Lake Malawi National Park

There has been a tense relationship between park management and enclave villages since the park’s inception in 1984 due primarily to the park’s restrictions on the use of natural resources, including woodlands, terrestrial game, and the protected 100-meter zone within the lake. In the Chembe Village region this tension has been ameliorated to some degree by the increased tourism in the village, which has grown the local tourism economy. In addition, the relationship between park management and enclave villages has been improved somewhat through the creation of Village Natural Resource Committees (VNRCs), which are coordinated under the Mangochi Salima Lake Park Association (MASALAPA). These committees serve as a liaison between park management and enclave residents, facilitating outreach and education (Bootsma, 2018). They also serve as a mechanism for a portion of park revenue to be allocated to villages in and around the park, which has led to a more favorable impression of the park. With the revenue-sharing scheme local communities get 25% of the revenue collected in the park for their social development programmes (IUCN Consultation, 2024). There is also a signed agreement between the Department of Parks and Wildlife with local communities around the park for the collaborative management of the park (IUCN Consultation, 2024). However, illegal wood cutting, poaching, and fishing continue to occur in the park, and population growth in the villages has increased the demand for land to build houses (State Party of Malawi, 2024).

The policy and legislative framework is strong, as laid out in Section 2 of the 2014 monitoring mission (UNESCO and IUCN, 2014) and in the Lake Malawi National Park Management Plan (State Party Report, 2020). There is an overarching statute, i.e. the Environmental Management Act of 1996 and the National Parks and Wildlife Act, which was reviewed in 2017, and is the framework under which anyone illegally collecting resources within the site will be fined.

While the Malawi Department of National Parks and Wildlife and the Malawi Forestry Department manage large terrestrial ecosystems, the primary agency responsible for the management of Lake Malawi is the Fisheries Department. Cooperation among the three riparian nations (Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique) is facilitated through the SADC Protocol on Shared Water Courses, and the Zambezi Water Commission (ZAMCOM). However, even at the national level the management of natural resources is highly fragmented, with minimal coordination among sectors and uncertainty about responsibilities that is due in part to confusion related to the government decentralization process (Kamoto, 2014; Ngochera et al., 2018).

There is still a lack of integration of biodiversity in general into regional and national planning systems. The fish and fisheries of Lake Malawi are vital natural resources for the countries around the lake. The lack of integration is highlighted in Malawi’s National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan II (2015 – 2025), which states that: “Despite their economic, social and environmental importance, biodiversity and its ecosystem services are poorly understood and undervalued. It is important that relevant sectors are aware of the value of biodiversity so that they are fully engaged to ensure protection, conservation and restoration of biodiversity. Mainstreaming biodiversity conservation and its value into sectoral policies and accounting systems will improve the management of biodiversity in Malawi.” The plan has a very modest target, in that: “By 2025, biodiversity values are integrated into national, sectoral and local development policies and plans.”

Satellite imagery shows that the terrestrial boundaries are relatively well- defined, however there are reports of encroachment in some areas (IUCN Consultation, 2024). The aquatic boundaries are ignored by fishers. Some aquatic boundary markers were placed in the lake around the park, but almost all have been lost due to rough lake conditions and vandalism (IUCN Consultation, 2024). Previous deployment of anti-netting devices by conservation groups provoked a strong backlash from fishers, due to damage of their fishing gear (Konings, 2017). If the location of these devices is clearly indicated with surface markers, this may result in less gear damage and better compliance with fishing restrictions. With support from the World Heritage Centre / IUCN, there has been increased marking of the terrestrial boundary in the past 3 years (State Party of Malawi, 2024). The WH Committee has requested the State Party, in consultation with Mozambique and Tanzania, to examine the feasibility of establishing a buffer zone and extending the property's boundary to strengthen its integrity (WH Committee, 2018). In 2019 an IUCN led workshop on prioritizing conservation action for freshwater biodiversity in the Lake Malawi catchment, conducted in collaboration with various Ministries of Malawi, led to the identification of 18 new Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) in the catchment, located in and surrounding the WH site (Sayer et al., 2019). These KBAs provide additional information towards addressing the Committee decision to extend the WH site boundaries to incorporate additional important conservation areas (UNESCO, 2018).

