ABSTRACT
Malawi is a small, landlocked country but its natural beauty cannot mask the fact that it is one of the poorest countries in Africa and, indeed, the world with a population of over 19 million people. This has conspired to place enormous environmental pressure on the land, with alarming consequences. The rate of deforestation is the highest in all of Africa, causing widespread soil erosion and general habitat degradation. In turn, this impacts seriously on food production and makes Malawians highly vulnerable to extreme weather events.
Liwonde National Park is a wildlife island in a sea of people – completely surrounded by densely populated, extremely poor communities engaged primarily in subsistence agriculture. But Liwonde is under threat for it is a place where people and hundreds of elephants, rhinos, hippos, grazing mammals and over 600 species of birds battle it out daily for access to food, water and grazing space.
And so IFAW began a dialogue with one particular community - Chikolongo, a village of some 6,000 people on the western boundary of Liwonde. Antagonism towards Liwonde’s elephants was rife, as they had long raided village crops with impunity, posing a very real threat to the lives of the villagers themselves. IFAW, with additional funding assistance from GIZ (a German development agency), erected a four-and-a-half-mile-long electrified game-proof fence to create a physical and well-defined boundary between the Liwonde National Park and the Chikolongo community. The fence is now maintained and patrolled by local community members, some of whom are former poachers.
In 2015 Chikolongo’s fresh water system was extended, and food production further improved. A fish farm has been built to support irrigation was built and stocked with indigenous species such as tilapia. There is no doubt that Chikolongo project has been a resounding success, predominantly due to the security provided by the fence and safe access to water. The standard of living has certainly improved for the 6,000 individuals living in the community.
