Just leave the mountains

21 December 2023

December 11 was International Mountain Day, and this year’s theme was ‘Restoring mountain ecosystem’.

There could be no better way but to see that, at the end of the day, some chiefs are taking the restoration drive seriously. An initiative that started with a few youths in Chibwana Village in Ntcheu, has culminated in an example worth emulating.

This is so because the Maseko Ngoni supreme ruler Inkosi ya Makhosi Gomani V has joined the drive to protect Muonekela Hill in the district. The pine trees are growing. The bluegum trees are also growing. A rare site these days since our hills and mountains are bare.

Dear Diary, I will bore you to the core with these tales from the mountains. Our lives are strongly rooted in mountains.

Last year, we were on a hike up the Michiru Mountain. What struck us most was the devastation on the environment that was clear. Acres of forest were simply cut down as the smell of burning charcoal was all over. Smoke was billowing in the distance and any nature enthusiast had to shed a tear or two.

In fact, one such enthusiast, Kondwani Chamwala, said that at the rate the destruction was going, Michiru Mountain would be as bare as Ndirande, Soche, Bangwe and other hills in the commercial capital.

Following recent social media posts, we have seen that Tourism Minister Vera Kamtukule and the British High Commissioner visited the mountain and expressed how bad the situation has become.

It remains to be seen that the forest reserve will regenerate to its old glory.

But before the celebration of the mountains was over, Akaswiri Mineral Resources Limited began exploration works on Mulanje Mountain for rare earths. This comes after they were given a go-ahead from the Mulanje District Council to start the exploration.

What any keen mind would wonder is why was Akaswiri engaging in exploration on the mountain when in 2012 another mining firm, Spring Stone also conducted ‘exploration’ works. Why couldn’t the results of the primary exploration be shared?

Dear Diary, it is a fact that the former exploration works brought an uproar in 2012 and the following year. What is more baffling is that the area where Akaswiri started their exploration remains that very controversial Chambe Basin.

Malawians would be happy if at all REE are found on Mount Mulanje, but how sustainable would that be on the environment? Spring Stone came with the funny tact that they wanted to reforest the basin with Malawi’s national tree, the Mulanje Cedar.

But, after taking tonnes upon tonnes of ‘samples’ from the area, they vanished into thin air, not even revealing what became of their ‘exploration’.

It is a fact that Malawi as a country cannot benefit from such mining endeavours, where important minerals are exported raw. The world knows there is growing demand for REEs since they are used in the manufacturing of electric cars and wind turbines. Is there no deliberate policy to check this exportation of raw minerals?

Dear Diary, what is more out of order is that not so long ago, the Tonse Alliance administration  lifted a ban on mining in protected forest reserves. In the end, reports of exploration licences being issued started doing rounds. Then, here we are!

Much as one would appreciate that Mount Mulanje is on the designated United Nations World Heritage sites, for Malawi it remains an important source of water. Blantyre Water Board taps water from the Likhubula River which runs not far from the Chambe Basin. In 2012, villagers in Likhubula witnessed muddy waters in the river hence the uproar against the exploration works.

It is, therefore, no wonder that several interested parties, including the Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives, on Tuesday gave Mulanje district commissioner David Ngulube a deadline to stop the exploration works on the mountain.

Please, just leave the water towers alone. Unless it becomes plausible that the exploration and mining will not be at the expense of the environment, let the few who would benefit from this affair hung up their drills and shovels for now.