WWF Ecoregion Conservation Programme LAKE MALAWI /NIASSA/NYASA ECOREGION Report on the Donors and Partners Meeting Compiled and Edited by Alaphia Wright Facilitator & Jonas Chafota WWF-SARPO Club Makokola 12-13 May, 2003
ANNEX A OPENING SPEECH MR GEORGE C MKONDIWA Secretary for Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs P Bag 350 Capital City Lilongwe 3 Malawi Tel: +265 789 488 Fax: +265 788 689 E-mail: gmkondiwa@malawi.net The Master of Ceremonies (The Director of Fisheries) Donors and Partners (WWF, SIDA, RAMSAR, FAO, US State Department) The Programme Officer for WWF-SARPO, Mr. Jonas Chafota Distinguished guests Ladies and gentlemen. I feel greatly honoured to be here this afternoon to officially open this meeting. I do not believe that I should make a long speech being mindful that the Donors and Partners are eager to present to us facts pertaining to their interest in supporting our efforts towards the Lake Malawi/Nyasa/Niassa Ecoregion Conservation Programme. Ladies and gentlemen, you may wish to note that about 1.6 million people from three riparian states, notably Malawi, Tanzania and Mozambique rely on Lake Malawi/Nyasa/Niassa fisheries resources as a major source of income and livelihoods. Besides, you are also aware that apart from providing habitat for fish, the lake system and its rivers provide water for domestic use, livestock, agriculture, hydropower generation and opportunities for transport and tourism development. 19
However, it is disheartening to learn that despite all these services, the ecological balance of the lake is in a severe jeopardy due to unsustainable management and utilisation of its natural resources. It is noticeable that the ecological imbalance being experienced at present is directly associated with three major factors. These are: Extraction of human livelihoods from the lake centered on destructive fishing. External inputs into the lake generated by human activities on the shores or catchment areas of the lake. Unsustainable agriculture practices As riparian countries which depend on this lake, it is very important to ensure that all the necessary tenets that go with Natural Resource Management (NRM) are clearly understood. This will ensure that we do not put the livelihoods of our people, as well as future generations, to threats such as depletion of fishery resources as well as degradation of the environment and water resources. Ladies and Gentlemen, it is pleasing to note that the WWF Ecoregion approach intends to harmonise donors disjointed approaches that have resulted into duplication of efforts and waste of limited human and financial resources in the implementation of programmes on Lake Malawi/Nyasa/Niassa Conservation. Indeed as members of SADC and the African Union, the need to share knowledge and ideas among ourselves cannot be overemphasized if we have to harmonise our approaches in dealing with NRM issues. In this respect, I wish to urge you to discuss and deliberate in an open, transparent and constructive manner. The ongoing activities and donor/partner interests should be critically reviewed and assessed; areas of collaboration and committed resources by each donor, need to be identified and agreed upon. Most importantly the Lake Basin Convention (FAO) Document on Trilateral Collaboration should be reviewed and discussed at length if the three riparian countries are to succeed in jointly implementing the Eco-region Programme. 20
In this regard, my hope is that this forum will provide an intense cross-fertilization of ideas between the donors and partners gathered here, most especially on joint financial and human resource support mechanisms. At this juncture, I wish to recognize the World Wide Fund for Nature-Southern Africa Programme Office (WWF-SARPO) initiative for coming up with this idea of convening an international meeting to discuss and map out a common approach on the conservation of the Lake Malawi/Nyasa/Niassa and its catchment resources. Let me also give special recognition to the presence of WWF-SARPO Programme Officer, Mr. Jonas Chafota who has been instrumental in facilitating the inception of the NRM pilot project capacity and improvement of human livelihoods in Malawi. The pilot project is about to kick off very soon in the three Malawi Lakeshore districts of Salima, Nkhotakota and Mangochi. I am convinced that lessons from the pilot project will be used as baseline for extending similar approaches to Tanzania and Mozambique. Once again, allow me to register my sincere gratitude to all the donors and partners for putting aside their precious time to prepare materials for today s presentations and of course all participants in this room for coming to attend the meeting. There is a saying that goes it takes two hands to clap and when these hands belong to giants like multinational donors/partners and high profile WWF, the result could be a thunderclap. Precisely such a blast is what is expected from this meeting, as resolutions will be far-reaching and pragmatic. At this point in time, it is my privilege to declare the meeting officially open. 21
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