When you set foot in Lisima Lya Mwono, Angola’s newly designated and first Ramsar Wetland of International Importance (
@conventiononwetlands ), you walk into the spiritual world of the Ngangela group of peoples who have been the Guardians of its sacred lands, forests, waters and wildlife from time immemorial.
Within this group, and the custodians of this particular area, the Luchaze people’s ancestral knowledge, connection and reverence to the landscape that has enabled them to live sustainably here, in the remote east of Angola, while protecting the pristine nature of the rivers, sacred lakes and forests while safeguarding the innumerable species that give this ecosystem its unique character and providing water security for several countries and millions of people downstream.
Lisima Lya Mwono would not exist in its pristine state if not for the Luchaze people sustaining it. The work of the #NGOWP team in the landscape, for the past decade, would not be possible without working closely with its communities and benefitting from their traditional ecological knowledge and cultural heritage.
With their continued guidance, the
@insidenatgeo and
@DeBeersGroup Okavango Eternal partnership hopes to achieve greater recognition for this critically important landscape and elevate even more the need to support systems of conservation, like these, not co-created with communities but enacted by the communities themselves, for lasting, sustainable protection.
✍️
@_KerllenCosta , #NatGeoExplorer and NGOWP Country Director, Angola
📸
@kodilu (Kostadin Luchansky)
#OkavangoEternal
#WorldWetlandsDay
