The Department of Forestry in Zomba has bemoaned the lack of capacity to counter unruly locals who are behind the careless plunder of Zomba Mountain Forest Reserve.
Acting Plantations manager for Zomba Timber Plantations, Mathews Mkwapatira, said there are only three patrolling officers with guns and four unarmed scouts to secure the reserve.
As a solution, the government signed agreements with concessionaires to take a larger percentage in caring for the forest.
Sunbird Hotels and Resorts, which runs Kuchawe Inn on Zomba Mountain, is one of them and has since fostered the planting of 5,000 seedlings of indigenous trees this season.
Sunbird has planted a total of 12,600 tree seedlings on Zomba Mountain since 2022.
Head of Sales, Marketing and Distribution for the company, Temwa Kanjadza, said they are eager to continue working with local people, especially school-going children, to sustain the partnership.
The theme for the 2023/2024 tree planting season is ‘Restoring degraded forest landscapes for livelihood security’.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Climate Change hopes that 34 million trees will be planted during the period.
