University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Theses and Dissertations 1-1-2013 Re-examining the Past and Rethinking the Future at Mount Mulanje Forest Reserve, Malawi: New Directions for Local Engagement Mary Christian Thompson University of South Carolina - Columbia Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd Part of the Educational Administration and Supervision Commons Recommended Citation Thompson, M. C.(2013). Re-examining the Past and Rethinking the Future at Mount Mulanje Forest Reserve, Malawi: New Directions for Local Engagement. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/2497 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you by Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Re-examining the Past and Rethinking the Future at Mount Mulanje Forest Reserve, Malawi: New Directions for Local Engagement By Mary C. Thompson Bachelor of Arts University of Tennessee, 2004 Master of Arts University of South Carolina, 2008 Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Geography College of Arts and Sciences University of South Carolina 2013 Accepted by: Edward R. Carr, Major Professor John Kupfer, Committee Member Brent McCusker, Committee Member Caroline Nagel, Committee Member Lacy Ford, Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies © Copyright by Mary C. Thompson, 2013 All Rights Reserved. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge the immense support that the following people have given me during the preparation of this dissertation without which I would not have succeeded. Firstly, my colleagues in Malawi who showed endless patience with my struggling Chichewa, acted as knowledgeable and competent assistants, and taught me more about their land and culture than I will ever be able to thank them enough for. These are Mr. Duncan Chikwita, Mrs. Eallubie Chikwita, Mr. Watson Willie, and Mr. Kenneth Dzimbiri. I would also like to thank all of the other generous people in Malawi including but certainly not limited to all of my friends at the CCAP Likhubula House who were like family to me, the staff of the Forestry Department at the Likhubula Forest Office, the staff of Mulanje Mountain Conservation Trust (especially Director Mr. Carl Bruessow), the Chief of Muhiyo, the Chief of Monjomo, and of course most of all of the people in Muhiyo and Monjomo that took time out of their daily lives to lend their knowledge and experiences with me and my team. Also a special thanks to Dr. Monica Fisher and her husband Austin and daughter Madalitso for being there for me throughout my time in Malawi and making me feel so welcome in their home and lives. Here at the University of South Carolina I am in deep gratitude to my advisor Dr. Edward R. Carr whose solid guidance throughout my graduate education has pushed me to be confident, creative, and rigorous in pursuing solutions to problems that I feel strongly about in conservation and development programs today and who has provided me with invaluable career building iii experiences. I would also like to thank Dr. John Kupfer and Dr. Brent McCusker who have provided essential guidance and assistance throughout my work in Malawi. Further, I want to acknowledge Dr. Caroline Nagel for extending her expertise to review and strengthen this document. I also would not have made it through graduate school without the help and encouragement given by Mrs. Elizabeth Belcher and Mr. Capers Stokes. Many thanks as well to Matthew Rodgers, Richard Murphy, Sara Yorty, Melissa Berry, Joshua Hall, the Malawi Peace Corps Volunteers, and all of my other colleagues and friends who have been there to hear about my challenges and successes with this project. I also extend my unending thanks to my family including my parents Mike and Christy Thompson, grandparents Bill and Kay Thompson, sister and brother-in-law Holly and Dale Skidmore, and niece and nephew Ella and Grey Skidmore for their endless support, encouragement, and prayers. Without the help of each of these people this project would not have been able to succeed. Finally, I would like to thank God for always being there to listen when I found myself lying awake in the middle of the night struggling to remember why I was sweating under a mosquito net in Malawi 8,000 miles away from home. The answers always came and my life will forever be richer thanks to my experiences there. iv ABSTRACT Since the 1980s, broad recognition has been given to the need for and the benefits of aligning the protection of biodiversity in threatened forest ecosystems with measures to address the needs and desires of people living near and depending on those ecosystems. With this research project I focus on one such ecosystem found at the Mulanje Mountain Forest Reserve (MMFR) in southern Malawi. Large amounts of money and time have been put forth by local, national, and international donors and conservation organizations to support the goals of biodiversity conservation and social development at MMFR. In order to explore how managers of MMFR have failed to successfully realize both of these overarching goals, I focus on inadequate and superficial engagement of forest managers with local populations and the effects of this deficient engagement on the health of the reserve. As part of the analysis I emphasize how certain local social contexts have been left unexamined in project design and how these neglected contexts translate into ineffective project implementation and outcomes. Furthermore I highlight how these unexamined contexts continuously reinforce the superficial nature of the connection between local community members and those charged with managing the reserve. There are valuable lessons to be learned from this case study that can be extended not only to other areas surrounding MMFR, but also to the managers of protected areas worldwide who, in the face of changing global climates and associated policy v implications, are seeing the necessity for increasingly meaningful relationships with local communities and individuals. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................. iii ABSTRACT .........................................................................................................................v LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... xi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .......................................................................................... xiv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................1 1.1 Trends for World Forests ...................................................................................1 1.2 Contribution to Geographic Scholarship ...........................................................5 1.3 Research Goals and Questions ...........................................................................8 1.4 Structure of the Dissertation ............................................................................10 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ...........................................................................14 2.1 Early Protected Areas in Sub-Saharan Africa ..................................................14 2.2 Progression of International Development Strategies and Environmental Impacts .............................................................................................................19 2.3 Current Collaborations: Conservation and Development ................................26 2.4 Focusing on Communities ...............................................................................31 2.5 Theoretical Foundations...................................................................................38 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH SETTING ..............................................................................42 3.1 Malawi .............................................................................................................42 3.2 Mulanje District ...............................................................................................53 3.3 Mulanje Mountain ...........................................................................................54 vii 3.4 Specific Research Sites ....................................................................................61 CHAPTER 4: METHODS .................................................................................................67 4.1 Institutional Review Board Approval ..............................................................67 4.2 Interpreters .......................................................................................................68 4.3 Living Arrangements .......................................................................................69 4.4 Permits and Permissions ..................................................................................72 4.5 Documentary Research ....................................................................................73 4.6 Identifying the Interview Sample: Muhiyo and Monjomo Villages ................74 4.7 Interview Techniques: Muhiyo and Monjomo Villages ..................................75 4.8 Identifying the Interview Sample and Interview Techniques: MMCT, Forestry Department, and MOBI+LISE ..........................................................81