We undertook a 6th field visit to northern Malawi to assist a restoration NGO with their restoration project in Miombo woodlands where decades of tree felling to make charcoal had left the land barren and had resulted in severe soil erosion. A number of years ago we managed to convince the Europe-based NGO that soil erosion control should precede tree planting and proceeded to train the local communities in the methods of soil erosion control.
Malawians are extremely hard-working and we were able to do effective soil stabilization over a relatively wide area in which they had already also established a number of tree growing nurseries. During our visits we help by evaluating the work done since our last visit, we identify further restoration work, check on tree planting success, identify further areas for restoration intervention and recommend implementation improvements.
We are very aware that education will be needed to instill a responsibility in the communities regarding soil conservation. The local chiefs are key to the successes of the restoration project but much community education work must still be done to ensure the long-term survival of the NGO funded restoration efforts.
