Fighting Uncontrolled Burning and Protecting Mangroves
Nampula Province, Mozambique | Fighting Uncontrolled Burning and Protecting Mangroves - Campeões do Clima | 2025
Olá!
We are Campeões do Clima (Climate Champions), a youth-led environmental movement tackling urgent climate challenges across Nampula Province. In 2025, we launched our campaign to reduce environmentally harmful practices in communities through environmental education and mobilization for practical action. Our mission? To transform behaviors in schools and communities by showing people the direct impact of their practices and providing sustainable alternatives that protect our land, our sea, and our futures.
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15 to 24 years old
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Meconta, Liúpo & Angoche (Nampula Province)
The Right-Sized Problem
In Meconta and Liúpo, recurring uncontrolled burning due to lack of knowledge and sustainable alternatives causes loss of soil fertility, health risks, and increased fires. In Angoche, poor mangrove conservation through logging, waste disposal, and illegal occupation contributes to coastal erosion and threatens marine life, directly affecting fishing, agriculture, and community livelihoods.
Our Brighter Future
We imagine communities across Mozambique living consciously and resiliently, free from practices that harm the environment and committed to sustainable choices. Environmental education, protection of natural resources, and adaptation to climate change become core values. Families, leaders, youth, fishermen, and farmers join forces to create safe and sustainable environments, adopting practices like firebreaks, composting, and manual methods to eliminate uncontrolled burning. Mangroves are protected and valued as essential heritage for marine life and coastal defense, ensuring opportunities for present and future generations.
What We Did
We combined environmental education with hands-on action, creating visible change across three districts.
Offline Impact
Community Dialogues and School Sessions: Held conversations in villages and schools to raise awareness about environmental harm and promote sustainable practices.
Cultural Activities: Used theatre, poetry, and music to bring environmental issues to life, making the message emotionally resonant.
Educational Visits to Mangrove Areas: Took communities to see firsthand the value of mangroves and the damage being done.
Promotion of Composting and Eco-Points: Introduced composting as an alternative to burning waste and created designated waste management stations.
Participation in LCOY: SHIFTERs participated in the Local Conference of Youth on climate change, strengthening advocacy and mobilization capacities.
Online & Media Impact
Educational Video for World Cleanup Day: Produced a video on proper waste management highlighting the impact on mangroves, neighborhoods, and public health, reaching families, youth, and leaders who engaged through comments and shares.
Campaign Impact
Our work shows that environmental change doesn't require choosing between tradition and progress. In Meconta and Liúpo, communities learned that firebreaks, composting, and manual methods can eliminate uncontrolled burning while still allowing agricultural work to continue. In Angoche, fishermen and families came to understand that protecting mangroves isn't about restricting access—it's about ensuring the sea continues providing for generations to come.
"I thought burning was the only way to clear land quickly. But after learning about composting and seeing how it enriches the soil, I realized I was destroying what I needed most."
Farmer from Liúpo
"The mangroves protect our coast and our fish. When we cut them down, we lose both. Now we protect them because we understand they protect us."
Fisherman from Angoche
Follow our journey:
This story was lovingly curated by the SHIFT team with the help of Claude (Anthropic) based on submitted source materials from our Fun Adults and Shifters.
