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The
Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) is the
Government’s executing agency on all wildlife-related
matters. The Department has mandate to conserve, manage
and sustainably utilize wildlife resources.
It
manages five national parks, four wildlife reserves and three
nature sanctuaries. These areas, in total, account for
11.6% of the country’s land surface. However, wildlife
also exists on customary land, outside of protected areas.
The DNPW’s mandate, therefore, stretches to embrace all
wildlife wherever it occurs.
The
DNPW approaches its conservation and management
responsibilities through four main sections. These are:
Wildlife Administration, Wildlife Management, Wildlife
Extension and Education and Wildlife Research and Planning.
The
department is guided by Government
Policies
and Legislation
in the sector of
parks and wild life. The department is carrying out a
number of programs
in-order to achieve its mission and strategic
objectives. For
details on the department's achievements please visit the achievements.
Mission
Statement
"To
develop and promote the tourism sector, conserve and manage
wildlife resources as a national priority in a sustainable
manner, so that the sectors can significantly contribute to
the quality of life of the present and future generations of
Malawians".
Objective
"To
ensure proper conservation and management of wildlife
resources in order to provide for sustainable utilisation and
equitable access to the resources and fare sharing of benefits
for all Malawians".
The
department delivers its products through the following
functional areas:
Conservation
and Protection of Wildlife
The
Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) is
responsible for the conservation and management of wildlife
resources. The DNPW's activities are mainly concentrated in
national parks and wildlife reserves. It collaborates with
other stakeholders (local communities, the private sector,
NGOs) to manage resources on other land.
There
are five national parks and four wildlife reserves. These
are: Nyika NP (3,134 km2), Kasungu NP (2,316 km2),
Lake Malawi NP (94 km2), Liwonde NP (538 km2),
Lengwe NP (887 km2) and Vwaza Marsh WR (920 km2),
Nkhota-kota WR (1,800 km2), Majete WR (691 km2)
and Mwabvi WR (135 km2). The reasons for having
these areas are:
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To
preserve selected examples of Malawi's biotic
communities and their physical environments;
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To
protect areas of aesthetic beauty and of special
interest;
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To
preserve populations of rare, endangered and endemic
species of wild plants and animals;
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To
assist in maintaining water supply through catchment
conservation and thus to benefit agriculture in
adjoining land, and promote fish conservation and
fisheries management downstream.
In
order to achieve its objectives, the DNPW has four sections,
namely the Management Section, the Research and Planning
Section, the Education and Extension Section and the SADC
Wildlife Coordination Unit. The functions of these units are
as follows:
The
Management Section:
Law
enforcement to control illegal activities such as
poaching, and illegal trade of wildlife and wildlife
products;
Promote
wildlife utilisation and implement approaches such as
collaborative management which entails sharing of
benefits, accountability and decision making among
stakeholders, hunting as a sport and as a traditional
right where sustainability can be achieved;
The
Research and Planning Section;
Wildlife
conservation and management activities have to be based on
sound knowledge of the nature and interaction of wildlife
resources in order to maintain an ecological balance
within respective biotic communities as well as the
potential for sustainable use. Therefore the Section
identifies and carries out research to ensure better
understanding of the resource.
As
a planning unit, the section also functions to advise the
directorate and the park managers on the application of
the different plans from the different sections to ensure
that the objectives are being met.
The
Education and Extension Section:
Enhanced
public relations and extension are important in promoting
wildlife conservation and management issues, especially
since the value of the resource is not yet appreciated by
the society. The Section carries out public awareness
programmes through various channels.
On
going Projects
The
Department of Tourism, Parks and Wildlife is currently
undertaking tourism, and wildlife conservation projects
Tourism
Projects
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The
pilot cultural village project is to commence in 2002
and expected to handed over by December, 2002. The
cultural village, which is to depict the Yao heritage is
to be sited in Mpale Village, opposite Sun 'n' Sands
Hotel in Mangochi District. M.D. Initiative are the
chief archticets and supervisors of the project but the
local community and the whole District assembly are
responsible for the design of the structures.
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Under
the Institutional Support to the Private Sector Project,
that was funded by European Union, several studies were
successfully carried out by the consulting firm Maxwell
Stamp with Dr. James Kiddie as the team leader. These
studies, which were requested by the Ministry included a
Pre-feasibility study of five sites within the country
with tourism potential, Investment incentives for the
tourism sector, the classification and grading of
accommodation facilities and the creation of tourism
statistical database. The last study on the branding of
tourism product in the country is to commence early
2002. Enquiries on these studies can be made on tourism@malawi.net.
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The
Department of Tourism has submitted three projects
targeted at the local community to be considered for
funding by the Ministry of Finance under the HIPC
programme. The project proposals include the
construction of three more cultural villages, Training
of Tour guides in selected tourist hot spots and
construction of selling points for arts and crafts at
selected points within the country.
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A
project proposal on sexual and reproductive health,
HIV/AIDS, Gender Equality, Drug and Alcohol Abuse
amongst the workers in the Tourism and Travel sector has
been submitted to UNFPA for consideration The project is
targeted at all workers in the tourism sector on the
above named issues and is expected to change behaviour
and attitude of the target groups on such issues.
