In Malawi, community-led reforestation enhances agriculture and climate resilience

Malawi is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to extreme weather, and climate change is exacerbating droughts, floods, cyclones and other natural disasters throughout the country. To help impoverished farming communities alleviate some of these impacts, Cornell researchers are collaborating with a network of academics, nongovernmental colleagues and communities in Malawi to strengthen forests.

Healthy forests can help mitigate extreme weather and improve agricultural production by slowing water movement, offering habitat for pollinators and pest-control species and providing diverse food resources.

A project led by Rachel Bezner Kerr, professor of global development in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and director of the Institute for African Development in the Einaudi Center for International Studies, sought to improve communities’ food security and climate change adaptation by enhancing forest and biodiversity conservation.

Working in collaboration with Malawian communities, an interdisciplinary team of geographers, ecologists, sociologists and a local nonprofit organization, the group assessed forest quality in 10 villages and designed action plans for forest restoration and conservation. The group established tree nurseries and planted approximately 25,000 trees, of which 59% have survived.

“I am hopeful that these efforts will support rural communities both in their food production and livelihoods but also in supporting resilience in the face of climate change,” Bezner Kerr said. “More broadly, I think that communities here in New York and beyond can learn from the research initiatives and findings in Malawi.”

“Developing indicators in a participatory way—whether forests or other aspects affected by climate change—that are meaningful to local communities and that draw on their local knowledge is important if we want to support them in addressing climate change and bolstering resilience in the face of climate change impacts,” Bezner Kerr added.

Bezner Kerr has for decades conducted participatory research with farmers, communities and Soils, Food, and Healthy Communities, a local nonprofit organization in Malawi. Daniel Kpienbaareh, formerly a postdoctoral researcher at Cornell and now an assistant professor at Illinois State University, was also a key researcher in the project.

Though tree-planting efforts are common, this kind of ground-up participatory program is less so. From its inception, Malawian communities identified the goals and ecological benefits that were most important to them. Communities also identified key factors that contributed to success in preserving newly planted trees, including construction of firebreaks, enforceable livestock control, and frequent monitoring, watering and weeding.

“It is extraordinary what you co-learn when you talk to local people about their relations with community forests in a participatory assessment,” Kpienbaareh said. “You understand that local communities are fully aware of the services they derive from local forests, what they are missing from the degradation of the forests, and what they genuinely think can restore the degraded forests.”

“More importantly, local communities are willing to commit time and resources to ensure that restoration efforts succeed. This explains the high survival rates of the trees that were planted,” Kpienbaareh added.

“For me, and I’m sure for all the members of the ‘forestry team’ that worked on this project, the cherry on the cake is just sharing the space with local people and walking with them in these forests that they cherish so much but have to exploit for various purposes.”

The local groups and communities involved in the project have continued their efforts, carrying out natural forest regeneration in 26 more villages, Bezner Kerr said.