The literature on deforestation in Malawi points to a number of causes, including high population in relation to available land, poverty, market and policy failures, drought, and the severity of structural adjustment policies. Agricultural statistics from Malawi indicate substantial increases in area under maize and tobacco between 1970 and 1994. Maize is the main staple crop, occupying about 69% of the cultivated land while tobacco is the main export and cash crop. A regression model was employed to highlight factors responsible for this expansion. The analysis suggests that the structural adjustment policies aimed at liberalization of tobacco production, marketing of maize and tobacco, as well as increasing accessibility to foreign currency, had a positive and moderately significant influence on the expansion of the land area under maize but less on that under tobacco. Given declining real producer prices for both crops, the driving force for the increasing area seems to be the desire by farmers to maintain their income from the sale of these two crops combined, rather than their prices. A household survey in three study areas chosen to cover a range in distance from the nearest town, confirmed significant increases in household land holdings in the recent past. Villagers living around the forest reserves were identified as being key agents of deforestation, mainly through careless cutting of trees, opening up of gardens, grazing livestock and charcoal burning. These four activities constitute 84% of the reasons given by farmers for the increasing environmental degradation. The regression analyses provide some indication of factors associated with agricultural land expansion. The household study provided some insights on the agents of deforestation and to a limited extent how the increasing population is reacting to land famine.

The sustainable business model (SBM) concept requires enterprises to integrate sustainability aspects in their planning and operations. Although 60% of the global working population make their living in the informal sector mostly in low-and middle income countries, the potential for SBMs has rarely been analyzed for this category. This study explores the SBMs of informal charcoal-producing enterprises in coastal Kenya. It describes key business-model components: value proposition, value creation and delivery, and economic value capture. Impact and dependency on sustainability-related indicators were also studied. Data were obtained through individual interviews, focus-group discussions, and workshops for charcoal producers and other relevant stakeholders. Findings demonstrated that charcoal enterprises, despite their informal status, adopt elaborate business models. The incomes positively affect several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by reducing, if not eradicating, poverty and supporting basic livelihood needs. Examples of negative impacts on some SDG include the activity’s contribution to forest degradation. Feedback impacts, where SDG status influence the informal enterprises’ opportunities were also identified. The SBM model contributes to the development of a balanced sustainability transition of the charcoal sector. We suggest further analyses of the role of informal enterprises in the bioenergy sector for sustainable development and how their SBMs could be improved.

Despite the great social, economic and environmental diversity in countries of Africa South of Sahara (SSA), forestry research issues and advances are quite similar. This is partly influenced by their history of forest resource ownership and management. In most countries, governments own and manage forest resources. Forestry research institutes are in many countries very tiny departments or units within huge ministries or agricultural research organizations. Their visibility, much less their effectiveness in that position is slight, because they are also poorly staffed and financed. The research vacuum is so noticeable that non-forestry institutions are moving into forestry research. The little available forestry research capacity is poorly managed. The few competent researchers are increasingly getting involved in administrative functions and also looking out for more rewarding posts. Economic policies imposed by global financial institutions constrain the recruitment of young scientists to take up forestry research now and in the future. Although universities are by far better resourced, their efforts are rarely linked with those of other national research institutes. They operate independently, often far removed from real world issues. Some research institutes have developed their research agendas with the help of global stakeholders, but these have largely remained unimplemented for lack of resources even though much on-going work is donor-driven. Also there remains a serious gap between forestry research and development. Research institutes do not have the capacity to apply their findings. At the same time, they lack links with agricultural extension services or non-government organizations (NGOs) to get their messages to stakeholders, especially the farmers. This limits the usefulness of those results that do trickle out from forestry research. Unless action is taken to rebuild forestry research capacity in SSA, their forest resources will not contribute effectively to the welfare of people in the region.