Wildlife
Conservation Projects
The
goal of most of the projects is to improve the conservation
and management of the protected areas. The current major
projects are as follows:
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The
Nyika-Vwaza Conservation Project is funded by the
Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KfW) of Germany. The
purpose of the project was to improve the protection and
utilisation of wildlife resources in the two protected
areas through provision and rehabilitation of
infrastructure (tourism facilities, staff housing, roads
and equipment) and assist with various management
activities. At the end of the project, some
infrastructure have been developed, including a
beautiful log cabin visitors' lodge in Nyika and a
tented camp at Vwaza. The revenue sharing scheme with
border zone communities has been introduced. The latter
has not lived to expectation because of low revenues
collected.
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The
Advisory Project to the DNPW is funded by GTZ (Germany).
The purpose of the project is 'to direct the DNPW
adequately and control protected areas'. The project
expects to strengthen the management and planning
capacities at DNPW Headquarters, review the wildlife
policy and legislation, promote collaborative management
capacity and to develop a management information system.
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The
Lower Shire Protected Areas Conservation Project is a
sub-component of the larger multi-sectoral Environmental
Management Project funded by the World Bank and
coordinated by the Environmental Affairs Department. The
Lower Shire Project is implemented in Lengwe National
Park, Majete and Mwabvi Wildlife Reserves. The purpose
of the project is to incorporate neighbouring
communities as collaborative managers of the three
areas. This is intended to minimise poaching and to
improve the people's appreciation of the areas. The
project also involves providing management equipment,
staff housing, research and extension. The project ends
in late 2002 and it is hoped that the collaborative
management process can be maintained thereafter.
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The
Lake Malawi National Park Conservation Project is
another sub-component of the Environmental Management
Project. The project has a similar purpose as the Lower
Shire Project. The national park is the only one in the
country that has enclave villages and collaborating with
them would play an important role their appreciation of
the area. The project has provided funding for the
formation of a village trust and for the study 100m zone
of lakeshore in the park, which is the area where
fishing is illegal.
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Lake
Malawi National Park was the first fresh water park
conserving a diversity of fish fauna in the world. It
was declared a World Heritage Site under the United
Nations Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in
1984. The park also has three national monuments and
these are: (i) the remains of the first Livingstonia
Mission and missionary graveyard founded in 1875 in
honour of Dr David Livingstone; (ii) a naturally
weathered rock bearing unusual criss-crossing markings
called 'Mwala wa Mphini'; and (iii) and the Otter Point,
s scenically beautiful outcrop for diverse fish species.
As a World Heritage Site the park has received some
support for management from UNESCO.
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A
project to establish a population of black rhinoceros in
Liwonde National Park began in 1993. The transfer has
been supported by the South African National Parks and
the 'J&B care for the rare' project. The rhino
became extinct in the country in the 1980s. A male and a
female rhino were introduced from Kruger National Park
in South Africa and another two were introduced in 1998
and two again, in 2000. Three calves have since been
reproduced in the park. The first calve born of the
first couple was taken to South Africa in exchange of
one of the two brought in 2000. One adult had since died
and presently the number is seven. This is a continuous
project requiring support.
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There
has been a Scout Training Project funded by the
Frankfurt Zoological Society of Germany since 1996. The
project has assisted the DNPW in training its new and
old scouts for law enforcement in the parks. The
training is conducted in Liwonde National Park and since
it began, the number of scouts has increased
significantly. The training ended in 2002
Although
the operating environment was difficult, characterized by
economic difficulties, staff losses, lack of equipment and
poor mobility; the DNPW was able to achieve the
following:
1.
Problem Animal Control – A total of 392
animals comprising buffalo,
hippo, hyena, crocodile, elephant and snakes were shot as
problem
animals and crop pests. Some of them made sensational
news, for
example, the Dedza beast. In general, hyenas were the
biggest
menace, attacking people in Lilongwe East (Chimutu),
Kasungu
(Santhe), Mchinji and other areas. The human/hyena problem
is
perennial, as two previous years we had the Dowa beast
and other
hyena attacks in Blantyre, Chikwawa and Ntcheu.
2.
Law Enforcement – 3392 snares, 417 gintraps
were removed from
all PAs; 24 muzzle loading guns, 33 phangas, 14
axes, 28 canoes
were confiscated and 816 arrests were made.
Patrol
achievement in all PAs stood
at 90%. 76 staff members were
trained in law enforcement, leadership skills,
appreciative enquiry
and use of geographical positioning system (GPS).
3.
Infrastructure – 60 km of roads graded in
Liwonde and 8 km in
Lengwe. 2 PWA houses constructed and 5 maintained in
Kasungu
National Park, one house rehabilitated in Lengwe and
several
materials purchased.
The Liwonde electric fence was extended by 25 km. The
total
area covered by the fence now is 110
km. However, a tract of
land about 60 km long remains to be fenced in the
north east of the
Park. The community here, at Malombe, is disgruntled
and agitating
to demonstrate against Government for crop
damage. Funds need
to be identified to complete the Liwonde Park boundary
fence.
4.
Translocation
– Some animals were relocated to repopulate Majete
Wildlife Reserve and private ranches. Kuti
Community Wildlife Ranch
(Salima) and Game Haven Ranch (Bvumbwe) were
beneficiaries.
4.
Ecotourism – One concession for Lifupa Lodge
was signed in
February 2005. T and B Wilderness Safaris are
the new operators for
Lifupa Lodge. Other wildlife lodges at Nyika,
Liwonde and Lengwe
continue to consolidate their operations. These
are now bringing
more revenue into the Government through taxes,
concession fees
and creation of jobs and markets for goods and
services. Golden
Sands at Cape Maclear was tendered for development.
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