SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE
MITIGATION
Malawi has agricultural based economy and its GNP and GDP
entirely depend on such. For it to produce more it has to have
well conserved nature that would in turn aid it. More recently
due to many factors affecting the global Village
environmentally, Malawi has not been an exception. Most of the
trees are cut down and rivers are drying up leaving rural
farmers in a very hopeless situation. Balaka is one of the
districts in the South Eastern part of Malawi where erratic
rainfall is always an experience. Not much is been produced
there to keep farmers through out the year. This is so because
the district is prone to dry spell due to its geographical
position. Farmers in this district have turned against nature by
either extracting lime stone and/or cutting down trees for the
charcoal business. According to statistics about 98% on people
in the district use fuel wood and most of the charcoals sold in
the cities of Blantyre and Zomba are produced in Balaka'.This
trend has made it necessary for the people in the district to
have interventions that would help in rehabilitating the
environment. CHINANSI therefore has designed the project called
CHINANSI Environmental Conservation Project [CHECOP] to empower
the rural people with skills and knowledge in conserving
environment and mitigating the effects of Climate Change.This project aims at promoting holistic approach of communities’ involvement in environmental management through natural resources management, sustainable agriculture and socio-economical development. In the project over 15,000 households from 12 villages of Zammimba, Liwawadzi, Pilitu, Sawali, Kabota, Pyoli, Msiyamanda, James, Kainga, Mkomera,Mpezeni and Mthumba are trained and equipped with knowledge and skills in tree planting, compost manure making, fish farming, bee keeping and rain water harvesting. The project has established the village structures called the Village Natural Resources Management Committees [VNRMC’s] and trained over 240 lead farmers who are further training other farmers in the identified 12 communities. Three (3) water tanks have been constructed at Kabota, Liwawadzi and Msiyamanda and 4 fish ponds have been constructed in four villages. The project has also distributed over 180 bee hives for honey production to 12 communities. Out of the project farmers are able to re-plant trees that were cut down carelessly and re-afforestation is being promoted. Soils have been improved through manure making and increased crop production. The project aims at empowering farmers to generate income through honey and fish selling and is able to irrigate crops and make use of the harvested waters domestically. With literature from the Center for Agricultural and Rural Corporation [CTA] where CHINANSI is a member, farmers are been assisted with user-friendly technologies. A resource Centre is being established at CHINANSI which would be used by farmers to advance these agricultural and environmental capacities. CHECOP does among others:-
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