REDD+ – Kulera, Malawi

Project Description

The project targets 169,136 ha of forest located in a 5 km band inside of three critical Protected Areas in Malawi, which are now islands of standing forest in a heavily degraded landscape matrix and are rapidly being degraded by adjacent communities

These areas have limited governance resources and are under increasing pressure from local populations intensifying and expanding their exploitation of forest resources to unsustainable levels

The project supports sustainable forest management within the border zones of the protected areas by empowering more than 45,000 households living within 10 km of these areas in over 800 villages to develop a range of livelihood activities

It is a pro-poor approach to community-based forest management for the protection of natural forest

Sustainability Beyond Carbon

These protected areas have high biodiversity values, being habitat for lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard, hyena, zebra, hippopotamus, crocodile, warthog, monkeys, kudu, roan antelope, sable antelope, greater kudu, Liechtenstein’s hartebeest, eland, reedbuck, bushbuck, common duiker, bush pig, impala and over 160 species of birds

Nyika NP is a biodiversity hotspot for both plants and mammals, with the highest number of large mammals and the highest concentration of roan antelopes in Africa, the world’s largest blue swallow breeding population and 215 orchid species

Project activities include:

• strengthening land-tenure and governance
• supporting development/ implementation of sustainable forest and land use management plans
• forest protection through patrolling, social fencing and forest boundaries’ maintenance
• fire prevention and suppression activities
• reducing fuelwood consumption and increasing energy efficiency by introducing fuel-efficient cookstoves
• creating alternative fuelwood sources through agroforestry and farm woodlots
• sustainable intensification of agriculture on existing agricultural land
• developing local enterprises based on sustainably harvested non timber forest products (e.g. honey, coffee, macadamia), and livestock