Biological Diversity in Malawi

Abstract

Biodiversity, the variety and variability among living organisms and the complexes in which they occur, has become one of the main conservation focal points over the last decade. Serious biodiversity losses have been recorded in all countries over this period with the largest declines occurring in tropical countries containing the greatest biodiversity. Malawi, a small tropical country, has significant biodiversity as it sits at the crossroads of the East and Central African and Southern African floral and faunal subregions. It also has a very high human population, the majority rural and dependant on these biodiversity resources for their survival. As a consequence the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity is of considerable importance. In response, the Malawi Government has prepared a National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan in response to biodiversity loss. This loss was identified as one of the major environmental concerns noted by the National Environmental Action Plan. This demonstrated the country's adherence to its constitution and to the international Convention on Biological Diversity which it ratified in 1994. Over the last three years the National Herbarium and Botanic Gardens (NHBG), with support of the GTZ, has made a contribution to this concern with an evaluation of the biodiversity of three of the country's forest reserves. More recently, the Wildlife and Environmental Society of Malawi initiated its own activity in this arena with the assistance of ART-ZM. One of the outputs is this publication. Although prepared by many of the authors of the NHBG study, this document attempts to look at the country's biodiversity from a broader perspective with the goal of creating awareness of the biodiversity of Malawi to a wider audience.