Tumbi, Malawi -  The forests here are burning and the irony is they call it “burn agriculture.”

Like the rest of the world, forests in Malawi play a vital role. They are the engine of survival to millions of poor Malawians, but at the rate with which forests are being cleared, mainly through illegal logging and burn agriculture, the poor are likely to face hard times for generations to come.

Like other poor countries around the world, the forests are being destroy and not adequately being replenished. Greed and desperation and the need for basic fuel are causing our forests irreparable harm.

Malawi’s forestry industry is not officially affected by corruption - at least that is the theory. But the reality is it is one of our industries that is rampant with corruption down to the lowest community level. The problem is the majority of the population believes that corruption affects only those holding high positions such as politicians. But the reality is that at the village level, corruption reigns supreme: the village heads are directly involved in corruption.

Culturally they are directly involved in land distribution and forestry resources especially to people who are running the charcoal business.
Some businessmen involved in timber production rarely have licenses to produce timber as required by the Malawi 1987 Forestry Management Act. Instead, payoffs to local chiefs determine who gets access to forests. After all it is at the local level the local chiefs control some lands and have powers to give to whoever wants it.

In the remote village of Tumbi in Karonga district in the northern part of Malawi, forests are being cleared at alarming almost every day despite the fact that government has deployed forestry staff to look after the forests. Government staffs do not act on the illegal logging despite the fact that the wrongs are committed within their vicinity.

Forestry law enforcers in Malawi are failing to enforce the law due to a number of factors including corruption because the pay is low and law enforcement lacks resources such as transport and enough personnel.

“We hear there are forestry staff in the district but they are failing to do their job because the money they receive is very little. The morale is low. Transport is not available for them. The result is that they accept bribes,” said Anderson Munyenyembe, a 35-year-old farmer and pastoralist from Tumbi village.

By law anyone who is found removing resources such as timber from the forests or cultivate in the forests without government approval is supposed to be arrested by the forestry staff and police and prosecuted and if convicted they are supposed to pay heavy fines or spend months in prison with hard labor.

“No one has ever been arrested and brought to book. But if you are unlucky some forestry staff confiscate from you charcoal or firewood and even confiscated forest resources are sold by some forestry staff to people they know,” said Munyenyembe.

In most parts of Karonga district land is cleared and farmers clear forests areas and practice some shifting cultivation. Since the soils are fertile many farmers do not use chemical fertilizer and there is enough land for many to cultivate.

The district forestry office in Karonga denies corruption charges but agreed that some members of staff are alleged to be accepting bribes from the local villagers.

In Mwanza district in the southern part of Malawi a number of local people are involved in charcoal production. But government said many of those involved are doing it “illegally” and yet cases of people being charged of corruption for illegal charcoal production are almost none existence.

“The people involved in charcoal are high ranking government officials,” said Edward Phiri.

Government confiscated charcoal at the Zalewa Road Block - Photo: Raphael Mweninguwe

During my four-hour stay at the Zalewa Road Block located between Mwanza district and Blantyre, Malawi’s commercial city, forestry officials and with the help of the police guard 24-hours and confiscate any charcoal, timber or firewood illegally produced.

But even here some charcoal and timber pass through. Truck drivers from Mozambique pass through the road block without charcoal being confiscated and the guards said the truck drivers from Mozambique “have papers that show that they have bought the charcoal legally.” However, investigations have shown that truck drivers from Mozambique do not carry charcoal papers with them. Some buy charcoal from Mozambique where charcoal and firewood is sold beside the roads.

Charcoal and firewood confiscated by forestry staff is sold by the Department of Forestry again to some staff within the department of other members of the communities at a low price of about US$2 per 50kg bag. While the producer sells the bag at US$10. Ironically that money, according to government officials, goes back to government fund to fight against illegal logging.

In Machinga district in the southern part of Malawi, curio makers accuse forestry officials of accepting bribes from chiefs to “allow some local people cut trees from the forests while denying others.”

The Department of Forestry denies its staff members are involved in “any corruption” but warned that anyone found is dealt with and lose their job.
Wellings Simwela, Deputy Director in the Department of Forestry, told journalists at a recent tour to Machinga that government “does not tolerate corruption in the sector and we would like to work hand in with all chiefs and villagers.”

But some NGOs have accused government of not doing enough on corruption in the forestry sector. One of the directors of an NGO who opted for anonymity said, “There were some officers involved in illegal logging and charcoal production. These are powerful politicians and officers manning the forests have no say.”

The destruction of forests in Malawi has had a devastating effect on the economy. Many rivers are drying because majority of the forests reserves that are being destroyed serves as catchment areas for many major rivers and streams. As the forests are destroyed the rivers get dry and many farmers can no longer grow winter crops.

Deforestation is affecting the fishing industry, energy and agriculture.

Fishermen who fish in the rivers and smaller lakes are failing to do so because the water bodies are drying. The water levels have been reduced and some fish species are extinct. In terms of energy, its 6% of the population has access to hydro electric power and the rest depend on fuelwood. Due to siltation Malawi experiences a lot of blackouts on daily basis since power generation is hydro based.

In Nsanje district in the southern tip of Malawi a village headman Mpokonyola became the first village head to be arrested and convicted for illegally destroying the government protected Matandwe Forest Reserve six years ago. But since then no other chief has been convicted and sentenced despite the fact that there are many cases involving chiefs being involved in corruption.

The government’s community based natural resources programs supported by donors such the European Union and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) are doing very little to avert the situation.

The present administration of president Bingu wa Mutharika introduced the National Tree Planting Season from December to April to help green the country but this initiative is also meeting its own challenges. About 45% of the over 60 million trees planted by year survive.

An estimated 65% of the 12.6 million people live on less than a US$1 a day. And terms of deforestation Malawi leads the 14 Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) countries with a rate of 2.8% per year.

With corruption high both at local and national level Malawi’s forests are on the verge of extinction.