British envoy calls for urgent action on Michiru deforestation

British High Commissioner Fiona Ritchie has called for urgent action to reverse the plunder in Michiru Mountain Nature Sanctuary in Blantyre.

Speaking after a hike that took her to two peaks to assess the deforestation that has intensified in the 14 square kilometre conservation area, Ritchie said the destruction was saddening.

“I feel anxious, and I feel sad. We really have to stop this now. It has already gone too far. And we need to work together as a community across a range of different issues to try and understand what the problem is,” she said, adding that she noted that poverty is one of the drivers of the plunder.

She said: “Most people do not want to break the law, most people do not want to have negative coping strategies, but they do what they have to do to feed their families.

“We can talk about enforcement, but until we provide alternatives, it is going to be very tough to stop this.”

Ritchie said there is also need for people to understand that they need trees in their dwelling places.

“We need trees. We need our mountains to have forests… to hold the soils together when it rains,” she said.

Apart from cutting down trees at industrial scale, surrounding communities have gone to the extent of extracting large quantities of soil from the protected area for moulding bricks. The demand for bricks has increased due to booming construction in Chileka area, where new settlements are sprouting as more and more people move out of town.

Wildlife Society and Environmental Society of Malawi (Wesm) national chairperson Tiwonge Mzumara Gawa said there is need for government to ban use of burnt bricks in cities.

“Many cities in Africa have banned the red brick which requires fire to produce. This is something that must be addressed at policy level,” she said.

Gawa called for coordination between the Department of Forestry and the Department of National Parks and Wildlife to ensure standardised operations in their areas of jurisidiction on Michiru Mountain which covers 46 square kilometres.

The protected area has in recent years been under pressure due to expansion of settlements in its vicinity.

Michiru Nature Sanctuary deputy park manager Hastings Kawerenga said the rate of deforestation and other illegal activities has increased possibly due to economic challenges and Cyclone Freddy that affected crop yields.

Senior Chief Kuntaja asked authorities to consider installing an electric fence to control access into the protected area. Meanwhile, Malawi Defence Force soldiers have been deployed in the mountain to stop the environmental damage.

The sanctuary was established in 1975. It is a biodiversity area with a predominantly brachystegia woodland vegetation and serves as a home to a variety of small mammals, reptiles and birds.