President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera on Friday launched the Malawi Carbon Markets Initiative while casting hope that the country huge potential for carbon trading.
Chakwera said Malawi has over one million hectares of designated forest reserves, including both exotic and indigenous trees, and over one million hectares of land under wildlife conservation parks and reserves, which can be traded for carbon credits.
He made the remarks at the Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe where he launched the initiative.
He disclosed that the potential value of Malawi’s carbon credits is estimated at 19, 882, 394.93 metric tons of carbon per annum translating into over $600 million per annum.
“That is why I appointed the Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs and the Minister of Natural Resources and Climate Change to jointly establish and champion the Malawi Carbon Market Initiative in Malawi and to optimize it for economic growth. From this launch, I expect that they will make a concerted effort to attract investments that will sustain and leverage the initiatives I started when I launched the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative with President Ruto of Kenya in Sharm-El-Sheikh and when I cast Malawi’s vision for carbon markets at the Sixth African Business Forum in Addis Ababa,” said the President.
Chakwera urged Malawians to make the most of the opportunity and potential Malawi has to prosper through carbon markets.
He stated that the launch of the initiative also signified the commitment by this administration to pursue carbon markets through the partnership Malawi had established with the African Carbon Markets Initiative for the scaling up of our carbon credit production.
The Malawi leader emphasized that Malawi has every reason to prefer a green economy over an economy that degrades and destroys the environment because ‘we know firsthand the devastating effects of degrading the environment’.
“Secondly, building a green economy is consistent with the aspirations of the Malawi 2063 Vision, which calls for serious commitment to Environmental Sustainability; Ecosystem Conservation and Environmental Management; Waste Management and Green Economy; Climate Change Management; Environment and Climate Change Financing; Natural Disasters and Climate Adversities Preparedness. These are good for us a nation, because they ensure that our pursuit of food security, job creation, and wealth creation is not done in a manner that destroys Malawi’s natural resources and our children’s natural inheritance,” said Chakwera.
