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dam-l Youth group to reclaim Malawi river/LS

Malawian +Warlords+ Set To Reclaim River

May 24, 1999

Raphael Tenthani, PANA Correspondent

BLANTYRE, Malawi (PANA) - Warlords Youth Organisation, a Malawi youth group
based in the commercial city of Blantyre, has waged war against
the city's polluted rivers by undertaking an ambitious programme to replant
trees along some of them.

Llyod Moffat, the organisation's deputy director, said the programme will
start with efforts to rehabilitate a river which is a source to a water
reservoir that
feeds most part of the city.

''Planting trees along the river (to the reservoir), the only source of
water for the Chimwankhunda Dam, seems to be the only means to check
siltation
from choking the resorvoir,'' he told PANA.

A recent state of the environment report stated that water in most urban
rivers in Malawi are unusable following reckless dumping of industrial
waste into
them.

The report says the Chimwankhunda Dam has progressively diminished in size
in the past four years due to, among other factors, heavy deforestation of
the river's catchment area and uncontrolled shifting cultivation above the dam.

The report also found that the use of chemical fertiliser in gardens
surrounding the dam, which is washed down into the reservoir, also
endangers fish
species in the water body.

The organisation has the support of the Blantyre city fathers who have
donated 10,000 tree seedlings towards the programme.

Blantyre's town clerk, Don Alufandika, has commended the young people's
efforts, saying the council is proud to be part of the initiative.

Jones Mwamputo, a senior forestry official, called upon the youth to
sensitise their families against practices that may affect the
sustainability of the river
and the dam.

''Please tell your parents not to uproot these seedlings,'' he advised the
youth at the seedlings hand-over ceremony.



                                       This site is part of AFRICA NEWS ONLINE.

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      Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
        and Editor, World Rivers Review
           International Rivers Network
              1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
                  Tel. (510) 848 1155   Fax (510) 848 1008
                        http://www.irn.org
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