(SUMMARY REPORT - NOVEMBER 2005)
By:
Samuel Nyanyale
The
Department of National Parks and Wildlife is mandated to manage 5 national
parks, 4 wildlife reserves and 3 nature sanctuaries located in different areas of
the country. Among the national parks, Lake Malawi National Park (LMNP) is the
smallest park with a total area of about 94.1km≤ and it was established in 1980
under the National Parks Act. Before that, the mainland component of the park
was managed as forest reserves since 1935. Lake Malawi National Park lies at
the southern tip of Lake Malawi and out of the 94.1km≤ of the total area coverage,
about 7km≤ is aquatic ecosystem. The terrestrial component of the park is composed
of mostly disjointed landforms.† The
largest component of LMNP is the hilly
LMNP
is the only park established for the purpose of conserving fresh water fish
fauna of the lake. It was for this reason that a 100m wide strip of the lake
was included in the national park mainland and the islands. The aquatic zone
includes the water column and lakebed surrounding the
The
park was proclaimed as a World Heritage Site by United Nations Educational
Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in 1984 due to its unique
features, in particular, the diverse species of cichlids fishes and their high
degree of endemism.
2.0 Nomination of LMNP as World Heritage site
Lake
Malawi National Park was listed as a natural heritage site, in the Wild Heritage
List, as of outstanding universal value by the Convention and LMNP meets
criteria VIII, IX and X (2005 Operational Guidelines) as below:
(VIII) Outstanding
examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes
in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and
marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals;
(IX) Contain
superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and
aesthetic importance;
(X) Contain the most important and
significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity,
including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value
from the point of view of science or conservation.
The Malawi Government provided the following
justification for inscription of
i) Exceptional
natural beauty.
ii) Habitats of
rare and endemic species. The great
diversity of fish and the pronounced endemism are unmatched.
It
can also be noted that the following conditions of integrity were also met when
the park was inscribed as a world heritage site:
Σ
The terrestrial part
of LMNP regulates deposition of sediment into the aquatic ecosystem from soil
erosion forces.
Σ
Fresh water was
to be maintained by ensuring that there was no serious water pollutants and
protection of the woodland (catchment area).
Σ
The park has high
diversity of fish species with high endemicity
3.0 Current Management Status of the Park
The park has three operational camps located in
Σ
Management and administration section: management and administration section coordinates activities
of the park and other institutions and stakeholders and also handles
administration issues for the park.
Σ
Wildlife management section: wildlife management is mainly responsible for
undertaking law enforcement activities and also implements problem animal
control programmes among others.
Σ
Education and extension section: education and extension caters for the dissemination
of conservation and environmental information to school groups and undertakes
outreach programmes to the community surrounding the park.
Σ
Research and planning section: research and planning section partakes different research
projects aimed at generating information necessary for the proper management of
LMNP programmes. It is also the planning arm of the park.
4.0 Management Programmes
The
park has maintained the human component within its boundaries since its establishment
in 1980 and there are 5 ìfishingî enclave villages. These people settled in these
areas as far as mid 19th century and the early settlers were the chewa people and the tumbuka and
Being
fishermen culturally, the enclave communities depend on fishing for their
livelihood even though minority depends on the natural resources from the park
and small scale subsistence farming. The fishing is done in the open-waters
since the 100m aquatic zone is protected. Sustainable collection of fuelwood
and thatchgrass is done in an organised manner where the park issues permits
and the harvesting activities are monitored.
The
comprehensive study which was conducted in 2002 on the conservation status and
management of mbuna fish in
5.0 Collaborative
Management
Since
the establishment of LMNP there has been continuing and escalating conflicts
with adjacent communities and enforcement of the park legislation was a
problem. To achieve better management of natural resources, Lake Malawi
National Park Management Plan emphasises on the involvement of stakeholders,
particularly, local communities in managing park resources. Instead of a
management strategy based on law enforcement, DNPW has adopted a policy of
co-management whereby communities share responsibilities for managing the
national park. Among other strategies selected
to achieve co-management, the park adopted the formation of Village Trusts in
and around the park to be assisting in park management and in turn, benefit
from the park resources. So far, three village trusts have been formed and are
operational and in near future, three more village trusts are to be established.
With the introduction of co-management, the park introduced revenue sharing
scheme in that the communities through the Trusts get 50 percent of the revenue
generated from park entrance and concession fees and this money supports
development activities in their areas.
6.0 The
Challenges / Constraints
The
park which comprises of many isolated components operates on very limited
resources to be properly managed. For instance Law Enforcement fails to patrol
all disjointed components (especially distant islands) such as Chinyankhwazi
and Chinyamwezi due to shortage of fuel.
By
the nature of the ecology of most of the rock dwelling fish with respect to
distribution and localization and their breeding biology, they are vulnerable
to human influences such as small scale artisanal fishing for consumption by
fishermen camping in the
Monitoring
programmes of aquatic habitats are always a problem because of lack of
resources and most of the times, the park rely on the external researchers who
do their research in the park. And also the park researchers lack some basic diving
and monitoring skills since most of them have not been trained.
Population
increase in the enclave villages pause a threat to the management of the park.
Increase in fishing population means the increase demand for natural resources
from the national park and automatically increase monitoring and patrolling of
the site. †
7.0 Conclusion
As
a World Heritage Site of outstanding universal value, the LMNP enjoys the international
recognition and that it has been getting financial assistance from WHF. For the
fact that the site has a management plan, it is being managed according to the
stipulated National Parksí legal framework and strategies. The lack of
resources for both research and law enforcement are impinging on the
implementation of parksí programmes. Population increase in the enclave
villages is threat to the better management of park resources.