Mozambique - iNaturalist World Tour
Mozambique is the 88th stop on the iNaturalist World Tour. The top observer is @snidge with observations clustered around central Mozambique north of Beira along with other top observers such as @graeme and @judygva. @i_c_riddell, a Safari Guide throughout Zimbabwe, has Mozambique observations clustered here but his icon is pulled towards Zimbabwe by his observations there. There's another cluster of top observers to the south along the border with South Africa and near the capital of Maputo including @andrewdeacon (who worked for many years at South African National Parks), @seastung (a marine naturalist from cape town), and @ricky_taylor (with an interest in coastal ecosystems between the Tugela River and Maputo). A third cluster of observers are located to the north of the country such as @tomaschipiriburuwate, @francescocecere, and @ldacosta.
There's an interesting peak around 2014
which was driven mostly by @snidge, @graeme, @i_c_riddell, and @andrewdeacon and then a lull until things started ticking up again in mid 2017. This timing coincides with the arrival of the Southern African community formerly using iSpot.
The top identifier is @jakob who does research across the African continent. @cabintom leads in insect IDs, @johnnybirder leads in bird IDs, and @ricky_taylor leads in plant IDs. @tonyrebelo and @alanhorstmann, based in South Africa are also top identifiers.
What can we do to get more people in Mozambique using iNaturalist? Please share your thoughts below or on this forum thread.
@snidge @andrewdeacon @graeme @seastung @judygva @jakob @cabintom @johnnybirder @tonyrebelo @alanhorstmann
We’ll be back tomorrow in the Kazakhstan!
Comments
Under iSpot the SANBI Alien Invasive Unit had plans to atlas northern Mozambique and Tanzania in a large-scale survey of alien species. We would provide cellphones for an app, and airtime to allow volunteers to record the species (and for limited personal use). We developed the app in 2015, but the Open University would not give us the APIs to link the app, despite originally agreeing, and the attempt was abandoned when it became clear that the OU was not interested.
The major challenge with the programme was the lack of network access and the app was designed to store large amounts of information for download when volunteers returned to suitable towns.
The iNat app would be imminently suitable for this, with a simple project and a few observation fields. Unfortunately the funds have since been reallocated.
The biggest problem in Mozambique remains access to the internet and cost of data. In the far north security is an issue. Mozambique remains the least explored country in southern Africa in terms of biodiversity. Birds, and trees are the big drawcards, and fishing and diving on the coast. The tourism potential is huge, especially with the region potentially being the nearest beaches to the Gold Mine cities of South Africa, but lack of infrastructure is a major impediment to development.
Despite the low number of observations, Mozambique is currently on par with Namibia and Botswana in terms of number of species recorded, and well ahead of Zimbabwe and Eswatini. It is undoubtedly the second-most biodiverse country in southern Africa, but it will take a concerted effort to record this data. Mozambique already has more observers than Zimbabwe, but clearly most are tourists or guides. Getting locals involved will be a challenge, not for lack of will, but lack of resources. **
I was surprized though that Mozambique is outperforming Eswatini (Swaziland). I would hazard that Mozambique went the iNaturalist route from the start, whereas Eswatini made a big splash with iSpot, and so had a far higher local profile. In addition, with Portuguese the official language, and with the flora of Mozambique traditionally being allied to Zimbabwe and Tanzania (versus the South Africa-Namibia-Botswana alliance to which Eswatini is party), Mozambique remains more foreign than Swaziland (now Eswatini) to many South Africans.
See figures here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/biodiversity-of-southern-africa
choose species and observer tallies.
Since I was a visitor to Mozambique from the U.S., I'm not likely to add more observations in the near future, and I don't have ideas about promoting iNat locally. Lack of network access was an issue for me in Mozambique, but it was easy to add my observations once I returned home.
I want to thank the many iNat users who have helped me with IDs from my trip. You are all amazing!
Judy
Contact Piotr Naskrecki (twitter @naskrecki) (IG @piotr_naskrecki). He has been promoting and helping establish Gorongosa Park in Mozambique
https://www.gorongosa.org/our-story/our-team/piotr-naskrecki
Piotr is already on iNat (@naskrecki)
one thing that isn't a problem (for locals) in Mozambique is data cost -- 5 gigs for 30 days costs R100! which may be expensive in world terms, I don't know, but compared to South Africa, it's easy street. I will have a think and see what I can do to get my Mozambican connections more involved, at least one of whom is already on iNat
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