Forest Resource Management Group

The mountain and hill of the Lake Malawi National Park are covered by the Miombo forest. Deforestation is advancing in Malawi, and it is important to preserve the forest including the Miombo forest. The forest should be managed sustainably as it plays an important role in preserving the biodiversity of the lake through the preservation of water quality by recharging the water resource and preventing the outflow of sediments. On the other hand, the community of the isolated villages in the National Park is living a life that strongly depends on the forest such as cooking with firewood collected from the Park, smoking the fish from the lake, and baking the brick used as the construction material. Discovering the synergistic ways of conserving the forest while utilizing the forest sustainably is essential for the implementation of living in harmony with the nature of Malawi. Therefore, the forest resource management group will establish the scientific monitoring and management systems of the Miombo forest of the National Park by the community itself. We aim to manage the wood resources by reforestation as well as planting and growing trees, and decreasing the dependency of people on the forest in the National Park. We will work on the development of the seedling production technology of native tree species and forestation technology, and the exploration of the tree growing method to be conducted by the community itself. We will search for a social system in which people in the community own the private forests and use it sustainably.

○Tamano Hayashi・Kazuaki Takahashi・Shigeru Yanaka・○Weston Mwase・Dickson Mazibuko・Meya Kalindekafe・Daud Kachamba・Eston Sambo・Partick Chinguwo・Placid Mpeketula・Rajab Janah・Marlene Chikuni・Dalitso Kafumbata