Management Plan to establish a proper and sound Management Plan has always been a concern for SRN. Initial reconnaissance work developed in 1996-1997, resulted in the preparation of the first Niassa Reserve five year Management Plan. This document is currently being revised and updated, through a series of participatory workshops at national, provincial and district level under the assistance of WWF-SARPO.
Administrative Structures and Institutional
Capacity SRN has focused on establishing and continuously improving the most basic administrative structures and institutional capacity to administer the Reserve and manage the resources’ conservation. That included the provision of staff and proper working and accommodation facilities, the provision of the necessary office equipment, vehicles and field equipment, the development and maintenance of a road network. It also included training programs for the Reserve staff.
Law Enforcement
In order to address the most serious and immediate threat to Niassa’s biodiversity, an antipoaching strategy has been devised, and various anti-poaching units have been trained and equipped. Most of the surveillance and anti-poaching work is done by land (walking patrols or motorized patrols). Game guard units coordinate ground patrols through a radio network and the program uses from time to time, a CESSNA 185 aircraft for reconnaissance and air patrol work.
Capacity building programs for the reserve game scouts, focused mainly on fitness, drilling and weapon training, were the responsibility of the Reserve warden’s. In 2000 a training course was run by the Niassa Province Police Department to 25 game scouts.
Since 2001, SRN establish an agreement with the Gorongosa National Park Training Center, which is sponsored by WWF - SARPO.
These training courses provided game scouts with essential knowledge and skills in Law enforcement and Nature Conservation covering subjects like fitness and drilling exercises, fire control management, soil erosion and control measures, anti-poaching patrol principles and tactics, patrol observations and reporting, first aid principles, law and legislation, communication skills and safe use and handling of firearms. The courses end up with a practice anti-poaching patrol carried out during five days inside the Reserve.
Facilities – The Main Camp in Mbatamila and the Outposts
The Reserve had no working or accommodation facilities at all. In the process of establishing these facilities, SRN followed the principles of simple design, use of local materials and local skills to assure easy maintenance and cost effectiveness. Building, renovating and maintaining the existent offices and housing for the staff, both at the HQ in Mbatamila and the ten outposts, has been a permanent job.
Aerial Surveys SRN has also commissioned three aerial wildlife surveys, in October 1998, October 2000 and October 2002. These aerial census of the numbers and distribution of game species, as well as the changes and trends between surveys were the most important and reliable management tool for the planning and sitting of tourism and other infrastructure, and for monitoring the extent and distribution of poaching and the success of combative measures.