In an interview with Zodiak Online on Sunday, Acting Director of Environment and Natural Resources at Thyolo District Council Mirriam Yona said forest landscapes in the district have been heavily degraded and she said this is the reason Thyolo is undoubtedly one of the hotspots of natural disasters.

She said a lot of environmental conservation activities need to be done before the worst comes to the worst.

“As a council, we have activities like the climate smart public works programme where farmers are encouraged to plant trees in all bare lands and take care of natural regenerations; we are also collaborating with schools and churches in tree planting exercises, and we are working with organizations like the Self Help Africa (SHA) who are promoting use of energy-saver cooking stoves in the district,” said Yona.

SHA Project Manager responsible for Commercialization of Clean Cooking Technologies Patrick Banda told Zodiak Online that there is a reduction of 50% of firewood used on energy-saver stoves (chitetezo mbaula) in comparison to the ordinary three-stone open fireplace.

He also talked about chipolopolo stoves, which use pellets from the shells of groundnuts, saying with these stoves, they are targeting urban residents to stop using unsustainable charcoal.

“We have been raising awareness on the use of both chitetezo mbaula and chipolopolo mbaula through radio programmes and adverts, road shows and sporting activities,” said Banda.

In the past two weeks, Thyolo District Council in partnership with Self Help Africa, organized a K5.5 million football tournament aimed at raising awareness on clean cooking technologies and the finals were played on Sunday.

Nchima football team won the tournament after beating Raffik Academy 4-0 and the team went away with K150, 000 cash.

According to Thyolo District Sports Officer Olga Mlambe, the tournament has helped to identify hidden football talent in rural communities.

SHA is implementing a similar project in Mulanje, Phalombe, Blantyre and Balaka with financial support from Energizing Development.