Fisheries on Lake Malawi, Malombe, Chilwa and Chiuta and forests on customary land are largely common property resources. Factors that impinge on the management of these renewable resources cut across socio-economic and political situation of the country.

Rapid population growth at 3.2 per cent per annum is the highest amongst southern African countries which results in significant pressure on these resources.

Malawi's economy is dependant on agriculture, with the majority of the population being engaged in smallholder agriculture. High agricultural productivity is hampered by several constraints, including majority smallholder farmers cultivating very small land holding units of less than 0.5 hectares. There is a close relationship between the area of land under cultivation and the poverty status of households in rural Malawi.

Ninety-five percent of the poorer smallholders and 72 percent of all smallholders cultivate less than 1 hectare.

Hence fishing and fuelwood from forests have become critical or non-farm economic activities for raising household incomes.

Malawi has been one party state for over three decades until just recently that it embraced the multi-party democracy. This political environment is crucial in understanding the constitutional innovations on natural resource management in the country. The author of this paper has been involved in a number of studies with the Ministry of Fisheries, Forestry and Environmental Affairs regarding diagnosis of major environmental problems on the National Environmental Policy and other sectoral legislation reviews on fisheries and forestry. I have contributed chapter articles on two books currently in press.

The previous management style of these natural resources had been a command-led approach through inflexible and restrictive uncoordinated sectoral laws. Although there is no conclusive data on he actual level of depletion of the fish resources in the various lakes, new trends especially in artisanal fisheries show a large and widespread increase in fishing efforts but declining catch rates. This scenario had led to increased use of inappropriate fishing methods. For example, the practice of lining nets with mosquito netting exacerbated the situation because juveniles caught by the netting would not be able to breed in the next generation. Non-compliance with the off-season regulations meant that fish in breeding stage were removed. The Fisheries Act (Cap 66.05) provides for the commercial and artisanal fisheries and the Department if Fisheries has been responsible for the enforcement of the Act through the District Fisheries offices. Major constraints included some weaknesses in the Act itself that necessitated revision in order to address environmental issues and sustainable management of fish resources; low enforcement capacity of the Act due to management (staff) and financial constraints and low levels of penalties for non-compliance, breaking up of traditional systems for regulation and control of exploitation of fish resources; lack of coordination between Fisheries Act and other Acts, eg., Forestry Act, Land Act and Water Resources Act; and weak compliance of subsidiary legislation and other relevant legislation Deforestation arising from several factors is a widely acknowledged phenomenon. The Forestry sector is governed by the Forest Act (Cap 63:01) and enforced by the Department of Forestry. Ill-defined, insecure and unenforcement property right on forest resources constitutes a major area of weakness. Weakness of local level management institutions caused by erosion of the authority and legitimacy of traditional leaders has undermined their valuable role in natural resource management. In short, the previous institutional arrangement for both resources could not bring about efficiency, equity, sustainability, or accountability. These institutional problems have been with the Malawi Government for the past thirty years and would continue to affect the citizenry who very much depend on these resources for their livelihoods.

Serious reform process can be traced through the national efforts of formulating the National Environmental Action Plan, National Environmental Policy and Comprehensive Environmental Management Act down to specific sectoral low review in Fisheriesand Forestry.

All this has occurred in the 1990s. The diagnostic approach of environmental degradation through the NEAP process involving civil servants from various ministries/departments, parastatals/university and nongovernmental organisations and the private sector, chiefs, women groups, politician and journalists. These initiatives led to subsequently to the reviewing of the Fisheries and Forestry Acts through the participatory process with the view of eliminating constraints in these laws for the sustainable utilization and management of these resources. Obviously the Malawi Government through the line ministries took the initiative and the responsibility from bringing about the much needed institutional innovation. However, the actual implementation of community involvement in managing the fisheries and forest resources should to some extent be attributed to the donor community and some elements of civil society.

On the reform process of the legal framework, three Acts have been passed by parliament, namely the Environmental Management Act, 1996; the Fisheries Act 1997 and the Forestry Act 1997. The major innovation in these pieces of legislation is the provision for communities participation in natural resource management. The National Environmental Policy with an overall policy goal or promoting sustainable social and economic development through the sound management of the environment has been formulated. In the It specifically calls for the promotion of co-operation with other Governments and relevant international/regional organisations (NGOS), and the private sector in the management and protection of the environment. particular case of the fisheries sector, management is in the hands of local communities in some parts of the lakes of Malawi. The enforcement of the closed season to allow fish to breed is communities work with little collaboration of the Fisheries Department management. Experimental Work is under way too in allowing some communities to manage indigenous forests in some parts of the country through the establishment of village forest committees. The general indication is that direct community participation in the management of these natural resources will bring about positive results in the short and long term.

Malawi is still in the learning process on community-based natural resources management. However, one could infer that when local communities have been empowered through an enabling legal framework and realistic incentives, they become the most efficient mangers of natural resources. With a well-defined boundary of the natural resource, the community-based approach resource should be replicable to other situations.

Department of Research and Environmental Affairs (DREA), (1994), National Environmental Action Plan, Lilongwe.

Malawi Government, (1996), Environmental Management Act, 1996, Government printer, Zomba.

World Bank, (1996), Malawi Human Resources and Poverty: Profile and Priorities for Actions, Report No. 15437-MAI, Southern African Department.