Mulanje Landscape Restoration Project

The main objective of this project is to reduce poverty by strengthening the skills, competencies, abilities and resources of communities and to create an enabling environment for accessing income-generating opportunities to address basic needs, thereby improving socioeconomic well-being. In particular, this project focuses on reforesting 2 hectares of indigenous forest, training communities in sustainable forest management, expanding the implementation of agroforestry, increasing the use of improved cookstove technology, and developing income-generating tree and forest product enterprises such as beekeeping.

Conservation Problem Statement

The Mulanje Landscape Restoration Project in Mulanje will assist in reducing the effects of climate change through the active planting of a range of tree species, the encouragement of natural regeneration of trees, restoring soil by implementing relevant soil restoration and water conservation activities and training community members in novel, sustainable income-generating activities. Appropriate interventions will provide more sustainable sources of income, food and wood, help communities regenerate forests naturally and increase soil fertility and crop yield for small-scale farmers by reducing soil erosion.

Project Target Areas

This project focuses on strengthening existing relationships with village partners from previous collaborative projects between the Greenpop Foundation and the Mulanje Mission Hospital and will primarily work with community members in 6 villages surrounding the Chole and Mlatho hills. In addition, this project is providing additional support to villages where beehives and trees were lost due to natural disasters in the Mlatho hill catchment area.

Focus Villages

• Matwika
• Ntonya
• Mwanamvula
• Salamba
• Kangóma
• Mamera

Restoration Approach

Greenpop’s proposed solution to the problem of forest degradation is to assist in restoring forest ecosystem function and biodiversity through reforestation. Therefore, this project utilises the Forest Landscape Restoration approach, which is the ongoing process of regaining ecological functionality and enhancing human well-being across deforested or degraded forest landscapes. FLR manifests through different processes such as active tree planting, managed natural regeneration, agroforestry, or improved land management to accommodate a mosaic of land uses, including agriculture, protected wildlife reserves, managed plantations, riverside plantings and more. Moreover, FLR is more than just planting trees – it is restoring a whole landscape to meet present and future needs and to offer multiple benefits and land uses over time.

Funding and implementation of actions to restore degraded areas will eventually lead to improved forest management and associated co-benefits, such as :

• Biodiversity conservation through increasing habitat availability for forest-dependent species
• Increased soil stability and health
• Improved water regulation
• Increased Carbon sequestration
• Economic benefits derived through eco-tourism and sustained forest productivity

Community Engagement

Community-based management is a vital mechanism to ensure the project meets its forest-related goals. Funding and implementation of actions to reforest degraded forests will eventually lead to improved forest management and associated co-benefits, such as improved water availability, reduced flooding and run-offs, and sustainable use of forest products such as fuelwood, charcoal and medicines.

Reforestation has strong adaptation co-benefits and can help to increase climate resilience. Improved cookstoves can better the lives of individuals, particularly women in rural areas – both by reducing the time to collect fuelwood and reducing indoor air pollution. The actions may also present cost savings to consumers, depending on the price of alternatives. Increased climate resilience through lower fuelwood demand and reduced deforestation. For most people living in rural areas, forests and trees are sources of food, fuel, fodder, medicine and building materials as well as cash income. Mulanje Mission Hospital assists communities and individuals in developing income-generating tree and forest product enterprises. Having an income-generating forest enterprise nurtures a local forestry culture to sustainably manage and protect the resources the enterprise is based on. Farmers will be fully equipped with knowledge and skills and supported with various start-up inputs to support them in various capacities, from new production methods (honey production through beekeeping) to assisting in the implementation of soil-restoring farming techniques.

Activities

1. Plant trees at target villages
Plant indigenous trees at Matwika, Ntonya, Mwanamvula, Kangóna, Salamba and Mamera villages.

2. Train community members
Build the capacity of the target communities for dealing with environmental issues in their area and enhance them economically through training in beekeeping and the use of improved cookstove technologies.

3. Equip community members for non-timber forest product (NTFP) production
The project provides communities with start-up material support for the beekeepers groups.

4. Conducting tree nursery maintenance at Matwika, Mwanamvula & Mponda
The nurseries at Matwika, Mwanamvula & Mponda will be upgraded, fixed and improved as needed.

Tree Species

Reforestation:

• Afzelia quanzensi - Nsamba Mfumu (Pod Mahogany)
• Albizia adianthifolia - Mtangatanga wa mmadzi (Flat Crown Albizia)
• Piliostigma thonningii - Chitimbe (Camels foot)
• Faidherbia albida - Nsangu (White monkey thorn)
• Khaya nyasica - African mahogany

Homestead Trees:

• Moringa oleifera - Moringa

Riverbank Stabilisation:

• Oxytenanthera abyssinica - Bandura bamboo

Project Outcomes

1. Increased species biodiversity and habitat protection
2. Reduced risk of flood damage
3. Improved forest land use in terms of forest growth, quality, density and management
4. Increased soil stability
5. Increased income for local communities through restoration-related employment

No. of hectares under restoration: 3.63 ha
No. of trees planted: 5,000

For more information on our work, visit:
www.greenpop.org

For more information on Mulanje Mission Hospital, visit:
www.mmh.mw