Illegal logging in Mozambique harms the state by about 200 million dollars annually. According to the Ministry of Land and Environment the country faces a challenge in forest conservation.

As part of the International Day of Forests, March 21, the Ministry estimates a loss of 219,000 hectares in deforested area each year. In a statement, quoted by the newspaper Notícias, the Ministry points to shifting agriculture, urban expansion, illegal exploitation, mining and even the production of wood fuels as the main factors of deforestation.

To deal with the conservation problem, the Government has designed measures that aim to ensure the sustainable use of the forest heritage, by combating trafficking of forest products, reducing deforestation and forest degradation, as well as mitigating the harmful effects associated with climate change.

Among the various measures is the revision of the legal framework, design and implementation of the forest information system, participatory and periodic evaluation of governance and forest operators, in addition to the promotion of reforestation and tree planting.

In Mozambique, forests occupy about 32 million hectares corresponding to about 40% of the total area, of which 17.2 million have potential for timber production.

The forestry sector has 1003 forestry operators, of which 225 are under concession and 778 with a simple license, and employs about 14 thousand workers.

The International Day of Forests was consecrated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 2012, with the aim of promoting reflection around the importance of forests for social well-being and the need to maintain the natural balance by preventing their degradation.

The source refers that the amount that the Mozambican state loses annually due to illegal exploitation of the national forests would serve to boost the country's socio-economic development, with particular emphasis on rural areas.