Malawi Deforestation

With flooding happening in many places around the world due to deforestation, Malawi, a landlocked country in southeast Africa that is mainly agriculture based, has become the next on the list. Malawi holds the spot for the 5^th most deforested country and although it is technically illegal there, it is not properly enforced and now authorities are saying the damage is too far developed to fix. Because this is a landlocked country, the only way for areas to get flooded is by rivers, but how is this happening? Trees play a very important role in how they shape rivers. They hold and use much of the water, giving it away over time. They make the soil much more absorbent and they slow down the pace of how fast the water gets to the river simply by being there. Now the flooding here is simply an after effect as the deforestation is the main problem. Deforestation is happening in all parts of the world due to urbanization, fuel production such as timber and coal, but the negative impacts are far more devastating. They include extinction of species, decrease of carbon dioxide, soil erosion and a sharp decrease of soil nutrients, all being seen prevalent in Malawi. The Dzalanyama Forest Reserve reports that if the current annual rate of deforestation continues, they will completely extinguish their entire forest in 10 years. The countries authorities are taking measures to make sure this does not continue by educating the younger generation of sustainability maneuvers to take. Although the benefits are great and make life much easier in the present for these developing countries, we need to start looking at the long run in our actions and realizing the impact we leaving on future generations. Awareness all around the world has to happen on deforestation and why its pros certainly do not weigh out the cons.

http://www.nyasatimes.com/2015/02/13/malawi-floods-at-the-hands-of-deforestation/