I am a holder of Diploma in Business Management. I am currently working as an education officer at Lilongwe Wildlife Trust. I have strong passion for environment, which materialize through my participation in NatureKit.org activities. NatureKit.org is a youth led movement that works on environmental conservation and management. NatureKit.org has seminars which are provided to the youth on issues regrading environmental degradation and management. During one of the seminars we had a discussion on climate change and its impacts, since that time I have developed a keen interest on environmental issues particularly in deforestation, pollution and natural resources management.  Environmental degradation increases the vulnerability of the societies it affects and contributes to the scarcity of resources (Partha Das Sharma, 2008). The impact of environmental disasters can devastate the social-economic and environmental systems of a country or region as well as the global ecosystem.

Malawi is a landlocked country in south-eastern Africa, bordered by Tanzania, Zambia, and Mozambique. Malawi is 118,000km?, but one fifth of the country is made up of Lake Malawi, so actual land area is 94,080km?, roughly the size of Scotland and Wales combined. The Great Rift Valley runs through the country from north to south, and Lake Malawi lies to the east. Land is made up of mountains, plateaux, hills, valleys, flatlands, and lakeshore. Malawi has a sub-tropical climate, and experiences a rainy season from December to March, a cold dry season from April to August, and a hot dry season from September to November. Malawi was previously heavily forested. However, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), forest cover is now just 34.4% of the total land area of Malawi (UN data 2010) (fallen from 41.4% in 1990).

Wood is the main fuel in Malawi, and 95% of homes still use wood or charcoal for cooking. Nearly everybody uses three-stone fires for cooking, and each fire consumes about three large bundles (weighing about 30kg each) of wood per week. In many areas, wood is now becoming very scarce. Although the government has a number of laws to restrict the sale of wood and charcoal without a licence, the practice is very common throughout the country. The use of charcoal for cooking is more common in the major towns, but charcoal production and the sale of charcoal is illegal. However, despite this, the people in rural areas produce many bags of charcoal which are transported to the towns. This fuel is incredibly wasteful as it uses a considerable number of trees to produce one bag of charcoal.

Currently am running a project to curb deforestation since many people in Malawi use wood or charcoal for cooking. This project is called clean sustainable energy. Clean Sustainable Energy is project that is held in Kasungu, Malawi. This project is ran by Chikondi Women Group which is a group of elder widows who makes fuel briquettes. These fuel briquettes are a cheap and effective source of fuel. Wood is the main fuel in Malawi, and 95% of homes still us wood or charcoal for cooking. Nearly everybody uses three-stone fire for cooking, and each fire consumes about three large bundle (weighing about 30kg each) of wood per week. The use of charcoal for cooking is more common in major towns. Forest reliance in rural areas create challenges to conserve of Malawi?s forests. The briquettes will offer different opportunities to people and will provide environmental awareness on a boardwalk and save the forest. Fuel briquettes are environmental friendly, they surpass the used of charcoal and fuel wood which is destroying the environment. The product is made through a simple process from a specific mixture of locally found law materials of waste paper with saw dust, dry leaves or maize husks. As compared to charcoal, briquettes burn with less smoke and have less ash, burn twice more than wood, do not produce sparks, are dust free, have uniform size and shape, do not have odor. This project will help to reduce reliance on tree.

below are images portraying the work which i have been doing on training the widows on how to make the briquettes which will act as a source of income while mitigating deforestation, and my dream is to make this project more sustainable.