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The Lake Malawi National Park Mission Report (UNESCO, 2023) made several recommendations including regarding boundary demarcation, establishment of protection zones, development of alternative livelihood options, strengthening park capacity, conducting appropriate EIAs prior to developments, mitigating damage from the water supply plant, promotion of sustainable tourism, enhancing monitoring and potentially exploring a boundary extension with Malawi.

The State Party has made progress on some recommendations. Aquatic boundary markers were placed around most of the property, and most of the park boundaries around the enclave villages are well marked. Unfortunately, rough lake conditions and vandalism have resulted in the loss of most of the aquatic boundary markers. An assessment of social-economic needs was conducted in the enclave village to guide the development of livelihood alternative strategies. Law enforcement has been enhanced with equipment purchased with support from UNESCO (through RIPPLE Africa), the African Development Bank, and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Training in natural resource management and research has been done in collaboration with JICA and the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR). EIA's have been submitted for several projects, but the construction of a water supply plant within the park boundary was initiated without a proper ESIA. The draft ESIA was not prepared in accordance with the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, and not submitted to the World Heritage Centre for review in a timely manner. Monitoring of both the terrestrial and aquatic sites adjacent to the water supply plant is being conducted, partly in collaboration with the Fisheries Department. A permanent ranger shelter was constructed nearby, to reduce poaching. Trees have been planted to reduce soil erosion and runoff. Regarding sustainable tourism, the site has been advertised nationally through radio, television, and newspapers. Local tour guides have been trained in interpretation by Malawi School of Tourism. A new park entrance gate has been constructed and the Environmental Education Centre has been partially renovated. Some fish monitoring is conducted with the Malawi Fisheries Department, but more is needed. This is limited in part by human capacity. New equipment has allowed for improved monitoring and law enforcement in both the terrestrial and aquatic portions of the park. Lake-wide monitoring is done to some degree by the Fisheries Department, but not by the Department of National Parks and Wildlife. The park management plan has been revised, and it now includes a fish monitoring protocol. Oil exploration concessions have ended and there appear to be no imminent plans for further exploration.

There has been some monitoring of water quality and fish in collaboration with the Fisheries Department near the Nkhudzi Hills following the construction of the water supply plant there. It was recommended by UNESCO (2018) that the State Party develop a strategy to address the issue of population growth in the enclave villages. This is addressed to some degree in the Nankumba Peninsula Strategic Plan, which is summarized in the Lake Malawi National Park Management Plan. This Plan proposes intensive and medium development sub-zones in areas adjacent to the park. However, the fact that population growth in the park villages has been more rapid than that in Monkey Bay (the largest town adjacent to the park) raises doubts as to whether this plan is being successfully implemented. It was also recommended that the State Party consider the feasibility of establishing buffer zones and extending the boundaries around the property. The State Party has indicated that this would be difficult considering the population growth in the area and the heavy reliance of local communities on fishing as a source of food and income. Rather, the State Party’s response has been to promote increased community participation in the development and implementation of management strategies through the establishment of Beach Village Committees and Village Natural Resource Committees (State Party of Malawi, 2024).

While there is some monitoring of Lake Malawi and its response to continuing climate change, primarily by the Malawi Department of Fisheries (Chavula et al., 2023), there are no protection / management activities in Lake Malawi National Park that specifically address climate change.

Park management is organised around four management sections responsible for (a) conservation management (b) research and monitoring (c) education and extension and (d) administration. The park’s initial management plan was developed in 1980, and has gone through numerous revisions since then, although not all of these revisions were implemented. This plan was revised in 2018 with support from UNESCO (Bootsma, 2018). The plan includes a Fish Monitoring Protocol, which was developed in collaboration with the Malawi Fisheries Department. The Management Plan expired in 2024, and is due for review in 2025 (IUCN Consultation, 2024).

