3 .1 Depletion of trees

3.1.1 What people can do on their own Chiefs should:

1. encourage their people to plant and tend their own trees;
2. ensure the protection of community forests;
3. advise people on the need to have forests and the dangers of uncontrolled bush fires;
4. ensure that people opening gardens do not cut all the indigenous trees in the process; and every chief should have a forest reserve.

1. (a) Government or other agencies should provide seedlings to local communities who should plant and tend them properly; and
2. (b) Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and private companies like Carlsberg Breweries Limited, should continue encouraging people to plant trees by sponsoring tree planting competitions.

3.1.3 What Government should do

The Government should:

1. explore alternative curing methods for tobacco using coal or electricity;
2. continue to teach people the need to plant trees and management of forests in their areas;
3. expand the rural electrification programme to cover more areas;
4. reduce the electricity tariffs and provide the necessary transformers;
5. Provide more forestry extension staff;
6. empower chiefs over the management of customary forests;
7. explore ways of selling coal and charcoal to both rural and urban communities at cheap prices;
8. explore the wider use of big-gas as a source of energy;
9. reduce the price of paraffin to enable people to shift from using firewood to using paraffin;
10. enforce the covenant for leaseholders to plant 10% of their farms with trees;
11. enforce regulations on tree cutting and setting bush fires;
12. stop building bridges using timber and switch to using steel and cement;
13. explore the possibility burning bricks using coal or any other methods; and
14. encourage people to diversify sources of livelihood apart from relying on selling fuelwood and charcoal.

3.2.1 What people can do on their own

People should:

1. plant water conserving trees along river banks and chiefs should ensure that these are protected;
2. protect indigenous trees along river banks;
3. take care of their boreholes, wells and water-stand pipes; and
4. chiefs should ensure that no one is cultivating on hills and along river banks or close to the rivers.

The Government and people should ensure that water consuming trees, such as bluegum, are not planted along river banks.

3.2.3 What the Government should do

The Government should:

1. repair damaged wells, boreholes and water-stand pipes that are not functioning and provide more of each of them;
2. plant and protect trees in watershed areas and along river banks;
3. lower the price of water for people who wish to have connections in both urban and rural areas;
4. teach people rain water harvesting techniques; and
5. introduce irrigation from rivers and lakes.

3.3.1 What people can do on their own

Chiefs should:

1. identify communal waste disposal points; and
2. ensure that people do not dig wells close to graveyards.

1. ensure that no dangerous wastes from industries are dumped into rivers;
2. establish waste disposal pits;
3. teach people how to handle agro-chemicals; and
4. train people in integrated pest management.

3.4.1 What people can do on their own

People should:

1. follow better farming methods, for example, crop rotation, applying manure and applying proper fertilisers;
2. establish marker ridges and/or bunds and plant grass on them;
3. plant trees that enrich the soils like msangu,luceana, eta; and
4. avoid grazing animals in the same area;

1. discourage hunters from burning the bushes; and
2. not allocate any land that is marginal, or reserved land for cultivation.

The Government should:

1. ensure that brick makers follow the laid down regulations;
2. ensure that people are applying the proper types of fertilisers in their respective areas;
3. consider lowering the price of agricultural inputs, e.g. fertilisers and improved seed;
4. strengthen the agricultural extension services to cover more farmers.
5. acquire idle estates and allocate them to people who are cultivating in marginal lands (steep areas and river banks).

3.5.2 What the people can do with assistance from Government and other agencies

People should plant indigenous fruit trees with assistance from forest extension workers.

3.5.3 What the Government can do

Government should carry out research on how the wild fruits can be propagated.

3.6.1 What people can do on their own

People should:

1. not burn bushes;
2. follow family planning; and
3. chiefs should protect their forests and ensure that there is no unauthorized hunting.

Government should encourage people to form wildlife clubs.

3.6.3 What the Government should do alone

Government should enforce the poaching laws and heavily punish the offenders.

3.7.1 What the people can do on their own

Chiefs should

1. ensure that people are fishing following proper methods;
2. help in protecting fish especially during the spawning period; and
3. ensure that trees are not cut down at river sources and along river banks and that they should be replanted, where cut down.

3.7.3 What Government should do alone

The Government should:

1. teach people proper fishing practices;
2. explore modern sustainable fishing methods;
3. promote the use of agro-chemicals that are not dangerous to aquatic life; and
4. provide alternate business opportunities to fishing for people along the lake shore so that they no longer depend solely on fishing.

3.8.1 What people can do on their own

Chiefs should encourage people to plant indigenous trees and to protect the existing ones.

 3.8.2 What people can do with assistance from Government or other agencies

Government and the Herbalists Association of Malawi should teach herbalists best ways of obtaining medicines from the plants without entirely destroying the medicinal plants.

3.8.3 What Government can do alone

The Government should ensure that there are adequate drugs in hospitals.

3.9.2 What people can do with assistance from Government or other agencies

People should be advised:

1. (a) not to cut trees at river sources and along river banks and follow proper farming methods, like contour planting; and
2. (b) plant trees in hills and along river banks;

1. (a) establish proper mitre drains off the roads; and
2. (b) mount awareness campaigns on the radio, in newspapers and through video/cinema on the dangers of flooding.

3.10.1 What people can do on their own

People should:

1. learn modern family planning methods and practice them; and
2. not allow marriages below the age of eighteen.

Government should enact a law that limits the number of children each family can have and provide incentives to those who abide by the Act.

3.10. 3 What the Government can do on its own

The Government should:

1. consider reducing the size of some wildlife reserves and national parks;
2. acquire idle estate land for redistribution to needy families; and
3. conduct research on sustainable utilisation of marginal areas such as stony and sandy soil areas.

3.11.1 What people can do on their own

People should:

1. reserve some of their land for thatching grass to grow;
2. not graze animals in the same area; and
3. chiefs should ensure that bushes are not burnt recklessly.

3.12.1 What people can do on their own

People should:

1. keep animals according to the size of the grazing land;
2. stall feed excess animals;and
3. plant grass on marker ridges and other areas not being cultivated to be used for grazing their animals.

Government should acquire idle estates for redistribution to needy people.

3.13.3 What Government can do alone

The Government should:

1. ensure better collection, transportation and disposal of sewage;
2. repair quickly burst sewer pipes and septic tanks; and
3. increase sewerage dams.

3.14.1 What people can do on their own

People should not mould and burn bricks without proper authority.

3.14.2 What people can do with assistance from Government and other agencies

1. Government should introduce licence for making bricks and District Commissioners should consult Agricultural Officers before issuing licences; and
2. Government and chiefs should ensure that all people using forests for timber, woodcraft, firewood, charcoal and those crushing stones obtain licences.

Government should:

1. stop constructing wooden bridges instead, it should use cement and steel; and
2. replant all degraded areas with trees and grass.

3.15.2 What people can do with assistance from Government and other agencies

Government, NGOs and local communities should jointly engage in tree planting.

3.15.3 What Government should do alone

The Government should:

1. ensure that people do not cut down trees from hill tops;
2. establish more tree seedling nurseries; and
3. distribute seedlings to people free of charge.