Legado’s Sky Island Program:

A Sky Island is a mountain that has exceptionally high biodiversity in an exceptionally small area. Legado’s mission is to preserve these Sky Islands by working hand-in-hand with the people who call them home. Sky Islands are also home to mountain communities working to create a life for their families. Their current mechanisms for survival— slash and burn agriculture as well as timber harvesting — are both undermining the long term security of their home and their future, and compromising site after site of the world’s biodiversity hotspots. Sky Islands are also critical for seeding clouds and producing rain. Protecting Sky Islands is one of the best ways to secure our world’s water towers in the face of climate change. Legado’s work has begun in Mozambique, and, in 2020, is expanding in Sky Islands in Africa and beyond.

Central to this system, Mount Namuli rises as the nation’s second tallest peak, reaching 2,419 m (nearly 8,000 ft.) and supports patches of unique high altitude forest and numerous endemic, range-restricted and threatened species.  Mount Namuli is designated as a Level 1 Priority Key Biodiversity Area by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, an Important Bird Area, an Important Plant Area, and an Alliance for Zero Extinction Site. Despite these distinctions, the area lacks any formal conservation protection.

The Namuli massif covers an area of roughly 200 km² at elevations above 1,200 m.  Incorporating a complex of granitic inselbergs (think… islands in the sky) linked by the high Muretha Plateau.  Recognized as one of the most important biodiversity areas in the country, the habitats are a mosaic of East Afromontane Ecosystem forest and grassland communities above 1700m, interspersed by shrublands, shallow soil plant communities with smooth rock peaks.

Mount Ribaue, in northeastern Mozambique, is home to both critical biodiversity and key communities of people working to make a life for themselves and their family. Ribaue is the first Tropical Important Plant Area to be designated in Mozambique and as a Sky Island makes up less than 3% of Mozambique landmass while being home to 30% of its biodiversity. 

The Namuli massif (roughly 200 km² in area at elevations above 1,200 m) is recognized as one of the most important biodiversity areas in the country,. The habitats are a mosaic of East Afromontane Ecosystem forest and grassland communities above 1700 m, interspersed by shrublands, shallow soil plant communities with smooth rock peaks.

Mount Ribaue, in northeastern Mozambique is the first Tropical Important Plant Area to be designated in Mozambique and as a Sky Island makes up less than 3% of Mozambique landmass while being home to 30% of its biodiversity.  It also supports the human communities living there.