Enforcement is carried out through the collaboration of park staff, local communities, and the private sector (e.g. Kayak Africa, which operates tourist concessions on two of the park’s islands provide information of illegal activities). Enforcement is hampered by limited staff, equipment, and funds (Bootsma, 2018), although purchase of boats, vehicles and field equipment in the past 4 years has improved law enforcement capacity (State Party of Malawi, 2024). Enforcement of park and fisheries regulations remains modest (UNESCO and IUCN, 2014; Bootsma, 2018), due in part to insufficient financial resources (State Party of Malawi, 2024). Park staff have training in terrestrial ecosystems and have minimal or no training in fish taxonomy / ecology and aquatic resource management. Compliance with regulations has been improved to some degree through education facilitated by the Village Natural Resource Committees, as well as a business partnership between Kayak Africa and the Chembe Trust (now the Village Natural Resources Committee, which forms an umbrella body called the Mangochi Salima Lake Park Association), which has increased the willingness of Chembe Village leaders to help regulate fishing around Cape Maclear and Mumbo Island. Support from UNESCO (through RIPPLE Africa) and JICA has allowed for training that has led to to improved law-enforcement by Beach Village Committees and Village Natural Resource Committees (State Party of Malawi, 2024).

Lack of finance is a serious concern, affecting management effectiveness. The park and its surrounding communities are benefiting from the income generated by tourist concessions, such as Kayak Africa and Blue Zebra Lodges. However, there is evidence that the increased income from tourist concessions is to some extent offset by reduced allocations from the national treasury (Bootsma, 2018; State Party of Malawi, 2024). Park income from tourism would likely benefit substantially from the development and promotion of facilities at the Golden Sands Holiday Camp so long as it does not have any impacts of the OUV of the property, demonstrated through an EIA. The park has benefited significantly in the past 4 years from financial support from UNESCO, JICA, USAID, the African World Heritage Fund, the African Development Bank (AfDB), and the World Bank through MWASIP Project (IUCN Consultation, 2024).

Management staff are well-motivated but their training is largely terrestrial and thus aquatic ecology knowledge is lacking. Specific skill sets in which further training is required include fish taxonomy and ecology, SCUBA certification, and aquatic ecology / limnology (Bootsma, 2018). These needs are being remedied to some degree through collaboration with the Malawi Fisheries Department and the University of Malawi (State Party of Malawi, 2024). However, even the Fisheries Department has limited expertise in the area of mbuna taxonomy. There also continues to be a need for training in management skills (Ripple Africa, 2020). Recent training initiatives include the training of one park officer in a MSc program in natural resources management, training of local tour guides by the Malawi School of Tourism and training of park staff in integrated natural resources management, supported by JICA (State Party of Malawi, 2024).

The environmental education programme in the GEF/SADC Lake Malawi/Nyasa Biodiversity Conservation Project had an environmental education component that trained 22 people from the three countries that border the lake, but none of these trainees have been retained in Lake Malawi National Park (Bootsma, 2018). An Environmental Education Centre with aquaria, meeting rooms, a display building, and rondavels for accommodation, was constructed at the Golden Sands site in the early 1990s. It was rehabilitated in 1998 with support from the GEF/SADC Lake Malawi/Nyasa Biodiversity Conservation Project. Between then and 2018 it fell into disrepair (Bootsma, 2018). With support from the African Development Bank the facility was recently renovated (State Party of Malawi, 2024), but the rondavels remain unusable and equipment needs to be installed in the aqaurium and information room (IUCN Consultation, 2024). Public awareness of the park and its mandate has been increased through outreach programs using various media, including television, local radio, and direct interaction with local schools (State Party of Malawi, 2024).

