Botanical Garden
The Botanical Garden of the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the University of Lúrio is a physical space created within the University Campus of Pemba where plant specimens are cultivated and conserved, with the aim of spreading native and exotic vegetation, in addition to undertaking research in the area of Botany, and pedagogical activities in curricular subjects related to Morphology, Systematics, Plant Physiology and Conservation Biology.
The Botanical Garden has also provided services for the sale of ornamental seedlings, fruit trees and trees of various species, as well as the installation and maintenance of botanical gardens in individual or institutional homes and home gardens.
BRIEF HISTORY
The Botanical Garden of the Faculty of Natural Sciences (JBFCN) was conceived in 2012 by Marcellin Inácio Caravela, a professor in the Department of Botany of the same Faculty, as a response to a call for funding for pedagogical innovation projects launched by the Institutional Development Fund (FDI).
In 2014, the physical construction of a greenhouse and the respective beds to be relocated began. The following year it began with international partnerships in which the partnership with the botanical garden of the University of Coimbra in Portugal and the University of Aveiro stands out. In the same period, the multiplication of plants in the greenhouse took place in parallel, for later implantation in the beds organized according to the APG system (Angiosperm Philogeny Group) in 2016. In the same year about 1000 seedlings of various tree species typical of Miombo’s native forests were planted in the arboretum with the same name.
In 2018 results of the first researches began to be published at the national level in scientific events with emphasis on works related to pre-germination treatments of forest seeds; use of natural extracts in the rooting of fruit cuttings; and influence of the substrate on the quality of seedlings of several species.
In 2019, the first extension activities started in which more than 6000 seedlings of various species were supplied to primary and secondary schools in the city of Pemba in order to afforest their facilities and improve their level of vulnerability to extreme events, as part of the project “My school is greener” financed by USAID. In addition, in the same year, the garden trained more than 500 people who included students, teachers and technicians from various institutions involved in the revitalization of green infrastructure for seedling multiplication and management.
Today, the garden has been continuously focused on seed collection and plant multiplication to repopulate the beds, and has provided services for the sale of ornamental seedlings, fruit trees and trees of various species, as well as the installation and maintenance of botanical gardens in individual or institutional homes and home gardens.
