and morphological attributes, geographic distribution, endemism, extinction risk, and ethnobotanical information.
The research done in the framework of the SECOSUD II Project "Conservation and equitable use of biological diversity in the SADC region: from Geographic Information System (GIS) to Spatial Systemic Decision Support System", funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS).
Researchers from Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM), together with colleagues from various institutions such as the Università La Sapienza in Rome, among others, have produced the updated list of vascular plants of Mozambique, summarizing data from relevant bibliographic sources, herbarium collections, and authoritative botanical databases.
The study turns out to be reliable for future botanical studies in Mozambique, to guide further botanical research and to support biodiversity conservation planning.
From the analyses of the data collected, the conclusions highlight the general lack of information on the conservation status of vascular plants in Mozambique, showing the urgent need for further studies to identify threatened species and develop appropriate conservation strategies. About 75.1% of the threatened species in the country (Vulnerable, Endangered and Critically Endangered) are endemic to Mozambique, highlighting the central responsibility of the country for the conservation of these species.
The main threat factors for vascular plants in the country are habitat loss and degradation, driven by recent population growth and the resulting increased pressure on natural ecosystems. The data also show how the increasing commercialization and overexploitation of medicinal plants are becoming a growing threat.
One of the examples cited in the study is Warburgia salutaris (Xibaha in ronga), one of the most widely used medicinal plants in southern Africa. As a consequence of increasing commercial demand in recent years it has been subject to uncontrolled harvesting, resulting in widespread tree mortality and even the extinction of local populations in many areas, changing its conservation status and being considered globally endangered.