Malawi's National Forestry Programme

In order to contribute to the goal of achieving the poverty eradication, a thriving economy and good environmental management, the government of Malawi has developed the national forestry programme in 2001. It is a sector programme which aims to link policy and on-the-ground practice so that both are continuously improved in favour of good forest and tree management for alleviating poverty and improving livelihoods in Malawi.
Consensus has settled on the following goal for the NFP: sustainable management of forest goods and services for improved and equitable livelihoods.
The goal of the NFP can only be achieved if key roles are well played and this requires that the right strategies are pursued through practical actions. The following twelve subsections present key issues for forests and livelihoods and present the twelve strategies developed by the NFP process which can collectively deliver the NFP goal. These are described under the following headings: (i) manage the process of institutional change, (ii) optimise policy influences on forests and livelihoods, (iii) build local forest governance through decentralization, (iv) support community-based forest management, (v) improve individual smallholder livelihoods, (vi) strengthen forest extension, (vii) sharpen research and information systems, (viii) influence wood energy supply and demand, (ix) manage forest reserves (x) foster improved industrial forestry, (xi) increase wood production in the estate sector, (xii) develop forest sector financing.
In order to make agriculture, forestry and fisheries more productive and sustainable, the NFP plans to develop standards for sustainable forest management as a benchmark for practice at all levels convert national standards for sustainable forest management into simple and appropriate local standards and to convert national standards for sustainable forest management into simple and appropriate local standards.
In addition, the NFP envisages to generate and disseminate user-friendly information and simple technologies that can be adapted for different site conditions and demands to promote multiple functions of trees in farming systems.
Finally, the NFP plans to implement a research and communication strategy which links research activities in a range of sectors and enables the gaps to be filled in the ecological, social and economic knowledge need for improved forestry and livelihoods and develop better understanding, improved genetic material and promotion of efficient silvicultural options on estates such as trees planted in strips on boundaries and between fields.
Regarding the reduction of rural poverty, the NFP envisages to generate a firm political decision on the management and ownership of plantations and form private association(s) to support small and medium-sized enterprise access to finance for sustainable forestry, e.g. through group loans.
To enable inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems, the NFP plans to reduce red tape and continue improvement of procedures of private enterprise development and to improve forest-product pricing through the introduction of a market-based charging system (e.g. auctions) or through an administered stumpage value based revenue system, promote training: for financiers about investment opportunities and potential returns in forestry, and for foresters in business management.
To increase the resilience of livelihood to disasters, the NFP plans to enforce the requirement for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for any major development that takes place in forest reserves and to prepare practical planning guidance for all forest reserves, and outline maps and plans for each forest reserve with basic zonation to define the broad categories of forest and land management to be pursued.
In the context of governance, this document makes a start, and the mechanisms designed for collaboration, communication and coordination the NFP Co-ordination Unit, Working Groups, Steering Group and NFP Forum will need to be well-maintained and further developed to make progress on the actions identified. There are two needs highlighted in this section: monitoring and adapting the NFP, and steps to be taken now: (i) develop a NFP monitoring system, based on both qualitative and quantitative indicators, as a core job of the NFP Co-ordination Unit, together with institutions involved in planning and implementing NFP actions, (ii) install systems of participatory monitoring and evaluation in all NFP initiatives to link field and policy level actions, (iii) maintain the link between Malawi's NFP and globally respected centers of international learning on policy and institutions that work. Such linkages will enable development of standards, quality control, due diligence systems, approaches for participatory monitoring and evaluation, and a general sounding board for Malawi in the international context.