Small eco-lodges on the islands in the park appear to be well-managed and beneficial to the park on the whole, as their presence inhibits (but does not eliminate) illegal activities, they provide income to the park, and employment opportunities for local communities. The large-scale, low-end tourism along the Chembe Village beach has both positive and negative impacts. The sector has impacted the lifestyle of the Indigenous Chembe community and led to an influx of people from outside seeking employment and servicing the tourists. It has also led to unregulated access to the park (Bootsma, 2018). At the same time, the park benefits from some of this tourism, as tour facility operators are required to charge clients park admission fees. The Golden Sands site has great capacity for hosting tourists and has been a focal point of tourism within the park in the past. Aesthetics have been slightly improved by the recent construction of an entrance gate at the site (State Party of Malawi, 2024), but it currently remains run down and almost completely unused. The possibility of having the Golden Sands site managed through concession to a private operator has been considered numerous times since the park’s inception. This goal has not yet been achieved and the site remain derelict (Bootsma, 2018; UNESCO, 2023). According to a State Party Report (2020), the African Development Bank is funding an assessment of the site for the construction of improved tourist facilities. Tour guides are now registered with Tourism department and have been receiving training and the Park has been monitoring the payment of park entry fees collected by tour guides (IUCN Consultation, 2025).

The park’s terrestrial resources are over-utilized, resulting in the loss of trees and alteration of woodland composition, with fire-resistant species becoming dominant in many areas (Abbot and Mace, 1999; UNESCO, 2023). Deforestation also accelerates soil erosion, which in turn has a negative effect on nearshore water quality. There is a permitting system for the collection of wood within the park, but it is easily circumvented (Bootsma, 2018). Collection of fish within park waters by the aquarium fish trade is not permitted in the site and is considered illegal according to the Wildlife Act of 2004, revised in 2009 and 2017. Park management is currently developing Resource Use Guidelines with support from JICA, which was guided in part by a dead wood survey conducted in collaboration with local communities (State Party of Malawi, 2024). There is little data to determine the impact of local fisheries on fish abundance and diversity within park waters. However, there is some evidence to suggest that diversity has declined since park inception (Kanyumba et al., 2012), and there is strong evidence of local depletion of abundance and diversity of fish in some parts of the Lake Malawi (Chirwa et al., 2023; UNESCO 2023).

Some monitoring of terrestrial resources is carried out through regular patrols by park rangers. This could be improved through the use of historical satellite imagery as well as the use of aerial drones to conduct synoptic surveys (Ripple Africa, 2020). Terrestrial monitoring has recently been improved thanks to the acquisition of vehicles / boats and field equipment, with support from the African Development Bank (State Party of Malawi, 2024). Of greater concern is the lack of monitoring of aquatic resources. The only data with which to assess long-term trends of fish within park waters is that from several short-term, localized studies (Trendall, 1988; Rusuwa et al., 2006; Kanyumba et al., 2012) and the recent Ripple Africa study report of 2022 (Rusuwa and Zatha, 2022), which can provide site-specific comparisons with the baseline data collected by Ribbink et al. (1983). There has also been on-going fish monitoring on abundance and diversity around Nkhudzi hill (Monkey-Bay Capture Fisheries Centre and Lake Malawi National Park reports of 2022 and 2023).

In addition to further fish monitoring, there is a critical need to monitor nearshore water quality, as this serves as an integrative measure of changes within the watershed, and has a direct effect on fish diversity (e.g. Seehausen et al., 1997). The establishment of a nearshore water quality monitoring program was a key recommendation that came out of the Lake Malawi/Nyasa Biodiversity Conservation Project (Bootsma and Hecky, 1999), due to the recognition that sediment and nutrient loads to Lake Malawi have been increasing (Hecky et al., 2003). This need is underscored by the fact that there have been several major whole-lake fish kills that have occurred since 1999 (1999, 2005, 2010, and 2014). There are several potential causes of these large-scale kills, including toxic algae and the upwelling of anoxic, sulphide-rich water following periods of high winds, but the cause remains open to speculation because there is no monitoring data that might be used to determine the conditions in the lake at the time of these kills. The park, in collaboration with the Malawi Fisheries Department, has developed a fish monitoring protocol. While some equipment has been procured for this purpose, a critical impediment remains the training of park staff in the areas of fish taxonomy, fish ecology, and limnology. Park staff have the capacity (with support from the Fisheries Department) to monitor fish catches in the enclave villages, with the primary purpose of ensuring that the mbuna are not being illegally exploited in park waters, but there remains a need for training in fish identification and fisheries bylaws (Ripple Africa, 2020).

