Africa faces treeless future
A recent Millennium Development Goals (MDG) outlook has put into question Africa’s strides towards ensuring environmental sustainability, saying evidence from several countries suggest a worrisome decline in area covered by forests.
The 2013 MDG Report, launched at the just ended African Union Summit, shows deforestation is occurring at an alarming rate due to worsening encroachment and a tendency to give away forest land for investment purposes.
“In other countries, like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, forests are cleared for mining” it reads in part.
Locally, Mulanje communities cite saving trees from mining firms as the core of a simmering opposition to Spring Stone Limited (SSL) who were licensed to extract rare earth elements at Chambe Basin atop Mulanje Mountain.
This further presents a precarious future with a predominantly rural population placing pressure on natural resources to beat poverty.
Since 2001, deforestation is estimated at 3.49 percent (approximately 100 000 hectares) a year.
According to the MDG outlook, this calls for sustainable forestry policies and harmonisation of industrial development with environmental sustainability.
