IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ibn/jsd123/v8y2015i8p251.html

Solving Deforestation, Protecting and Managing Key Water Catchments in Malawi Using Smart Public and Private Partnerships

Author

Listed:
  • Kenneth A. Wiyo
  • Lameck Fiwa
  • Weston Mwase

Abstract

Deforestation, habitat loss and forest degradation are the most critical issues facing Malawi today driven by higher population growth. Deforestation in water catchments has a direct link to the blackouts of the state-owned power producing company (Electricity Supply Commission of Malawi, ESCOM) and to the inadequate water supply by the semi-public Water Boards, both in dry and wet seasons due to sedimentation and low flows in the rivers. As a result, water and power utilities, private sector and communities are all severely affected by the impacts of deforestation. To solve deforestation in Malawi, the country requires a multi-sectoral integrated approach through creation of smart partnerships between public, semi-public and private sectors to support community-based afforestation and forest regeneration programmes. It is proposed that Malawi Reforestation and Environmental Protection Authority (MAREPA) be established through an Act of Parliament to collect funds and finance afforestation and forest regeneration activities. A small non-prohibitive tax (administrative levy) on selected key products, such as water, beer, electricity, sugar, tea, coffee, and tobacco, could be introduced to finance the MAREPA fund. This will be achieved through Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES), where a smart partnership among government, semi-public water and power utilities, private sector, development partners, and civil society would be paying for services rendered through conservation of forest resources which in turn reduces sedimentation in key water catchments. The ecosystem services could include carbon sequestration, water protection for consumption and hydroelectric power generation, biodiversity conservation, and natural landscape preservation. The proposed MAREPA can provide a way to finance sustainably afforestation and forest regeneration programmes instead of various stakeholders independently tackling deforestation in Malawi without coordination. A multi-sectorial taskforce could be formed to carefully review the feasibility of MAREPA and set a regulatory framework and a tax regime to cover annual funding needs for Malawi’s afforestation and forest regeneration aims.

Suggested Citation

  • Kenneth A. Wiyo & Lameck Fiwa & Weston Mwase, 2015. "Solving Deforestation, Protecting and Managing Key Water Catchments in Malawi Using Smart Public and Private Partnerships," Journal of Sustainable Development, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 8(8), pages 251-251, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:ibn:jsd123:v:8:y:2015:i:8:p:251
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jsd/article/download/46919/28667
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jsd/article/view/46919
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. French, David, 1986. "Confronting an unsolvable problem: Deforestation in Malawi," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 531-540, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bandyopadhyay, Sushenjit & Shyamsundar, Priya & Baccini, Alessandro, 2006. "Forests, biomass use, and poverty in Malawi," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4068, The World Bank.
    2. Zulu, Leo Charles, 2010. "The forbidden fuel: Charcoal, urban woodfuel demand and supply dynamics, community forest management and woodfuel policy in Malawi," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(7), pages 3717-3730, July.
    3. Place, Frank & Otsuka, Keijiro, 2001. "Population, Tenure, and Natural Resource Management: The Case of Customary Land Area in Malawi," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 13-32, January.
    4. Richard H. Hosier & Jill Boberg & Matthew Luhanga & Mark Mwandosya, 1990. "Energy planning and wood balances," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 14(2), pages 143-154, May.
    5. Hiemstra-van der Horst, Greg & Hovorka, Alice J., 2008. "Reassessing the "energy ladder": Household energy use in Maun, Botswana," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 3333-3344, September.
    6. Brouwer, Inge D. & Hoorweg, Jan C. & van Liere, Marti J., 1997. "When households run out of fuel: Responses of rural households to decreasing fuelwood availability, Ntcheu District, Malawi," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 255-266, February.
    7. Dewees, Peter A., 1995. "Trees on farms in Malawi: Private investment, public policy, and farmer choice," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 23(7), pages 1085-1102, July.
    8. Place, Frank & Otsuka, Keijiro, 2000. "The role of tenure in the management of trees at the community level: theoretical and empirical analyses from Uganda and Malawi," CAPRi working papers 9, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    9. Bandyopadhyay, Sushenjit & Shyamsundar, Priya & Baccini, Alessandro, 2011. "Forests, biomass use and poverty in Malawi," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(12), pages 2461-2471.
    10. Alois Mandondo & Laura German, 2015. "Customary rights and societal stakes of large-scale tobacco cultivation in Malawi," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 32(1), pages 31-46, March.
    11. Regina Kulugomba & Harold W. T. Mapoma & Gregory Gamula & Stanley Mlatho & Richard Blanchard, 2025. "Understanding People’s Intentions Towards the Adoption of Biogas Technology: Applying the Diffusion of Innovation Theory and the Theory of Planned Behavior," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-13, April.
    12. Phil O'Keefe & Barry Munslow, 1989. "Understanding fuelwood," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 13(1), pages 2-10, February.
    13. Christiansen, Robert E. & Kydd, J. G., 1987. "Malawi'S Agricultural Export Strategy And Implications For Income Distribution," Staff Reports 277935, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    14. Camara, N'Famory & Xu, Deyi & Binyet, Emmanuel, 2017. "Understanding household energy use, decision making and behaviour in Guinea-Conakry by applying behavioural economics," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 1380-1391.
    15. Peter A Dewees, 1995. "Forestry policy and woodfuel markets in Malawi," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 19(2), pages 143-152, May.
    16. Place, Frank & Otsuka, Keijiro, 1997. "Population, Land Tenure, And Natural Resource Management: The Case Of Customary Land Area In Malawi," EPTD Discussion Papers 16070, CGIAR, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    17. World Health Organization, 2017. "Tobacco and its environmental impact: an overview," University of California at San Francisco, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education qt8tp3r5rc, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, UC San Francisco.
    18. Mohammed, Y.S. & Mustafa, M.W. & Bashir, N. & Mokhtar, A.S., 2013. "Renewable energy resources for distributed power generation in Nigeria: A review of the potential," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 257-268.
    19. World Bank, 2007. "Malawi - Poverty and Vulnerability Assessment : Investing in Our Future," World Bank Publications - Reports 7909, The World Bank Group.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ibn:jsd123:v:8:y:2015:i:8:p:251. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Canadian Center of Science and Education (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.