<
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/as-malawi-government-struggles-to-protect-a-forest-communities-show-the-way/>
"ZOMBA PLATEAU, Malawi — The Zomba Forest Reserve is a tale of two faces. A
large part of the northern section of the plateau is stripped to its last
undergrowth by cultivation and charcoal production by communities. Meanwhile,
its southern section, covering almost a tenth of the reserve and managed by
communities, is a spectacle of a glorious forest.
On this southern edge of the mountainous forest reserve in Malawi’s old capital
city of Zomba is Peter Kamowa’s home — a one-room, mud-brick and grass-thatched
house, the only one this far up the slope in the village.
Its roof is partially covered by flourishing passion fruit vines, which also
creep over a row of several young indigenous trees around the house. It weaves
a tapestry under which Kamowa likes to rest during the day. Down below, there’s
the sound of water gurgling in a stream, one of the two perennial creeks
descending from the forest.
“These streams are the lifeline of this community,” Kamowa says. On the rich
loam soils along the streams are maize, cassava, cabbages, tomatoes, carrots,
bananas, sugar cane and strawberries, which the community grows.
“Here, we don’t know drought. We don’t know dry season. We grow crops
throughout the year because of these streams; so I decided to settle here to
help protect these rivers by protecting their source,” he tells Mongabay,
pointing at an impressive indigenous forest that’s scaling up the slope to the
peak of the mountain.
This forest is a section of the Zomba Forest Reserve, one of the 88 protected
forests under the Department of Forestry.
From the late 1990s, this section was, like the rest of the reserve, on the
path of destruction as communities invaded it largely for charcoal production.
It was a free-for-all until around 2012, when a project made the communities
realize that in destroying the forest, they were destroying the means of their
own livelihoods.
The project organized them into groups and they embarked on activities to
restore and conserve it. Now, the community’s side is flourishing more than the
state-protected section in the north."
Via
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Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
