Mozambique has lost at least 50,000 hectares of mangrove forest, with Zambézia province, in the center of the country, being the most affected, an official source announced during the launch of the national mangrove restoration program.

"Our country loses 88 hectares of mangroves every year, due, on one hand, to deliberate human action and, on the other, to eminently natural causes," said Augusta Maíta, Minister of the Sea, Inland Waters and Fisheries, quoted by the media today.

According to Lusa, the minister, urban expansion, salt mine construction, forest exploitation, and "unsustainable use of trees" are among the reasons that lead to the destruction of mangroves in Mozambique.

The mangrove restoration program, launched Monday in Zambezia, central part of the country, is funded by eight million dollars from Sweden.

The support aims at "building local capacity for resilience [to climate change], also through restoration of coastal ecosystems in three pilot districts," said Mette Sunnergren, Swedish Ambassador to Mozambique.

With the mangrove restoration program, advanced the minister, the country intends to "put at least five thousand hectares of forest", a goal that the country has committed to achieve by 2022, under the Sustainable Development Goals.