Helping to build a community of practice
We don’t just champion mountains we also champion the region’s scientists too. We do this by working closely with like minded partners such as Afromontane Research Unit (part of the University of the Free State) and the Mount Mulanje Conservation Trust to Zim Parks and Trans-African Hydro-Meteorological Observatory (TAHMO).
By working together we enhance our capacity to safeguard Southern African mountains and ensure the long-term preservation of these vital and fragile ecosystems. Together, we achieve more.
The Manica Highlands Initiative
The Manica Highlands are a linear transboundary mountain range shared by Zimbabwe and Mozambique, covering about 8,500 square kilometers. It features diverse landscapes with forests, woodlands, and moorlands, including the highest peaks in Zimbabwe (Mt Nyangani, 2,593 m) and Mozambique (Monte Binga, 2,440 m).
The Manica Highlands Initiative was established in 2011 by Professor Ralph Clark of the University of Free State with the aims of promoting research and sustainable practices in the region.
In November 2023, Dr. Anthony Mapaura from the University of Free State took over running with Manica Highlands Initiative with our support and assistance.
Key activities of the Manica Highlands Initiative:
- The first comprehensive enumeration of plant endemism in the Manica Highlands.
- Invasive species research and management in the Manica Highlands, building on the ‘r4d’ application and coordinated by the Centre for Biological Control (Rhodes University) in partnership with Zimbabwean agencies.
- An assessment of evergreen forest loss over a 50-year period and the phytogeography of moist forests in eastern Zimbabwe, both published in 2021.
- The first enumeration of plant diversity and endemism on the Bvumba, published in 2020.
- A special issue on the Manica Highland in 2017 in the journal Kirkia (Zimbabwean Journal of Botany). Content included the first enumeration of plant diversity and endemism on the Nyanga Massif and a revision of Chimanimani plant diversity and endemism.
- Mapping of woody alien invasive species density in Nyanga National Park in 2016.
- An alien invasive species workshop in the Bvumba in 2016, hosted by Seldomseen.
- An ‘r4d’ application to the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), which reached the final 15 shortlisting but was ultimately not funded, focusing on ecosystem services valuation. However, the proposal was published as the first review of the Manica Highlands as a social-ecological system (perhaps the first such paper for a whole mountain system in Southern Africa).
Our Partners
Help us on our mission
Mountains Matter. They are home to 15% of the world’s population, host about half of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, provide freshwater for everyday life to half of the global population and help to sustain agriculture and supply clean energy and medicines. Help us to protect them.