SAVE MOZAMBIQUE'S ELEPHANT COAST

This petition is to gather support for the resurrection of a 4000 Sq Mi development as an expanded, improved version of the earlier fumbled-away development effort to create the original 1996 then 914 Sq Mi wildlife-and-botanical National Park in southern Mozambique, the Indian Ocean Elephant Coast development.  WHY?
 
   (1) To save 5000 Kruger National Park elephants schduled to be   
         euthanizded for overstocking
  (2) To safeguard 4000 Sq Mi for future generations as a WILDLIFE and D 
        BOTANICAL NATIONAL PARK as UN mandated per the 1992 UN

         Rio Earth Summit (see details below)
    
Its heart (914 Sq Mi) was already approved by the Government of Mozambique (GoM) in 1996 but failed to materialize due to the failure to by the New Orleans entrepeneur (NOE) who turned out to be a bait-then-switch `non-performer' who died in 1999.  This left Mozambique and the world hung out, the then recently discovered world class development lost in a crack.  The book `Save Mozambique's Elephant Coast, Recreating Mother Nature's Wildlife Wonderland Africa' (2007) promoting the now 4000 Sq Mi resurrected and expanded development has been gifted to the 501 ( c) (3) cause.  See the thumbnail resume at www.savemec.org/. 

The author is part of the team, including International London Bechtel-WATG-Horwath, and South African wildlife-ecotourism gurus et al who did the 1995 feasibility study that discovered the exquisite quality of the regional ecosystem, which resulted in Government of Mozambique (GoM) awarding a 99 year land development lease concession to put in the limited access infrastructure developmnet, that is to protect-and-safeguard native-and-unspoiled the then 914 Sq Mi region.  It is now proposed that the prior project be resurrected, upgraded and expanded to 4000 Sq Mi (see below).  The author has a resume that took him to live and work on every continent but Antarctica over 30 plus years, 17 years in Africa all on heavy construction, an individual that is an avid aficionado of African wildlife and native peoples.  See http://www.savethesan.org/ his 501 ( c) (3)  effort to save the endangered human species, the Kalahari Bushman, the people made famous by the the 1980s movie `The Gods Must Be Crazy'.       

In the orginal feasibility study process the entire 4000 Sq Mi development-to-be-National Park area was discovered to be the Maputaland Center of Plant Diversity (CPD), a new concept created under the International Biodiveristy Accord, signed by the World's Heads of State at the UN sponsored 1992 Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit.  That is which specified that any CPD later published in the three volume `Centres of Plant Diversity' (1994)--there were 250 sites worldwide, 84 in Africa--was UN mandated to be safeguarded native-and-unspoiled for future generations.  A CPD is essentially the botanical equivalent of the Endangered Species Act list to protect threatened mammals, birds, reptiles and fish.  A CPD is a unique region high in endemic botanical species--still surviving--trees and plants occuring nowhere else on earth.  

By resurrecting the development at 4000 Sq Mi, it would now connect by a land-bridge-corridor to the north to the 38,500 Sq Mi Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park (GLTP), made up (since 2000) of Kruger National Park in South Africa, Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe, and the being-developed-adjacent-mirror-image Limpopo National Park to the east in Mozambique, the largest such multi-country international--without internal border fences--wildlife refuge in the world by a factor of near two.  Much of the thanks for the recently organized GLTP goes to South Africa's Peace Parks Foundation, whose three foudning patroons were South African brewery billionaire Anton Rupert, Prince Bernard of the Netherlands, and then South african President Nelson Mandela, good on them!  they are a great proactive wildlife and ecosystem organization to support   See the book's pages 47, 51, 55 for a visual picture (maps) of the previous 914 Sq Mi version between the Indian Ocean coast on the east, South African KwaZulu Natal border on the south and the Maputo River on the west, the Peninsula and Inhaca Island and Maputo Bay on the north.  Then under the now proposed 4000 Sq Mi expanded plan and its extension west of the Mapto River to the Swaziland border, then north to connect up to the huge GLTP--the world's biggest with (eventually) no-iternal-fences-walking-room for elephants and other wildlife to what would be over 400 miles north to south, including Tembe National Elephant Park in KwaZulu Natal.  See maps also at the www.savemec.org/ internet site plus a 27 minute video with eight minutes of fly over, the Indian Ocean coast is smashing.   

The Elephant Coast National Park development could receive the 5000 head of Kruger National Park elephants currenty sentenced to death for overstocking, or the next generation of the same.  This practice of Kruger NP elephant `culling' was stopped in 1994 by then South African President Nelson Mandela, but is now again considered necessary unless new range is found for the elephants, like this very Elephant Coast develoment described herein.  That is the elephant culling is slated despite the expected angry international cries from ecologists, wildlife lovers, and `greens' world wide.   Let's help Mozambique create the 4000 Sq Mi Elephant Coast Wildlife and Botanical National Park instead, for now and future generations. 

