7.1. IN SITU CONSERVATION
7.2. EX SITU CONSERVATION
As a way of conserving forest genetic resources, the Government of Malawi declared some species on Customary Land as protected species (Forestry Act, 1997). This includes Pterocarpus angolensis, Adina microcephala, Khaya anthotheca, Afzelia quanzensis, Dalbergia melanoxylon, Bridelia micatantha, Burkea africana, Colophospermum mopane, Terminalia sericea, Borassus aethiopum and Hyphene crinata. Quite a number of forests were also gazetted as protected forest reserves and these are managed for protection of water catchment areas, conservation of fauna and flora, protection of fragile areas like hillslopes, tourism and for provision of timber and other associated forest products for the benefit of the Nation.
Conservation measures for the indigenous forest resources in Malawi have steadily developed over the last century with the promulgation of regulations for their protection and management. Malawi has so far established 66 forest reserves in all regions of the country. These have been primarily been set up to protect water catchment areas and to conserve the soil particularly in environmentally unstable upland areas. Boundaries with any customary land are marked by firebreaks, anyone found venturing into any of these forest reserves collecting wood or non-wood forest materials without permission by the Forestry Department is liable to payment of a small fee. This protection, according to the law, also ensures the preservation of the gene resource for the future potential use and applies for indigenous forests on public and customary lands. The creation of forest reserves continues to be one of the Forestry Department main conservation efforts
However, in situ conservation has at times been faced with other problems that have turned out to be costly. For example, establishment of Pine plantation in the sixties and early seventies near natural stands of Widringtonia cuppressoides (Mulanje cedar) on top of Mulanje Mountain has created a serious problem. Pines are suppressing the latter. This has raised a very serious concern to the country as Mulanje Cedar is an important tree and is endemic to Mulanje Mountain. The government has come up with a project to eradicate these weeds (pines) in order to protect the cedar. Some efforts to conserve plus trees of Faidherbia albida were done by Forestry Research Institute of Malawi in various parts of the country whereby the selected trees were marked with paint for easy identification. But surprisingly enough this provoked the interest of many people who came and cut down all the marked trees. This was a major blow to conservation efforts and as such the focus has now changed to ex situ conservation as the only solution to this problem. These are examples of interventions that require some serious thoughts before any action is taken, as these may be counterproductive to our conservation efforts.
Ex situ conservation areas fall in two groups:
- The first group is that of all research plots (provenance, progeny trials species) which are eventually rouged out and converted to ex situ conservation areas for seed collection.Efforts are made by FRIM and the Department of Forestry to promote ex situ conservation of some important timber species by establishing seed sources of Khaya antotheca, Afzelia quanzensis and Pterocarpus angolensis. The people in various districts are also encouraged to plant a lot of indigenous tree species so as to replace trees that are being cut down.- The second group is where a seed stand is purposely established for seed collections. Some ex situ conservation areas have been established for economically important indigenous fruit trees to preserve their gene pool for future breeding programmes.