In the past, high quality research has been conducted in the park into a wide range of aquatic topics and a very large body of scientific literature is available. Much of this research has been driven by outside interests, particularly evolutionary biologists attracted by the globally important cichlid species flock. However, it is encouraging to note that the capacity for aquatic research within Malawi has grown, primarily within the university system and the Fisheries Department. The Department of National Parks and Wildlife has been supportive of this research, and the provision of scuba equipment along with the construction of accommodation facilities for visiting scientists adjacent to the Environmental Education Centre has helped to facilitate research within the park. However, the park’s ability to capitalize on research results and to conduct its own research, especially in the aquatic environment has been hampered by the limited scientific expertise among the park staff (Bootsma, 2018). Recent research to quantify the availability of dead wood for harvesting in the park has been conducted in collaboration with JICA (State Party of Malawi, 2024).

Large scale threats to the site that originate beyond its boundaries include oil exploration / extraction, over-fishing, deteriorating water quality due to nutrient and sediment loads, climate change, and increasing population density and resource use in close proximity to the park (State Party of Malawi, 2024). Most of these threats need to be addressed at the Lake Malawi watershed scale, and require multi-sector, international collaboration. While the Malawi Department of National Parks and Wildlife and the Malawi Forestry Department manage large terrestrial ecosystems, the primary agency responsible for the management of Lake Malawi is the Fisheries Department. Cooperation among the three riparian nations (Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique) is facilitated through the SADC Protocol on Shared Water Courses, and the Zambezi Water Commission (ZAMCOM). However, even at the national level the management of natural resources is highly fragmented, with minimal coordination among sectors and uncertainty about responsibilities that is due in part to confusion related to the government decentralization process (Kamoto, 2014; Ngochera et al., 2018). The continued development of tourist lodges and cottages along the lakeshore within close proximity to the park remain a concern (UNESCO, 2023; State Party of Malawi, 2024). Likewise, continued deforestation outside the park (UNESCO, 2023) will result in increased pressure on woodland resources within the park. The State Party is addressing some of these concerns in the immediate vicinity of the park by conducting education campaigns in the local villages (State Party of Malawi, 2023).

The park has a comprehensive management plan which is due to be reviewed in 2025 (State Party of Malawi, 2024). With regard to terrestrial resources, park staff have the expertise to implement this plan. The primary challenges are financial resources, adequate staff, the park's close proximity to enclave villages and dense human populations immediately south of the Nankumba Peninsula (with no buffer zones), and the geographically fragmented nature of the park. Hence deforestation, which is accompanied by the loss of terrestrial animals, continues to be a major challenge (Bootsma, 2018; UNESCO, 2023). Management of the park's aquatic resources, primarily the diverse nearshore fish community, is a greater challenge due to several factors: 1) Limited expertise in aquatic ecology and fish species identification; 2) Pervasive illegal fishing (Bootsma, 2018; UNESCO, 2023; Chirwa et al., 2023); 3) The creation of threats inside the site by conditions in the lake as a whole, especially with regard to water quality. Fortunately, commercial and artisanal fisheries generally do not target the assemblages of small species that dominate within the park's nearshore waters, so that the limited ability to manage the nearshore ecosystem does not appear to have resulted in drastic losses of diversity (Kanyumba et al., 2012; Msukwa and Jere, 2025). Recent efforts to improve management of both the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in the park include formal training in natural resource management (MSc training of one park staff supported by JICA), and training of local tour guides by the Malawi School of Tourism.