Our  thrust is not to expect GoM to arbitrarily create a National Park per se being without the funding to put in the necessary access and overnight infrastructure, restock it with African wildlife, but rather for us to proactively help find a Funding Partner(s) internationally--we the people, a billionaire or two among us or sovereign wealth fund like Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Singapore, or Disney, et al--to join as the land owner GoM's partner(s) in funding the 4000 Sq Mi development, build it out now, to safeguard the exqusite world class CPD quality ecosystem before it is despoiled by other types of down market despoiling, uncaring, avaricious, materialistic and anti-Mother Nature type development, NOW before the fast vanishing opportunity is lost forever.  That is to instead leave an enduring living legacy National Park to be enjoyed and appreciated by our children, grandchildren, and theirs like we now do the Serengeti ecosystem in East Africa, or America's Yellowstone.     

Does this make sense or is it just an Alice in Wonderland quixotic quest?  Yes it makes very good economic and ecological sense.  There is a plan (see the book) that would attract billionaire class funding, to partner with GoM to produce an internally-finacially-self-sustaining development (National Park) through an interim GoM standard land-developement-lease concession, that would be an altrusitic-cash cow, due to--funded by---the exploding international tourist draw of African by the booming wildlife-watching-safari ecotourism craze.  Economically vibrant neighbor South Africa produces 40 % of the annual GDP of the total African continent!  Until 2005, their largest contributor to their annual foreign exchange was mining, gold-platinum-paladium bullion sales.  But in 2005 gold and othe preciso metals were surpassed by tourism in South Africa!  That is tourism which in South Africa is predominately international-wildlife-watching ecotourism.  Mozambique next door has been gifted by Mother Nature with a more exqusite UN CPD quality site for wildlife watching with 50 miles of stunning Indian Ocean coastline, Mozambique's Elephant Coast.  It just needs to be protected as a National Park and restocked with what would otherwise be endangered--culled and killed--African wildlife.  

The development's cutting edge social engineering plan is to bring into the development process the indigenous residents as preferred income shareholders while providing them with now non-existant but much needed educational facilities, medical facilities--against rampant AIDS-malaria, world high infant and maternal birthing mortality-- provide them with jobs, a manna from Heaven uplifting of their lifestyle vis-a-vis their current near starvation bare survival status.  That is this as a quid pro quo for their dedicating their tribal lands to the wildlife-ecotourist-National-Park development option--vs them being removed from the region without reward as has more normally occured.  So this is an altrusitic, benevolent, charitable, do-good, ecological while economically very sound plan of how to save the Maputaland Center of Plant Diversity, as UN mandated, for future generations, as GoM's by far best altrusitic and economical alternate land use option as a wildlife-and-botanical National Park.  To thus safeguard for mankind the Creator and Mother Nature's sleeper-diamond-in-the-rough exquisite ecosystem gift left in the stewardship of mankind by taking it back 300 years in time and restocking it with a Noah's Ark kaleidoscope of othewise-would-be-endangered African wildlife.       

The results would be the creation of, or safeguarding of the region as what could be the world class number one global international wildlife tourist destination to compete with East Africa's Serengeti-Ngorongoro Crater ecosystem, South Africa's Kruger National Park, Botswana's Okavango Delta, Namibia's Etosha National Park, America's Yellowstone National Park, or Alaska's undeveloped Arctic National Wildlife Range (ANWR) while saving tens of thousand of otherwise endangered African wildlife, while safeguarding the Maputaland CPD as UN mandated while uplifting the indigenous bush people.  It is an altruistic-cash cow world class bell ringer.   

How can you help?  The peerless development has to become known and appreciated for the world class CAUSE and OPPORTUNITY that it is, by GoM and the world.  To then attract a funding parner(s) to join GoM in safeguarding it all for the world's future generations.  Save Mozambique's Elephant Coast Inc 501 ( c) (3) has the plan, the technical knowledge and experience and is ready to advise and assist GoM et al in the 4000 Sq Mi development process.  There is probalby not a more worthy altrusitic-humanitarian-ecological while highly economically feasible wildlife-ecosystem-native-peoples cause or vanishing opportuninty on our earth today.  This is something extra special.  Let's help GoM safeguard it as a National Park, an enduring living legacy to be left to be enjoyed by the world's future generations.  Your signature to this petition can only help.  If you know a `green' billionaire, let he or she know about it.       

Contact:  savesan@sbcglobal.net (Texas, USA).

Book available from http://www.iuniverse,com/, http://www.amazon.com/, or from http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ et al, or check google.  It is a heck of a story how we got here.  The book goes more into the laundry list of peerless features of the site and the `keep-it-native-and-unspoiled' development plan and philosophy. 

See the net site:  http://www.savemec.org/, it has a 27 minute video, eight minutes of helicoper fly over of the site, the forested-high-dune 50 miles of starkly beautiful prisitne Indian Ocean coast, the Peninsula in the north with 30 lakes, the main wildlife area to the south stradling the navigatable Maputo River.  It is a `to-die-for' development for developers, engineers, architects, planners due to Mother Nature's inimitable gifts.  Just to keep it `native-and-unspoiled' as UN mandated and give Mother Nature a stage to put on her daily wildlife watching show extraordinaire, 365 days a year.