Can Malawi reverse environmental degradation?

Overwhelmed and overpowered by demand for burnt bricks from the building and construction industry, government is now considering formulating a law that will make it illegal to use burnt bricks for construction.

The Minister of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining Bright Msaka says the move will help government address environmental degradation.

Msaka was recently in Salima for the sixth general assembly of the Consortium of African Funds for the Environment (Cafe) when he made it clear that for Malawi to reverse environmental degradation it has to make tough choices.

“Human population remains the most pressing environmental issue, silently aggravating the forces behind global warming, environmental pollution, habitat loss, the sixth mass extinction, intensive farming practices and the consumption of finite natural resources and fossil fuels, at speeds faster than their rate of regeneration,” he explains.

Msaka admitted these factors have made the country’s forests the worst degraded.

Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources and Climate Change Werani Chilenga concurs with Msaka.

He said when his committee visited Viphya Plantations Limited recently, they were shocked at how the forest reserve had been depleted.

Chilenga partly heaped blame on some officials in the Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining for issuing licenses to illegal loggers and timber millers disregarding concerns from the public over the depletion of the man-made forest.

“It is very disappointing to see severe destruction caused to our remaining forests.  We have seen for ourselves how even premature trees are being felled for sawing with officials from the Forestry Department being at the forefront aiding this illegal logging and milling,” complained Chilenga.

Deputy director of forestry Teddie Kamoto, however, exonerated his department by laying the blame on the lenient sentences courts mete out on illegal timber mill operators who have been apprehended, tried and found guilty.

“The courts have got their own position. If you note some of the cases, which were taken to court, you would cry with the lenient sentences being handed down to illegal timber mill operators,” he explains.

As for charcoal producers and consumers, they say with persistent electricity load shedding, charcoal is the only alternative source of energy that is cheaper and readily available.

On their part, construction firms say burnt bricks are cheaper than concrete blocks.

These arguments and counterarguments lead one to ask: but are there efforts—apart from burnt brick ban and charcoal production ban— to reverse degradation?

Msaka says conservation is at the heart of everything at his ministry.

“[This is because] if we don’t conserve as a country, we will all perish. That’s why this ministry puts conservation above everything,” he explains.

Thus, the minister believes the damage is not necessarily irreversible.  He says apart from committing to mobilise the same affected citizens; government is putting in place a number of efforts to reverse the situation.

Msaka emphasises that further damage to the environment, especially forests, means that there will be less firewood, rivers and streams will gather silt and dry up leading to a decline in food production.

He says while people should be encouraged to plant trees, there is also need for them to find other alternatives, but efficient sources of energy.

Msaka said one way to tackle deforestation is by banning the burning of bricks.

“To this end, we’re introducing a bill to ban the use of burnt bricks so that we reduce deforestation,” he said.

But the minister could not hide his disappointment over lack of environmental stewardship among most Malawians.

Msaka stated that assuming stewardship of the environment is proving a huge challenge among majority Malawians; hence, the need for a law to address the problem of deforestation. n