Home to iconic wildlife, miombo forests - a vast ecosystem covering close to 2.7 million km2 across southern Africa and sustaining the livelihoods of more than 100 million rural poor and 50 million urban people - provide fuel, food, medicinal plants and fodder for livestock. Working with local communities, government and businesses, we are creating community forests, supporting farming families and regenerating reserves in these precious forests.
Dry, low-density miombo forests form a vast belt across southern Africa. They are often "forgotten" in the sense that they do not appear in the global discourse on climate change or biodiversity. Although large parts are still relatively intact, millions of hectares were lost in the last few decades, mainly due to shifting cultivation and energy production: about 70% of energy consumed in Southern Africa is in the form of fuelwood or charcoal.
The potential for reducing deforestation in miombo forests requires strengthening forest governance, development of alternative sustainable income sources, and shifting to cleaner fuel sources. With a legal entity in Ndola in the Zambian Copperbelt, we now have over 40 people delivering our forest and landscape restoration projects focusing on farm and community forest management, agroforestry development, and alternative livelihood options to reduce pressure on miombo woodlands.
The potential for forest restoration and agroforestry is high; we aim to stop miombo forest degradation by promoting forest-friendly livelihoods and sustainable fuelwood solutions, restoring 60 000 hectares across Zambia and Malawi by 2030. More than 32 000 ha of miombo has already been brought under sustainable forest management and 800 ha of agroforestry has been implemented.
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