Malawi:

The Shire Basin is the main source of Malawi’s electricity supply through the three hydro-electric power stations (HEP) located in the Middle Shire. Improving the reliability, quality and availability of this energy generation is central to any future economic development in Malawi and is a main aim of the MCC Compact with the Government of Malawi (GoM). Upstream environmental degradation within the Upper and Middle Shire River basin and increasing aquatic weed populations has an on-going detrimental impact on hydropower generation. This Environmental and Natural Resource Management Interventions sub-activity of the MCA-M programme is aimed specifically at tackling these negative impacts which are principally caused by the environmental degradation of the catchments of the middle and upper Shire, and, in the case of the aquatic weed infestation, populations of invasive non-native species. In short, this consultancy assignment is to assess, prioritise and plan:

• A set of land use management interventions for the middle Shire that will be delivered through a Trust mechanism and implemented by NGOs
• A programme of biological control of aquatic weeds that reduces populations and aids existing and planned physical control mechanisms in the upper Shire to be implemented by the Department of Fisheries through the Trust mechanism.

LTS is providing the following services:

• Overall management and administration of the environmental planning process
• Stakeholder and gender analysis
• Baseline assessment of social, economic and ecological drivers
• Economic assessment of the ecosystem
• GIS mapping and spatial analysis
• Biological control of invasive species
• Hydrological modelling
• Community based natural resources management
• Climate and vulnerability risk assessment

Image Credit: David Davies