ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the status, use and governance of fish, forest and bird biodiversity in the Lake Chilwa Basin are presented. The Lake Chilwa Basin is an extremely important biodiversity area, with surveys reporting 14 fish species; 300 forest tree species and 164 bird species. The high level of biodiversity in the basin is a function of the basin’s location in a zone with differences in elevation and extraordinary combinations of terrestrial and aquatic habitats. Communities depend on these biological resources as a source of food, medicine, fuel energy, income and employment. However, the basin’s biodiversity is on the decline. Use of the wrong fishing gear, frequent wild fires, illegal bird hunting and trapping, habitat destruction, deforestation, pests and diseases, climate variability and change that is affecting aquatic resources such as periodic recessions of the lake are the major causes of biodiversity loss. Coordination among the basin’s main players in biodiversity utilization and conservation will go a long way in halting biodiversity loss in the basin.
