Tree nursery and reforestation
The continual decline of tropical forests around the world is a subject that is never far from the headlines and we are no strangers to it here in Bandawe. Malawi is one of the most densely populated countries in the world and one of the poorest in Africa. Forests provide an important source of goods for local people in the form of timber, firewood, fruit and bushmeat but they are increasingly threatened. Demand for new agricultural land is high as our soils rapidly loose fertility once forest in cleared whilst wood provides the vast majority of local peoples energy needs for cooking and heating. Locally deforestation is linked to a whole host of problems including loss of soil fertility, soil erosion and flooding. Regular unmanaged burning of grassland areas is also having a detrimental effect, exacerbating soil erosion and preventing woodland regeneration. We are developing a range of projects that aim to promote good management of local woodland resources. Planting quick growing exotic species will help to provide wood-fuel and timber whilst fruit trees add variety to peoples diet and a potential source of income. Our aim is to allow local people to expand and use sustainably their local forest resource to halt the decline of primary forest in the area around Bandawe and mitigate local environmental problems.

Out tree nursery (left) provides fruit, timber and native tree seedlings for local forest restoration projects. We are creating community forest areas that will provide food, timber and firewood whilst helping to tackle land degradation problems. The area around Bandawe retains some scattered tree cover (right) but is now mostly annually burnt grassland where woodland regeneration is impossible.

Our tree planting project began in 2004 when we set up a small nursery in the village. We secured an initial batch of 15,000 seeds from the International Tree Foundation, who continue to support this project, and eventually planted over 10,000 trees in our local area. A tree plot was set up in land allocated by the village and made some progress though it was limited by the time and labour demands it placed on local people. A second larger area of land was therefore purchased near to Makuzi Beach and we have established a thriving tree nursery that benefits from having staff close at hand and a reliable water supply. The nursery has two large, terraced areas under cloth shading where seedlings can be grown on in mild conditions before being moved out to acclimatise in full sun. It is staffed full-time by Mark and Carlos, two members of the local community, and we have been able to fund attendance at training courses through some of the donations we receive.

We have grown a variety of native and exotic species for planting out locally and these include fruit and fuel-wood trees (such as paw-paws, citrus fruits, eucalyptus and pine) in addition to high value timber species and those characteristic of undisturbed forest areas nearby(for example blood-wood, mahogany and brachytegias). In addition we propagate ornamentals from cuttings taken from plants in Makuzi's gardens. The sale of these has helped to part fund the development of the nursery. The seedlings we have produced have been used in a variety of ways. At the start of 2006 five thousand seedlings were planted out in and around peoples homes in the village whilst a further five thousand have been used in an area of land that the village has allocated as a forest regeneration zone.

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Soil erosion

Soil erosion is a big problem in Bandawe. Forest clearance and regular burning has left the infertile, sandy soils largely unprotected during the rainy season. Large gullies, usually associated with footpaths, have been created and bring large quantites of flood water into the village that destroy homes and gardens. In areas between the gullies overland-flow strips away soil that is subsequently deposited either in the lake or in and around peoples homes. Several families have been forced to move away and re-build their houses ater they were either destroyed by floods or buried by silt and sand. The rates of soil erosion have not yet been established but impact significantly on soil fertility. The problems of soil erosion are difficult to tackle as they are tied up with agricultural and grass burning practice. We have initiated a project to try and understand the nature of the problem and to identify methods to tackle it. As a first stage in this process we have created a map of affected areas (left) and households and undertaken some participatory research with the local community to identify causes, impacts and solutions.

Gully erosion (left) is the most easily identified feature of soil erosion in the ares. Tackling it and restoring gullied areas is a real challenge. Not as obvious but also damaging, overland flow between gullies strips away significant quantities of soil causing reduced fertility and difficulties for regeneration (right).

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Fire management
Africa is known as the fire continet and as in much of Malawi the vast majority of the grassland areas around Bandawe are burnt every year. Burning is used to try and promote grasses that are used to thatch houses, roofs being replaced every yeat after the end of the rains. Although carefully managed burnign need not necessarily be a problem uncontrolled fires cause significant problems killing or damaging trees, preventing woodland regeneration and adding to soil erosion and fertility problems. Identifying how fires can be better controlled and protecting some areas from burning will allow high quality thatching grasses to be burnt whilst protecting other areas for reforestation or the creation of grass and shrub buffer strips to help control erosion and flooding. We have a project that seeks to promote the benefits of controlled burning and the creation of areas set-aside from fire. We have also run fire management classes and established firebreaks to protect our new community forests.

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