Forestry Policy, Conservation Activities, and Ecosystem Services in the Remote Misuku Hills of Malawi

Abstract

Research Highlights: Most of Malawi's land area has been deforested; however, expansive indigenous forests remain in the remote Misuku Hills in Malawi's northern region. Despite its conservation potential, this region of Malawi has been overlooked in forestry conservation research. Background and Objectives: The Misuku Hills is one the most floristically diverse regions in Malawi, but this region is facing similar pressures and forestry policy enforcement challenges that drive deforestation of other regions. This study therefore addresses the questions: What are the forestry policy challenges and opportunities for forest conservation in Malawi? What conservation activities are taking place in the Misuku Hills in support of these policies? What ecosystem services are residents using that are in need of protection? Materials and Methods: A comprehensive inventory and review of the national forest policies and current programs in the Misuku Hills region was compiled through document reviews and communications with governmental and non-governmental stakeholders. A Photovoice exercise was conducted with residents of Chikutu village to create an inventory of resident-identified ecosystem services. Results: While there is an impressive array of policies in place to protect the forests of Malawi, there is little institutionalization or enforcement of these policies. There have been funded conservation programs in the Misuku Hills, but these have been limited to the areas surrounding the three small public forest reserves. The Photovoice exercise revealed that residents rely on an abundance of forest ecosystem services to support their livelihoods, including food, medicine, and timber products. Conclusions: The challenges to conserving forests and their ecosystem services are being met at a local level in a variety of creative ways in the Misuku Hills (e.g., tree planting, beekeeping) that could be used as community-based models for other areas in Africa and elsewhere, where people depend directly on these services to meet daily needs.

Exploring the Role of Forests as Natural Assets in Rural Livelihoods and Coping Strategies Against Risks and Shocks in Dedza East, Malawi

“…Lack of access to skills and institutions meant that local institutions could not provide the platform for learning and developing skills and attitude in areas beyond the forestry sector (Coutts et al, 2019;Hinchcliffe et al, 1996). Therefore, proper application of the SLA process at the beginning of IFMSLP, would have determined the roles that forest resources could have played in meeting basic needs.…”

“…The majority of the population (84%) live in the rural area where income generation opportunities are low. The land holding size per household is small (0.5-2 ha) as such the people extract natural resources in their immediate environment for daily household use and income generation (Coutts et al, 2019).…”

“…Despite national action programmes in forest conservation, there has been an estimated net losses of 8.4% (4.39-3.39 million ha) of woodland in Malawi between 1999 and 2018 (Gondwe et al, 2020). Meanwhile FAO indicates that Malawi experienced an aggregated 1.6% of forest loss between 1990 and 2010 (Coutts et al, 2019;FAO, 2013FAO, , 2015. Introduction of participatory forest management (PFM) in Malawi, specifically co-management, as a management regime was aimed at improving access to forest resources in a sustainable manner.…”

The Implication of Covid-19 on Forest in Malawi

“…Similarly, there is a high rate of unemployment in Malawi and this was expected to be exacerbated by the pandemic, with an estimated loss in jobs at about 3% as a result of the pandemic (International Labour Organization, ILO, 2020). Consequently, high unemployment will invariably lead to a fall back in the direct extraction of forest resources from the immediate environment for daily household use and to sell for profit (Coutts et al, 2019). This is because forests provide food, fuelwood, medicine, timber, employment and other non-timber products (NTFPs) that can sustain wellbeing.…”

Protected Areas in Forest Conservation: Challenges and Opportunities

“…In the Misuku Hills in Malawi, for example, a variety of policies have been adopted following international standards to increase local control and promote community-based management in forests. Despite the lack of implementation and enforcement of the proposed policies, forest conservation activities (e.g., enhancing tree planting and natural regeneration, forest protection at a catchment scale to conserve biological and cultural diversity, forest resources extraction regulation, promotion of beekeeping) indicate that rural communities have the potential to take over the management of customary and public forest lands [8]. In Tanzania, Gizachew et al [9] found that most PAs were effective in reducing deforestation rates, even if there were important pressures in their surrounding lands.…”