NI academic leads research into Mozambique riches

The stunning yet unknown coastline of Mozambique could hold the key to boosting the country’s faltering economy – according to a leading coastal research expert.

Professor Andrew Cooper from the University of Ulster’s Centre for Coastal and Marine Research, is currently leading a study to assess the state of Mozambique’s shores. Until now, little has been known about the scientific make-up of the country’s coastline.

“Mozambique has the longest coastline on the east African coast - yet it is practically unknown from a scientific perspective" said Professor Andrew Cooper.

“Mozambique is one of the poorest nations in the world and its coastal resources offer a high potential for future development -the 2700km-long coast has sandy beaches, coral reefs, tropical islands and some enormous deltas, all of which have the potential to boost the country's economic productivity if exploited in a sustainable way.”

In spite of the devastation wrought by floods in recent years, the nature of the coast is still poorly known.

"Using satellite images, low-level photography and field visits we were able to identify different types of coastal resources. We were also able to interpret the reasons for the distribution of coastal landforms - the Mozambique coast is an ideal natural laboratory to investigate the controls on different coastal types,” Professor Cooper added.

UU research student Natasha Aragao who is working on the project, collated the little information that was available - much of it in Portuguese- and facilitated liaison with government departments in the capital, Maputo.

“We hope this information will be of use in planning the future development of the coast - a first step in the management of any resource is a stocktaking of the resource. We hope this project will contribute to that goal," said Ms Aragao.

The information is now being disseminated to government departments and Non Governmental Organisations in Mozambique.

This research was partly supported by Development Co-operation Ireland.

(MB/GB)