Malawi has operated without an updated National State of the Environment Report for over a decade, which the Ministry of Natural Resources and Climate Change says has limited the country’s access to crucial data.
Speaking on Monday at the opening of a meeting to review the report’s first order draft chapters in Lilongwe, the ministry’s director of administration Joseph Magwira emphasised that the document, which is meant to be produced every five years, is key to evidence-based policymaking.
He said: “We are mandated to report to Parliament annually as a ministry. The cost [of lack of data] has been adverse.”
Magwira cited the gravity of recent cyclones Idai, Ana and Freddy as consequences of limited access to environmental data.
On his part, Malawi Environment Protection Authority environmental impact assessment manager Biswock Mlaviwa reiterated that beyond fulfilling international obligations, the State of the Environment Report is a legal requirement under Malawi’s Environmental Management Act of 2017.
A team of environmental experts began developing the report in March 2024.
The two-year process is expected to conclude by December 2025 and has received technical and financial support from the United Nations Environmental Programme, and Grid Arendal, a Norwegian-based non-profit environmental communications centre.
