Current view: Text account
Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
The site consists of the bay of Pomene, the coastline to the south and the adjoining hinterland. The bay consists of intertidal flats surrounded by a large mangrove forest. A slight depression behind the sand-dunes is bordered by a plateau. The dunes are forested, the depression contains marshland and scrubland, and the plateau has forests which are taller and more species-rich than the dune-forests. Much of the plateau forest has been destroyed for subsistence farming. In fact, this type of forest has been cleared along most of the coastal plain between Maputo and the Save river, and the forests of this area represent the largest surviving tract.
See Box and Tables 2 and 3 for key species. The site is important for coastal forest birds which have declined in the region, and the bay is a wintering ground for large numbers of migratory shorebirds. Regular counts of waterbirds may prove that congregations of some species (e.g.
Sterna bengalensis) exceed 1% threshold levels.
Morus capensis occurs regularly offshore as a non-breeding winter visitor. Two species of the Zambezian biome have been recorded.
Non-bird biodiversity: Not known to BirdLife International.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
A nature reserve incorporates the bay and mangrove forest, but not the forests of the hinterland. Clearing of the forest for subsistence agriculture is on-going, and protection of the remaining forest is an urgent priority.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Pomene (Mozambique). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/pomene-iba-mozambique on 23/11/2024.
