Natural Resources Committee (NRC) Chairperson under Group Village Head Kamberengende under Traditional Authority Mbenje in Nsanje, Monica Chiphaka told Zodiak online, improved access to safe drinking water and goat management initiatives by Churches Action in Relief and Development (CARD), are making a difference in addressing animal people conflict and poaching among others.

Chiphaka described the project as a magic bullet saying already, they are enjoying its benefits.

The project covers Mwabvi wildlife reserve in Nsanje, Lengwe National Park in Chikwawa and Kasungu National Parks.

"It has been so helpful. For instance, people have goats as a result poaching incident have declined.

"Poaching was a huge concern which led to extinction of some animal species in Mwabvi Game Reserve.  It is important to protect the wildlife so that the next generation can appreciate the kind of animals we have.

"The project will help us to own the wildlife and protected areas. Besides, the water facilities CARD has provided through the project are critical in containing animal people conflict," said Chiphaka.

Civil Society Network on Climate Change (CISONECC), Julius Ng'oma told Zodiak online that the project thrives to address climate change issues.

"We are trying to address the fundamental challenge of climate change because we understand that climate change is threatening so many things including biodiversity and because of climate change, communities are resorting to doing so many things for them to earn their livelihoods.

"As you are aware, Malawi is an agro based economy. So, a decade or so ago climate resulted into erratic rainfall; droughts and flooding forcing people to do so many things to find food and earn their income," explained Ng'oma.

He told Zodiak Online that communities have resorted to environmental damage by cutting tress unnecessarily. Killing wildlife animals, resulting in extinction.

"The idea is that as a country we should combat the impact of climate change. The communities should find alternatives rather than relying on those activities that are causing damage to the biodiversity such as poaching.

"So, in Nsanje we are working with communities to conserve the biodiversity within Mwabvi. We are enhancing awareness.

The CISONECC National Coordinator further disclosed that the three-year project will end in 2022 or early 2023.

"So CISONEC is part of the consortium which comprises a number of organizations working on a project aiming to build resilience of the communities that are surrounding wildlife life and protected areas. So Mwabvi, Lengwe and Kasungu National parks so this project is being supported by EU through TroCare Malawi and it has a number of partners that we are working with in different districts we have SICOD, we have CARD, we also have YONECO and CISONECC as some of those implementing activities to make sure that communities are resilient especially those surrounding the three protected areas that I have mentioned.

According to Ng'oma, European Union (EU) Commission supported the organizations with 1 million USD which is spread across.

He said CISONECC is supporting issues of awareness and legislative framework.

CARD Project Coordinator, Lonjezo Bingalasoni, said they are employing various initiatives including bee keeping, goat management and solar energy kiosks.

"We are helping communities with copying strategies to climate change. We are supporting both domestic and wild animals.

"So, we have different interventions such as bee keeping, goat management, solar energy kiosks, we have also drilled two boreholes one inside Mwabvi wildlife reserve the other outside, targeting communities under GVH Kamberengende.

"We want to reduce what we call animal people conflict. People tend to kill animals seeking water outside.

He added, " we have also provided solar power drinking tap inside the reserve.

The CARD Project Coordinator, said already the impact has had an impact.

"Communities are able to relate the benefits the reserve is bringing. Besides, there has been a decline of cases in terms of poaching and charcoal burning. Adding that they are now reporting various malpractices," said Bingalasoni.