MALAWI GOVERNMENT Ministry of Energy, Mines, and Natural Resources National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan Environmental Affairs Department October 2006 Printed by THE GOVERNMENT PRINTER, Lilongwe, Malawi Recommended citation: Environmental Affairs Department 2006. National Biodiversity strategy and action plan. Published by Environmental Affairs Department Private Bag 394 Lilongwe 3 Malawi Tel: (+265) -1 -771 111 Fax: (+265) -1 -773 379 Printed in Malawi by THE GOVERNMENT PRINTER, Lilongwe, Malawi ISBN: 99908-26-54-9 2006 Environmental Affairs Department. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, or translated in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the Environmental Affairs Department. This publication is product of Environmental Affairs Department and was made possible through support provided by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), The World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS), the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the Norwegian Government. NBSAP drafting team Editors: Augustin C. Chikuni (PhD) Eston Y. Sambo (PhD) Chapter authors Humphrey Nzima Richard Phoya (Prof.) Moses Banda (PhD) Paul Munyenyembe (PhD) Wisdom Changadeya George Phiri (PhD) Kenyatta K. Nyirenda Vincent W. Saka (Prof.) James Chuma (Deceased) Ernest Misomali Judith Kamoto Yanira Ntupanyama FOREWORD Malawi’s Biodiversity is characterised by a large number of species, diverse habitats and ecosystems some of which are important sites of high endemism such as Lake Malawi, Nyika plateau and Mulanje mountain. Lake Malawi, covering about 20% of Malawi’s total area, boasts of over 700 endemic Cichlid species and contains 15% of world's freshwater fish. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1984. On the other hand, Lake Chilwa which became a Ramsar site in 1997 and also an important bird Sanctuary in Malawi is a wetland of international importance. It annually supports about 153 species of resident and 30 species of migratory water birds. Biodiversity provides various benefits to Malawians such as food, shelter, medicine, income, cultural and spiritual. It is also source of livelihoods and engine of economic growth. Despite these benefits the sustainability of biodiversity is threatened by several factors such as habitat loss (due to agricultural expansion); encroachment into protected areas; disruption of important, fragile but unprotected ecosystems; uncontrolled bush fires; illegal exploitation of forestry and wildlife resources; over-exploitation of freshwater biodiversity and policy failures. The greatest challenge for Malawi is to ensure conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity resources whilst dealing with equally pressing and important issues of rapid human population growth, extreme poverty, high illiteracy levels, HIV/AIDS and harmonisation of policies and legislation in the country. Despite all these problems Malawi is committed to conserve and sustainably use its biological resources. This is exemplified by the recent efforts to rehabilitate heavily deforested forest reserves (e.g. Ndilande Forest Reserve), putting in place regulatory framework for Access and Benefit Sharing, and developing strategies and action plans for natural resources management, the latest being this Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan. Delopment of this strategies would not have been possible if Malawi did not put in place enabling policy framework such as the National Environmental Policy (NEP) and the Environmental Management Act (EMA) in 1996. This NBSAP outlines the status of the various biodiversity resources in Malawi and stipulates strategies and actions necessary to ensure the management and sustainable utilisation of biodiversity. It further provides strategic guidance for the implementation of Chapter III Section (d) of Malawi's Constitution. The NBSAP recognises the importance of stakeholder participation in biodiversity conservation and the need to improve accessibility and availability of information on biological resources. It also recognises the importance of harmonising sectoral policies and legislation in the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, and promotion of fair and equitable sharing of benefits that arise from the utilisation of biodiversity resources and traditional knowledge. Although the Government has taken necessary steps to strengthen our ability to conserve biological resources, programmes proposed in this document will strengthen our co-operative effort in promotion of biodiversity issues through participatory approach and various media. It is my sincere hope therefore that this NBSAP will increase our appreciation of the rich biological resources and