The Gorongosa Restoration Project has been honoured with the Global Biodiversity Conservation Award by the BBVA Foundation, at a ceremony in Madrid on Wednesday. The award recognises the exemplary recovery of Gorongosa National Park, which over the past two decades has been hailed as a model of conservation and sustainable development.
During the ceremony, Rafael Pardo, Director of the BBVA Foundation, stressed that the awards pay tribute “to the leaders who give a voice to, and defend the interests of, all the species with whom we share the planet.” Dr Susana Carvalho, Director of Gorongosa's Paleo-Primatology Programme, received the award on behalf of the team, saying: “Our work is guided by a simple but powerful belief: that people and nature can thrive together.”
Created in partnership between the Government of Mozambique and the Greg Carr Foundation, the project has been acclaimed by National Geographic as “the greatest wildlife restoration in history”. Since 2004, various species have been reintroduced and protected by wildlife rangers, allowing exponential growth in animal populations, from fewer than 10,000 individuals to more than 100,000.
Beyond ecological recovery, the project invests in health, education and agricultural development programmes in an area of 600,000 hectares around the park, known as the “Sustainable Development Zone”. The integrated approach was decisive in the project's global recognition, and it is now regarded as an example for other African countries.
The scientific work carried out in Gorongosa has also been remarkable, with the documentation of about 8,000 species, including 200 previously unknown. “Gorongosa is today one of the best-documented national parks in Africa in terms of biodiversity,” stressed Marc Stalmans, the project's Scientific Director.
