Communities Call For Temporary Forestry Assistants
Communities managing Natural Forest Reserves in Mzimba District have called on the government to consider reintroducing temporary forestry assistants to mitigate challenges affecting the conservation of forests.
Since a massive retrenchment at the department of forest at the dawn of democracy in the country, most forest reserves were deserted and encroached by some overzealous community members in the misconception of freedom.
A media tour conducted by the Modern Cooking for Heath Forest (MCHF) to Mkanaumoza hot-spot in Bunyanya and Perekezi Forest reserves has established that misconceptions about democracy, inadequate or the absence of Forestry Assistants, the population boom leading to the opening of new farms has led to the depletion of forests resources.
Leading the forest management committees for the two areas; Bunyanya and Chafisi-Block in Perekezi Forest Reserves Group Village Headmen Mbofananyika and Mtembalibwe called for a multi-sectoral approach in addressing the wanton cutting down of trees in restricted natural forests.
“There is a need for collective efforts in the management of natural forest reserves more particularly the Assisted Natural Forest Regenerations (ANR) hence the reintroduction of temporary forest assistants should be a priority,” said GVH Mbofana Nyika.
His counterpart GVH Mtembalibwe appealed to the authorities to ensure all subsistence farmers benefit from this year’s Affordable Input Product in order to reduce the number of forest encroachers who resort to charcoal burning to procure farm inputs.
The Forest officer for Mzuzu Urban, Kumbukani Msofi commended government for the recent recruitment of forest guards which he said will increase in number of officers patrolling the forest reserves apart from other agencies like the police and Malawi Defence Force.
The MCHF’s Lead Management Forest Specialist Wezzie Chisenga said the project implementation in state natural forest landscapes has greatly upscaled in empowering communities in the adoption of sustainable forest management technologies reducing desertification emanating from wanton cutting down of trees
“Good leadership with good training right at community levels is instrumental to the conservation of forest reserves, while in areas where leaders are not fully committed the situation is very pathetic,” Chisenga said.
Modern Cooking for Heath Forest Project is a five-year intervention that started in 2020 and will phase out in 2025, co-funded by USAID and UKAID
