Gorongosa National Park Brings Coffee, Cashews, Honey and Hope to Mozambique AOC Sustainability

Gorongosa National Park has quite a history, from its inception 60 years ago to being battleground the subsequent Mozambique civil war, to its recent revitalization and engagement with the human community that lives among its borders.

The park enlists local people in management at all levels, and focuses on developing schools and girls’ empowerment programs, too, so in this context it seems a natural fit that the park would engage residents in a new, restorative agriculture venture which also serves to reforest the slopes of Mount Gorongosa, via agroforestry.

Matt Jordan is well suited to direct this project, having served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mozambique after earning degrees in environmental engineering, and being of the belief that the fates of human societies and the natural world are intertwined, and can thrive together. Today, he serves as the Director of Sustainable Development for the park which includes overseeing projects like Gorongosa Coffee, and he answered some questions via email: his responses have been edited for brevity and clarity.

Read on about the inspiring work being done in Gorongosa. The Chimanimani Mountains are an ancient home to Stone Age rock paintings by the San people, also known as Bushmen. Today, the entire park is alive with human activity as people try to put Mozambique’s deadly civil war behind them. As many as a million humans died, and countless, princely animals killed for food. Worse still, their body parts — ivory in particular — were traded for weapons.

Gorongosa National Park Brings Coffee, Cashews, Honey and Hope to Mozambique AOC Sustainability

Apple Leads First-Ever $200 Million Climate Change Restore Fund With Partners AOC Sustainability

Apple announced in April announced a first-of-its-kind carbon removal initiative — called the Restore Fund — that will make investments in forestry projects to remove carbon from the atmosphere while generating a financial return for investors. Launched with Conservation International and Goldman Sachs, Apple’s $200 million fund aims to remove at least 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually from the atmosphere, equivalent to the amount of fuel used by over 200,000 passenger vehicles, while demonstrating a viable financial model that can help scale up investment in forest restoration.

This effort is part of Apple’s broader goal to become carbon neutral across its entire value chain by 2030. While the company will directly eliminate 75 percent of emissions for its supply chain and products by 2030, the fund will help address the remaining 25 percent of Apple’s emissions by removing carbon from the atmosphere. Trees absorb carbon as they grow, with researchers estimating that tropical forests hold more carbon than humanity has emitted over the past 30 years from burning coal, oil, and natural gas, despite ongoing deforestation. The partnership aims to unlock the potential of this natural solution by scaling it in a way that makes it attractive to businesses.