By Mary Makhiringa

Balaka November 19, Mana: Community members around Chimpakati in Balaka pledged to commit themselves to restoring the environment under Climate Smart Enhanced Public Works Programme (CS-EPWP).

Visiting the area, one can easily see the urgent need for restoring the environment for vegetative cover after deforestation and the need to improve soil fertility as the landscape is largely barren and dry making it vulnerable to natural disasters due to irresponsible human activity.

Speaking on Monday during a media tour, Hilda Andrew, from Namikombe Village and a member of the Catchment Management Committee (CMC), said her community has faced numerous challenges in recent years, including food shortages.

“We were introduced to the programme four years ago through a pilot project, and during that period, we managed to establish several forests, and built features like swales, which have had a significant and positive impact in our area.

“This year, we aim to plant 10,000 trees. As of now, we already have 7,976 seedlings ready to be planted as soon as the rains begin and we hope to expand the forests in this area,” she added.

According to Andrew, the community plans to plant trees that will help to improve soil fertility in their fields, saying over the years, the area has experienced destructive runoff and excessive soil erosion at the expense of food crop production at the household level.

Dyson Donald, another community member, said that communities identified four key areas for reforestation.

“We have witnessed the importance of conserving the environment,” he added, citing a forest that took four years to offer vegetative cover thereby testifying significance of agroforestry.

“In addition, we can harvest honey from the beehives we put in the forest,” according to Donald.

Grive Sanjula who is also Group Village Headman Chimpakati disclosed that local leaders have made a strong commitment to continue conserving the environment by planting more trees.

“At first, we were skeptical about the effectiveness of the project. We now see tangible benefits and we have fully embraced it,

“We are not only working and being economically empowered, but we are also transforming our area. It feels like we are being rewarded for working on projects that directly benefit us, which is a rare and valuable opportunity,” he said.