that it will provide a strategic framework for reversing the trend of environmental degradation in the country. C. P. MSOSA Secretary for Energy, Mines and Natural Resources (v) Acknowledgements The Environmental Affairs Department on behalf of the Ministry of Natural Mines, Resources and Environmental Affairs is indebted to all local biodiversity experts especially Task Force Leaders and members of the following task forces: the Diversity of Plants in Malawi; Microorganisms; Wild and Indigenous Animals; Ecosystems; Review of Conservation Legislation; Domesticated and Introduced Species; Land Use Management and Biodiversity Conservation; An Inventory of Literature on Biodiversity; for collecting, collating and preparing task force reports that formed the basis for this document. Names all Task Force Leaders and members that the department would like to thank most sincerely are included in Annex One. The department is also thankful to Mr. H. Nzima, Dr. A. Chikuni, Prof. R. Phoya, Prof. V. Saka, Dr. G. Phiri, Dr. P. Munyenyembe, Mr. W. Changadeya, Mr. K. K. Nyirenda, late Mr. J. Chuma, Mr. E. Misomali, Mrs. Y. Ntupanyama and Mrs. J. Kamoto who volunteered to form the drafting team and prepared various chapters of this strategic plan. Special appreciations are due to Dr. A. Chikuni who volunteered to take over the coordination of the NBSAP project from Dr. Z. Vokhiwa upon his retirement, and compiled and edited the document together with Dr. E. Sambo. The department also wishes to thank most sincerely Directors and Heads of natural resource sectors for critical reading of this document. Further appreciations are due to Dr. David Duthie, UNEP Nairobi, Dr. Alan Rogers, GEF Tanzania, Prof. J. Seyani, Commonwealth Science Council UK (now with National Herbarium and Botanic Garden of Malawi) and Prof. CO Dudley, Chancellor College, Malawi for reviewing this document. Further thanks are due to all who contributed to the NBSAP process through their participation in workshops whose names are too many to be mentioned. Further thanks are due to the National Herbarium & Botanic Gardens of Malawi, which through its role as the Chair of the Biodiversity Committee worked very closely with the NBSAP secretariat to guide preparation of this document. The department is also thankful to the Norwegian Government for providing financial support through the NORAD/SADC Biodiversity Support Programme to NHBG towards the finalisation of the NBSAP document, and the financial support it received from Wildlife and Environmental Society of Malawi (WESM) and the Malawi Environment Endowment Trust (MEET) during the National Consultative Workshop. Finally the Government of Malawi is also indebted to the Global Environment Facility (GEF), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), The Wild Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS), the World Conservation Union (IUCN), for financial and technical support without which the First National Report to the Convention on Biological Diversity and the NBSAP would not have been possible. (ix) List of figures PAGE Figure 1. Map of Malawi . 3 Figure 2. Biodiversity hotspots of Malawi . 9 Figure 3. Indigenous fruit juices . 10 Figure 4. Deforestation in Malosa Forest Reserve . 12 Figure 5. Examples of rare, threatened and endemic plants not included in list of protected trees . 24 Figure 6. Some reptiles of Malawi . 26 Figure 7. Some frogs of Malawi . 26 Figure 8. Some birds of Malawi . 27 Figure 9. Some threatened mammals of Malawi . 28 Figure 10 Slash and burn (shifting cultivation) in Chitipa District, Northern Region . 29 Eichhornia crassipes Figure 11. Water hyacinth a major invasive aquatic plant . 34 Figure 12. Some fish species of Lake Malawi . 35 Figure 13. Traditional cereals of Malawi . 42 Figure 14. Common and naturalised livestock types . 45 Figure 15. Summary of total fish catches in major waters of Malawi . 47 Figure 16. Analysis of fish catch in Lake Malombe . 47 Figure 17. Common and notorious alien invasive species recorded in Malawi 67 Figure 18. Institutional structures for the implementation of the NBSAP . 104 (xi) Table of contents PAGE Chapter One: Introduction Topography.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 1 Climate . 1 Soils.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 1 Vegetation . 1 Population . 1 Economy.... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 2 Land Tenure . 2 Chapter Two: Malawi’s Rationale for Biodiversity Conservation in Malawi What is Biodiversity? . 5 Importance of biodiversity . 5 Malawi’s response to biodiversity conservation . 7 Threats to biodiversity . 10 Rationale for biodiversity strategy and action plan for Malawi . 12 The National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan Process