The DSC Peter Hathaway Capstick Hunting Heritage Award Committee has selected
Mateus Mutemba of Mozambique as the 2022 award recipient. Mutemba will be presented with the prestigious award at the 40th Annual DSC Convention and Expo during the Saturday evening banquet.
The Capstick Award honors the memory of Peter H. Capstick, a great man whose love of hunting and respect for wildlife fueled his desire to promote a hunting legacy that ensures the conservation of our wildlife resources. To pay tribute to this great man, the award is presented to recipients who have shown long-term support and commitment to our hunting heritage through various avenues such as education, humanitarian causes, hunting involvement and giving. Mutemba has certainly embodied these values as a dedicated steward of our hunting heritage.
At the 41st UNESCO General Conference this November, Mutemba was elected Member of the International Co-ordinating Council of the Man and Biosphere Program. He previously served as the General Director of the National Administration of Conservation Areas (ANAC) from March 2018 to November 2021. In that capacity, Mutemba was tasked with management of parks, reserves, hunting blocks (coutadas) and game farms; licensing of hunting activities and ecotourism in conservation areas; management of wildlife throughout the country; raising awareness regarding biodiversity conservation; management and training of technical staff for the protected area system; facilitating scientific research aimed at informing planning for sustainable use of resources, including hunting.
Mutemba’s tasks included planning resettlement of people living inside and around the conservation areas and development of management and tourism infrastructure for management and tourism in conservation areas, promoting community development programs in the buffer zones, as well as the discouragement of illegal practices such as mining, poaching, unlawful trade of wildlife and logging in conservation areas.
Fiona Capstick, Peter Capstick’s widow, says she is thrilled with the selection of Mutemba for the prestigious award as “he is seriously qualified.”
She says, “Mutemba is a highly educated wildlife advocate who understands the role of an organized, ethical hunting industry as a prime conservation tool.”
Mutemba holds a master’s degree in public policy with a specialization in development administration from the Australian National University, a graduate diploma in development administration from the same university and a diploma in history from Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique.
He worked for 10 years in Gorongosa National Park where he held the position of Director of Human Development (2008-2011) and Park Warden (2011-2018).
Due to his leadership in the restoration of Gorongosa National Park, Mutemba was recognized as “Conservation Hero of the Year 2013,” during the 36th International Wildlife Film Festival held in Montana. That same year, he received the “World Organization for Families” (WFO) Award of Merit in recognition of the work carried out with communities in the Gorongosa Park buffer zone.
In January 2017, Mutemba received the “Good Steward Award” in Washington D.C. from the International Conservation Caucus Foundation (ICCF) in recognition of Conservation Leadership with the Gorongosa Restoration Project. Later that year in June, he was recognized as National Geographic Emerging Explorer by the National Geographic Society in Washington DC.
While Warden of Gorongosa National Park Mutemba received on behalf of Gorongosa National Park the following team recognitions in 2015: Decoration by the President of Portugal, as “Member of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Portugal”; and a “Recognition for the contribution to inclusive and sustainable growth in Mozambique at Mozambique Social and Economic Forum, MOZEFO Awards.
