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Forests in Malawi play an important role in both social and economic development of the country. Forests supply :
- about 93 percent of the country’s energy needs,
- provide timber and poles for construction and industrial use,
- supply non-timber forest products for food security and income,
- support wildlife and biodiversity,
- provide recreational and environmental services.
Among the environmental services provided by forests is carbon sequestration. Carbon sequestration is the uptake and storage of carbon on land which reduces atmospheric accumulation and thus delays its impact on global climate.
The major objective of this paper was to identify carbon mitigation options and
analyse their costs, benefits and impact in the forest and land use sector in Malawi.
In particular the authors wanted to identify a number of options that are likely to provide the desired forestry products and services at the least cost and minimum negative environmental and social impacts.
Results from the analysis show that forest protection can reduce carbon emissions in
Malawi at lower cost per tonne than reforestation under the Tree Planting for Carbon Sequestration and other Ecosystem Services Programme. However, our approach assumes that the major factor contributing towards poor forest protection in Malawi is inadequate financial resources provided to protection agencies.
Government funding to forestry, national parks and game reserves has been very low in most cases although there are some improvements. Thus, reversing the current trend in forest degradation will require a lot of resources and new commitments from the government, the private sector and non-governmental organisations.
The resources will have to be used efficiently in improving human resources and providing the required facilities and equipment. But since resources could be just one
factor, the authors recommend further investigation on non-monetary measures that could be undertaken to unsure that forests are effectively protected. |
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