Malawi is one of the smallest countries in Africa but has one of the densest populations and with over 90% of people depending on trees for fuelwood for cooking/heating but more recently for construction (they are used to burn the bricks), the country's forests and wild spaces are dwindling rapidly.

With the loss of trees, the water table drops, rivers and streams which used to flow all year round now dry up in the long dry season. The lack of water means that cultivation is made harder, access to clean water increasingly difficult and all the other issues that devolve from there.

Being able to protect/preserve any area of forest/trees is essential, and TREEZ is working hard on the south western slopes of Zomba Plateau to achieve this.

Malawi's climate is divided into 2 main seasons: a wet season and a dry season. The dry season runs from June into November, and from cold to hot. The hotter it gets, the drier the land and the higher the risk of fires.These fires are all man-made, borne from poverty and lack of education. They are not part of the natural life cycle here.

Poverty drives people to light fires in the bush to catch mice and other rodents which constitute a valuable source of protein. Lack of education means that people don't understand the dangers that the fires constitute for the environment, that the fires will destroy the growth of future trees, will cause the damage to the ecosystems, will destabilise the soil etc. 

Deforestation and fires spell ecological disaster and March 2023 sadly illustrated this perfectly: The dry season has been increasingly long and hot, followed by a shorter but more intense rainy season. With fewer trees to hold the soil together and fires burning away any remaining vegetation, Cyclone Freddy left thousands of dead from powerful landslides, tearing through hillsides, taking lives and homes with them

For the past 7 years TREEZ has been working hard to try and reduce the number of fires on the south western slopes of the Zomba Plateau and on the Plateau itself while simultaneously replanting and protecting remaining areas of woodlands and forest.

Our work has shown to be a huge success, at least on the southern slopes. The number of fires in a dry season has been reduced from 37 to 1. To achieve this, TREEZ has a growing number of conservation groups, each responsible for their designated areas, the promotion of natural regeneration, careful spot planting and protection against fires and the results are obvious: the south western slopes of the Zomba Plateau are doing great – but the work is never finished. Given the extreme levels of poverty, people need incentives to keep the trees from being cut down.

The promise of better future is not enough when food is needed on the table today. So TREEZ pays a survival rate for the trees in each of the designated areas thus providing a small, basic income in exchange of for environmental protection. The result of this success has meant that the slopes are showing positive signs of growth where young naturally regenerated trees are now 3 to 4 metres tall, and planted ones are doing nearly as well. All this is thanks to the football/netball teams (4 combined netball and football teams) and community conservation groups who are sponsored in exchange of conservation help and to local community groups who are maintaining the young trees and allowing them to grow unimpeded and to all groups helping to teach the younger ones environmental awareness and to all of them combined who are helping to show their fellow villagers a smarter way of harvesting their firewood. But with the all the world issues, funds are hard to come by. 

In short, TREEZ needs help to carry out all its activities:

We need to buy tools for the various teams to create firebreaks 

Slashers @ £7 each x 60 = £420

Sickles @ £6 x 20 = £120

Hoes @ £8 x 30 = £240

Fire beaters @ £5 x 50 =  £250

Patrols @ £3 per shift x 8 people for 125 days = £3,000.

Survival rate payments of £0.2 x 40,000  = £8,000

There is much more that is needed but these figures give you all an idea about the cost of conservation. On the plus side, aside from the cost of tools, the remainder of the money represents income for over 100 families in the neighbouring communities!