I’ve recently returned from a short visit to Malawi to visit the charity Ripple Africa, which our company has been supporting for a few months. You can read about our partnership with Ripple Africa here.
I was keen to see the work of Ripple Africa and how the small charity was making a difference to the environment and local community around Mwaya Beach.
Upon arriving in Malawi and taking the 4 hour taxi ride to Mwaya it was clear that there is a real problem with deforestation. In the South of the country most of the indigenous forest areas have been cut down for firewood and due to shifting cultivation. The population of Malawi has grown from around 4-5 million in the 1970s to around 14 million today and this is putting major pressure on resources. The following picture is typical of the terrain in much of Malawi:
Occasionally you will see clumps of indigenous trees around burial areas, but mostly the land has become barren. Shem, my taxi driver, was keen to point out that when he was a child all these areas were covered in trees with an abundance of wildlife, but during his lifetime the landscape had changed for the worst. It is shocking to see how humans are having such a devastating effect on the environment in this part of the world.
Where Ripple Africa is based much of the natural forest cover is still in tact as the area is less populated, and much of the hills are still covered by trees but even here there is pressure on this natural environment:
The problem is complex. With an increasing population and the need for firewood for cooking (most of the people have no electricity or gas) and shifting cultivation the need for trees to be cut down is massive.
All over Malawi you will see the locals collecting firewood:
Or chopping down trees for timber for constructing homes:
Geoff Furber from Ripple Africa took me to various sites to help me understand the problem, and show me how they are working with the local community to try ensure that more of the forest areas are protected.
They have around 100 tree nurseries established where they assist local villagers in growing trees from seedlings and then finding suitable sites for planting. Each tree nursery nurtures around 3000 seedlings around the July / August period with Ripple Africa supplying the tubes, pesticides, tools and expertise to these communities.
The focus is on producing fast growing trees which can be used for firewood in 3-5 years and fruit trees which provide much needed food.
By growing thousands of fast growing trees for firewood there will be less need for the people to cut down the nearby forests.
I visited a local primary school where the teachers and children together are planting thousands of trees. Ripple Africa is keen to help educate communities as to the problem of deforestation, and getting children involved in tree planting is crucial:
The children at the primary school were very proud of their wood lot and were keen to show me around the school and performed dancing and peoms for me before I left to visit the next tree planting site:
To put things in perspective, Ripple Africa is the only NGO working in this area on reforestation. The Government of Malawi seems to be doing very little to solve the problem, and when you consider that there could well be virtually no trees left in Malawi in 30-50 years you would think there would be more direct action.
Every family in Malawi gets through around 2 trees per week of firewood for cooking. They use a very simple method of cooking by placing 3 stones together and feeding the wood into the central area as follows:
Ripple Africa have developed a more efficient fuel wood burning stove called an ‘Mbaula’ which uses one third of the amount of wood during cooking.
Also, Geoff has developing an even more efficient system using 17 bricks which might be a better solution for the future as most communities have enough bricks to use, and it works out cheaper than producing the Mbaulas. Here you can see Geoff showing how the bricks can be constructed, and explaining the amount of wood they will save:
Ripple Africa are keen to engage on a major education initiative to local communities and by helping them use this new system of cooking then there will be less pressure on the indigenous trees of Malawi.
I was very impressed with the work of Ripple Africa and they have a management structure and team of co-ordinators whom I met who are visiting all the sites regularly and working with the communities.
I intend to go back to Malawi (possibly in November) to see the beginning of the tree planting season, and also to witness the massive problem at this time of year when farmers burn down forests to create space for cultivation at the beginning of the growing season.
If deforestation continues at its current rate then Malawi will have very little of its natural environment left within 30 years. With climate change and anthropogenic global warming a very real danger for all of humanity then I believe the problem of deforestation in Malawi is also a problem for the people of the UK. (I might add that we should not judge the people of Malawi as we cut most of our forests down hundreds of years ago!)
I’m keen to continue supporting Ripple Africa with its environmental initiative, but to make a real difference in Malawi the operation needs expanding.
I would be keen to talk to anybody from within the UK double glazing industry who is keen to get involved and help financially. It would be great to think that our industry adopted a tree planting and conservation initiative in this part of the world, by helping Ripple Africa in its work.
I would be keen to talk to anyone interested. Email me at matthew@conservatoryoutlet.co.uk
By the way, I took loads of pictures while in Malawi and you can view some of the best ones on Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/album.php?aid=229274&id=716628351&ref=mf
and:
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/album.php?aid=229507&id=716628351&ref=mf
