By Salome Gangire

Neno, February 14, Mana: Neno District Council on Thursday launched district forestry season and will plant 700,000 trees across the district, District Forestry Officer, Erick Mbingwani disclosed on Thursday.

During the launch at Chipindu Primary School in Senior Chief Mlauli’s area, Mbingwani said tree planting was an important initiative in restoring degraded landscapes on top of mitigating effects of climate change.

“The 700,000 trees will be planted by the council and its partners across the district,” the District Forestry Officer added and reminded participants that planting trees was not enough.

Mbingwani therefore called all participating partners to take good care of the tree seedlings to ensure trees survive at a good rate.

He said the forestry office will provide all necessary technical guidance on proper tree planting and care to promote sustainable forest management.

“These practices include good nursery management, preventing wildfires from destroying trees and encouraging community-led environmental conservation,” he added.

Mbingwani also expressed gratitude to ESCOM for donating 16,000 tree seedlings to support the 2014/2025 district-level planting.

In the 2023/2024 Forestry Season, Neno District planned to plant 700,000 trees but only planted 521,732 tree seedlings.

The district recorded a 78 per cent survival rate out of the planted trees as a result of prolonged drought.

According to the Forestry Office, the district failed to meet the target because farmers raised the tree in the 2023/2024 season a bit late and were advised to keep remaining tree seedlings for the current 2024/2025 season.

Neno District Council, Chairperson, Councilor, Joseph Chiphaliwali raised concerns over deforestation, charcoal production and illegal logging in forest reserves, saying these malpractices continue to deplete the district’s forests, leading to land degradation.

“The district continues to experience rapid deforestation due to charcoal production. This leads to worsening climate change effects,” he said.

Chiphaliwali therefore urged communities to consider the use of alternative sources of energy and further called on authorities to enforce laws that should protect forests in the districts and other forms of environmental degradation.

The council chairperson said the success of this law enforcement will depends on active community participation.

“Planting trees and promoting sustainable land management will benefit communities in Neno. In so doing, communities will benefit from improved soil fertility, increased agricultural production, and better water conservation, said Chiphaliwali.

He further called upon local leaders, school management committees, community-level development structures and individuals to take part in the forestry season, tasking each individual in the district to plant at least one tree as a contribution to the success of the campaign.

Senior Chief Mlauli commended Neno District Council. ESCOM, Evangelical Association of Malawi, and other partners for their commitment towards environmental conservation.

He also said village-level forestry bylaws will be strictly enforced to protect newly planted trees and prevent further deforestation as the district promotes tree regeneration as cost cost-effective way of restoring degraded areas.

This year’s Forestry Season is being held under the theme: Restoring Forests and Land to Secure Food Production.