We are too so we started our Forest Conservation project in Malawi. However, we quickly realised that we needed to provide solutions as to why deforestation takes place. Therefore, we run a Tree Planting project which helps farmers and communities to plant sustainable sources of firewood and timber.
You can help communities in Malawi by donating to plant trees, and we will send you updates throughout the tree planting season.
We work with farmers and communities who are planting millions of trees each year, and these provide a sustainable source of timber and firewood for local people.
Our tree planting project is one of the largest and most successful in the north of Malawi providing a long-term solution to deforestation caused by the destruction of indigenous forests.
We work with over 1,800 Forest Conservation Committee members patrolling
340 sq.kms of forest. They educate community members on the problems of deforestation and ensure the conservation bylaws are understood. Anyone caught illegally chopping down trees or starting fires is fined. Once an area is protected, natural regeneration occurs, thus preserving the forest for future generations.
By communities having a sustainable source of timber through our tree planting project means that they are able to now conserve existing forests with indigenous trees and allow natural regeneration to take place.
Did you know? When trees are chopped down for the timber to be used in construction or furniture, the carbon can remain stored in the wood for centuries.
We work with tree farmers to plant fruit trees which provide food and income for their families. They grow papaya, guava, avocado and citrus fruit trees.
Fruit tree seedlings are distributed to schools so that students learn firsthand the importance of tree planting and protecting the environment.
Choose how many trees you would like to plant each month.
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The key to working with communities is ownership. Our individual tree farmers are highly motivated to put in a lot of work to establish their tree nurseries and plant out and care for the tree saplings. They know that the fast-growing trees will provide a valuable income for their families from selling timber and firewood. By having a sustainable source of timber and firewood means that the communities are able to now conserve existing forests with indigenous trees. Natural regeneration is encouraged and within a few years people are able to see a positive difference, not only visibly with the regenerated trees and natural grasses but there is a reduction in soil erosion and eventually improved rainfall.
High population growth has been the prime cause of deforestation across Malawi and has led to soil degradation, landslides, perennial rivers drying up, rain shortages and depletion of wildlife and biodiversity. Wood is taken from indigenous forests for building and to use for cooking. Increasing numbers of people have become involved in the production and sale of charcoal, particularly in areas near towns, further decimating the remaining forests.
What we are doing is:
For years, Ripple Africa has worked to fight deforestation in Malawi through tree planting and fuel-efficient cookstove projects.
However, while Ripple Africa has been tackling deforestation in populated lowland areas, the charity has watched in sadness as the mature indigenous forests in the hills of Malawi’s Nkhata Bay and Mzimba Districts continue to disappear.
These forested hills are a primary factor in regulating the annual rainfall in the area and, frustratingly, deforestation here is pointless:
Just a handful of farmers are responsible for all this destruction through the practice of shifting cultivation. The Government has struggled to control this so it continues unabated. The farmers:
Ripple Africa is doing everything it can to combat deforestation in Malawi on all fronts. However, Ripple Africa’s Forest Conservation project is special as it is saving the forested hills responsible for regulating much of the rainfall in the District. With 90% of the population in Malawi getting their food from subsistence farming, rainfall and climate stability are not just issues for environmentalists, they are inextricably linked to poverty, health, and survival for local people.
The aim of the Forest Conservation project is to preserve the forested hills of Nkhata Bay and Mzimba Districts before they are lost forever.
Tree Planting
Our tree planting project is one of the largest and most successful tree planting projects in Malawi. We provide a long-term solution to fighting deforestation in Africa caused by the destruction of indigenous forests.
The tree planting project directly tackles this by working with thousands of farmers and community groups who establish tree nurseries and typically plant out 1,000 to 3,000 trees on their land, and these provide a sustainable source of timber and firewood.
High population growth has been the prime cause of deforestation across Malawi and has led to soil degradation, landslides, perennial rivers drying up, rain shortages and depletion of wildlife. Trees are cut down and land cleared for farming often in areas where the land is steep with poor soil quality. Wood is taken from indigenous forests for building and to use for cooking. Increasing numbers of people have become involved in the production and sale of charcoal, particularly in areas near towns, further decimating the remaining forests.
Ripple Africa’s tree planting project is not only about planting trees in Malawi, but also about changing the way people think about their natural environment and the destructive and unsustainable actions which are causing deforestation. By involving farmers and community groups, Ripple Africa aims not only to encourage more tree planting in Africa, but to slowly change how people value and use all their natural resources.
Ripple Africa first started to address this issue in the area around its base in Nkhata Bay District, providing local communities with quick-growing trees which provide an immediate benefit to the community. The trees can be used like a crop by coppicing them (cutting off the branches for firewood without felling the whole tree), and then they grow back quickly to provide more wood year on year.
However, we started working in the north of Mzimba District in 2015 where deforestation is much more severe. Since then, the project has expanded to cover all of Mzimba. Here we are working with farmers who are prepared to invest a considerable amount of time (it takes up to 20 years to grow a tree large enough to sell for timber) to ensure that larger numbers of trees can be grown successfully. A large majority of farmers in this District are part of a carbon offsetting project.
The tree planting project expanded again in 2023 when we started planting trees with farmers in Nkhotakota and Salima Districts in Malawi. We are working with farmers and community groups to grow around 500,000 seedlings per District. These seedlings include senna siamea, blue gum, mbawa, mtangatanga, mthewe and nsangu amongst others, and once they are growing, they will provide people with a sustainable source of firewood and in the longer-term, timber.
The vast majority of forests in both of these Districts have been completely wiped out not only to make way for houses and farmland, but also the hills have been destroyed by the charcoal industry.
