SUCCESS STORIES
Making a difference—the evidence of success
Social Fence Makes for Good Neighbors, Good Policy in Nyika National Park
Protecting biodiversity, bolstering economic security, and restoring cultural heritage in Malawi

Ranging over some 3,200 square kilometers at an elevation 2,500 meters above sea level, Malawi’s Nyika National Park protects an afromontane ecosystem that harbors an amazing array of flora and fauna. But Nyika’s biodiversity, and sacred places such as Mwanda Hill and Kaulime Lake—which for centuries have served as spiritual sanctuaries for the local population—are under threat.

The problem is that hard-pressed local smallholders—many of them physically and culturally displaced by the park’s creation in 1965 and expansion in 1978—have been driven by economic necessity to deplete the park’s natural resources, usually in unsustainable ways. Poaching, deforestation, and uncontrolled forest and grassland fires have taken a heavy toll on Nyika in recent years.

That corrosive dynamic, however, is changing. The U.S. Agency for International Development-funded Community Partnerships for Sustainable Resource Management project (COMPASS)—in partnership with the surrounding communities and the Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW)—has fashioned a solution that aligns the economic interests of local people with the environmental interests of the area, thereby engaging Nyika’s neighbors as de facto stewards of the park. 

This “social fence” allows people once again to enjoy their ancestral heritage, promotes sustainable livelihoods and food security, mitigates climate change, and protects a precious resource. Malawi’s DNPW has embraced the idea that social fences—constructed in cooperation with local residents—are better at conserving the environment than a top-down “fence and fine” approach, especially where funding shortfalls prevent authorities from effectively enforcing protective laws.

Underpinning the new ethos of partnership between local stakeholders and the DNPW is a Resource Use Agreement developed by DAI, which has implemented COMPASS since 1999. A Resource Use Agreement—signed between the government and producers of natural resources-based products—is a legally binding mechanism permitting those producers to enter the park and harvest its resources, while sharing responsibility for management and conservation of the area. 

Guided by the Agreement, local people have thrown themselves into the responsible, small-scale commercialization of forest-based products from Nyika. In less than two years, for example, two-thirds of the park has been demarcated as apiaries; some 6,000 honey-producing hives now hang in the park, and the behavior shift that comes with having such a stake in the protected area is striking. Communities increasingly view themselves as partners with the DNPW and share conservation responsibilities. Vandalism has been reduced, poachers are more frequently being arrested, and snares are confiscated by community members themselves. Habitat management efforts such as early burning are carried out in a controlled manner, with local communities and park authorities acting in concert. 

As of November 2008, nearly 1,700 households from 221 villages and 142 beekeeping clubs are stewards to Nyika’s apiaries, earning income through their honey and through the carbon credits they generate by avoiding deforestation. Clearly, a community once disconnected from its past has seized the opportunity to protect its future.



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Nyika (“where the water comes from”) is home to lions, leopards, elephants, buffalo, zebra, antelope, at least 435 species of bird, and 200 types of orchids.
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