Becoming one again, nature and man

Not very long ago, wildlife simply meant nobody’s property- the natural trees were free, game meat free, every product from the bushes free- a manifestation of that long-held prejudice of people that there is nothing ‘human’ about being in the wild.
The fences around the national parks, game reserves and nature sanctuaries; they are all meant to deter communities around these areas from getting a part of their inheritance. That’s what people in the area of Traditional Authority (T/A) Ng’ambi in Machinga, the abode district of Liwonde National Park, and others like T/A Mgabu thought at first.
They now believe otherwise, that wild life is for us and posterity. That the fences are meant to contain problem-animals from wrecking havoc among human beings and not otherwise. That, perhaps, in the early 1900s, our ancestors might have been rattled by current events and the unbeatable logic of despair among animals and had to go out in the woods for a while and think about the consequences of depleting natural resources faster than they could be replaced.
For 74 year old Ali Zalimu, there never, at first, was a story told to his children without mentioning wildlife- it was either about the cunningness of Kalulu the hair, the unscrupulous behaviour of nocturnal fisi (hyena), the courage of the chameleon as to win a coveted marathon against the likes of cheetah and lion, and the beauty of the countryside. But, as early as 1980, he began to tell stories that begun with the end, a sure sign of dreadful fascination with doom and demise, his faith in imminent extinction of the once beautiful wildlife getting stronger.
Zalimu is one of the people who, once or twice a year, flocks into the national park to harvest mushrooms as his wife, Miriam, collects firewood.
“We are always happy to come into the (national park) park and get firewood that, often, keeps us going for three weeks or a month- a thing we do periodically when wildlife officials see it fit,” he says.
His once lost his best friend to a marauding lion when he (the friend) went poaching on May 17, 1991.
“But things have significantly changed today that there are reduced cases of poaching and abuse of resources in protected areas; communities surrounding these areas are increasingly becoming aware that the fences, sometimes barbed, around national parks, nature sanctuaries and game reserves are not meant to deter from visiting these places. These are to deter problem animals that wreck havoc in communities from getting out of the protected areas,” attests Alick Prescott Makanjira, senior assistant Parks and Wildlife Officer in the Department of Parks and Wildlife, South. The department is now divided into four: administration, research, wild life management and wildlife education and extension.
It hasn’t been easy, though, as he observes. Some villagers have a negative attitude that hinges mainly on memories of domestic animals that might have been killed by the problem animals- these are hyenas, elephants, lions and other predators.
“We have also come around this problem through Collaborative Wildlife Management. Through this initiative, natural resources are managed alongside villagers around Majete Wildlife reserve, Mwabvi Wildlife reserve, Lengwe National Park and Michiru Nature Sanctuary. These areas fall within the four divisions, says Majanjira”.
That is why, for instance, the Nyika/Vwaza project helped, national park officials to work together with community members. Schools built for these communities still stand today, tidy and strong- a living manifestation of how deep unity of purpose can dig.
For people around Michiru Nature Sanctuary, this sort of unity has a shape and taste. It comes in the form of a mushroom, which they are allowed to harvest after maturity. The taste is thus that of mushroom. Officials say this has been of tremendous benefits, as people no longer fell live wood, waiting to harvest dead wood at the right time. Meanwhile, they get an occasional reward of thatched grass.
“This reward doesn’t come from parks, game reserve or nature sanctuary officials; it comes from nature itself, every year- we just orchestrate accessibility to these resources at the right time,” he said.
A question of a little late, but not too late. Malawi used to have that fastest running animal in the world, the cheetah, in Kasungu National Park. No more. Wild dogs (mimbulu); no more.
It pains the likes of Makanjira that, while Malawi could dig the ground only for fossils of these animals once part of the warm-heartedness that is us, just in Zambia you will get them. Yet, Zambians and Malawians call themselves brothers and sisters; their father and mother being that border line in Mchinji.
But some members of the community don’t see gloom in this but continue to undo the prospects of their own posterity. Though positive strides have been made to curve around the problem of abuse of natural resources, indigenous trees remain one of the most abused, according to Daulosi Mauambeta, Wildlife and Environmental Society of Malawi (Wesm) executive director.
This abuse has a name, and a tag: Charcoal trade. Mauambeta finds it shocking that this form of trade has a well established cost structure, but no action is taken to control it as one way of promoting sustainable management of natural resources. With his finger, he points to Lilongwe. Retailers there enjoy 33 per cent of the production costs, private taxes eat 12 per cent through, market fee 3 per cent, transport 25 per cent, labour 6 per cent and the producer gets 41 per cent from the sales.
Blantyre’s charcoal sales cost structure is like: the retailer (the last seller, who packs charcoal in small plastic bags) gets 24 per cent, private taxes 20 per cent, market fee 3 per cent, transport 20 per cent and producer 33 per cent.
In both cases, the producer- who is often the destroyer of trees- gets the large chunk of money.
“Buying charcoal means encouraging such people,” said Mauambeta.
Blantyre District Forestry Officer, Geoffrey Kanyelele, not agrees, but offers remedies. People in cities are encouraging this sort of behaviour by buying these products.
But because electricity tariffs are so high for the average citizen, because only 6 per cent of the country’s population is connected to electricity and the rest lives in darkness, these people must grow trees as well.
Kanyelele says most people in urban areas shun away from planting trees. The reason, he adds, is that some people simply never want to do something- like plant a tree- that will benefit someone else.
“That spirit is killing our forests. However, my office is happy that, in Blantyre, for instance, people come to realize the importance of replacing trees. It doesn’t matter whether a tree has been felled in Mwanza or Neno, you can plant one (tree) wherever you are. Surely, that tree will have an impact,” he said.
The reason, perhaps, is that Blantyre residents have already planted 2 million trees half way though the Tree Planting season. He is so sure that by April 15, official closing date for the exercise, which started on December 15 and was officially opened by president Bingu wa Mutharika.
“We are coming closer to natural resources again, like trees. Soon we this problem will be behind us; because we all took part when we realized our common predicament. It’s time to own up to the fact that we all contributed to this (environmental degradation), so we must act. Together,” said Kanyelele.