Malawi to licence charcoal burners

Malawi Minister of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining Atupele Muluzi says government will begin to issue licences to charcoal burners as one way of ensuring environmental sustainability.
He was responding to member of Parliament (MP) for Lilongwe City Centre, David Bisnowaty (Independent), who asked government how they intend to tackle deforestation.

Said Muluzi: “It has proven impossible to stop charcoal burners, which is why government feels issuing them licences could be the only option in saving our forests.’’
According to Muluzi, forests in the country have suffered major loss and the situation cannot continue.

He said if there are no measures put in place to stop reckless cutting down of tress, the country will suffer.
Muluzi said: “Government believes that if they are given licences, monitoring will be easy as they will be under strict regulations. We are certain that with this in place, people will stop worrying about the plundering of our forests.’’