The project helped to mitigate the pressure weighing on a protected forest reserve close to the populations’ villages.
This project is being conducted in the Lilongwe district, a densely populated area (> 250 inhabitants/km²), where the population is among the most vulnerable in Malawi in terms of food security, according to the local World Food Programme unit. The inhabitants make their living from subsistence farming, which is impaired by deforestation, erosion and loss of soil fertility, with a low degree of crop diversification and very limited access to farmland (0.6 hectares per family on average). Families are dependent on the single rainy season, which only lasts four months, and are experiencing an increase in both the frequency and the intensity of climate hazards.
The project aimed to sustainably improve the production capacity and access to wood resources of small farming families, while preserving biodiversity and the equilibrium of the agrarian system through sustainable agricultural and forestry resource management. Families were able to diversify their income and food sources sustainably, and reduce the significant budget spent each year on firewood. By increasing wood production on their farms, they became more self-sufficient and reduced their use of unsustainable forest resources, thereby mitigating the pressure weighing on a protected forest reserve close to their villages.
