Mount Mulanje Forest Reserve (6680)
Malawi, Africa
Site overview
KBA status: confirmed
Global KBA criteria: A1e, B2
Year of last assessment: 2023
National site name: Mount Mulanje Forest Reserve
Central coordinates: Latitude: -15.9222, Longitude: 35.6450
System: terrestrial, freshwater
Area of KBA (km2): 599.57795
Protected area coverage (%): 89.42
KBA classification: Global
Legacy site: Yes
Site details
Site description: Mount Mulanje is the highest massif in the country, located in the extreme south-east near the Mozambique border. From the surrounding plains at 600–700 m it rises abruptly to a square block of high plateaux at 1,800–1,900 m, surmounted by bare rock peaks up to 3,002 m. The area above 1,800 m is just under 20,000 ha. On the west, north and eastern sides the foothills have a belt of Brachystegia or transition woodland; the rain-facing southern and south-eastern slopes used to support extensive forest, but the situation has been drastically modified by human encroachment. The high plateaux have mainly montane grassland and shrubland, with small patches of Widdringtonia cedar forest (above c.2,250 m these turn into shrubland). The Widdringtonia forest on the western plateau of Chambe was replaced in the 1950s with exotic pine plantations. Four main forest-types may be recognized: lowland rainforest from 600 to 950 m (Newtonia-Khaya-Albizia dominated), mid-altitude rainforest at 950–1,500 m (with flat-topped Newtonia buchananii clearly dominant, the finest example being in Ruo Gorge on the southern slopes), montane rainforest at 1,500–1,850(– 1,900) m, and mainly Widdringtonia monodominant forest above that. By the early 1980s, total forest cover was still c.7,000 ha (c.200 ha lowland, 1,800 ha mid-altitude, 5,000 ha on upper slopes and plateaus). The site includes the northern extension of Mchese Mountain, where the forest is currently in much better condition than on Mulanje itself. Most of the land around the mountain reserve was cleared for tea cultivation at the beginning of the twentieth century. The mountain has been in a Forest Reserve since 1927, but the ecosystems of Mulanje are all threatened to varying degrees. Deforestation through human encroachment has affected Mulanje more than any other site in the country in recent decades. The largest single block of rainforest in the country, at Chisongeli on the south-eastern slopes, previously extended from 900 m to 1,800 m in a continuum and still measured 4,000 ha in 1974. It was almost totally destroyed in the 1980s, as local tea-estate workers (deprived of land by the tea estates) and refugees from the civil war in Mozambique cleared the forest for subsistence agriculture. The World Bank funded the establishment of a plantation of Eucalyptus to try to stop the encroachment, but this merely accelerated the process as people lost their gardens and crossed the plantation to clear more forest beyond. Similarly, many other areas of low or mid-altitude forest on the southern slopes have been cleared. Of somewhat less importance for birds, the cedar forests on the high plateaux are also being heavily exploited, as illegal felling of the endemic Widdringtonia is increasing to the point that the tree is in danger of extirpation. Other serious threats are uncontrolled fires (often lit by poachers inside the fire-breaks) and the spreading of exotic Pinus patula throughout the plateaux (pines are invading and locally replacing the natural vegetation as they regrow faster after fires). Another potential threat is the exploitation of bauxite deposits on Lichenya Plateau.
Rationale for qualifying as KBA: This site contains the entire known effective population of the amphibians Amietia johnstoni and Nothoprhyne broadlyei, the Mulanje Cedar, and Mulanje Chameleon and Mount Mulanje Pygmy Chameleon. An additional three birds meet B2 and one amphibian, 21 birds and 15 plants meet legacy KBA criteria and are in need of reassessment.
Manageability of the site: Site was identified as an IBA/KBA in 2001 and confirmed as an AZE during the 2015-2018 AZE project. Nearly the entire site corresponds to the Mulanje Forest Reserve.
Delineation rationale: Site was identified as an IBA/KBA in 2001 and confirmed as an AZE during the 2015-2018 AZE project.The delineation follows the Mulanje Forest Reserve aligned with the Ruo River KBA boundary.
Habitats
| IUCN Habitat | Coverage % | Habitat detail |
|---|---|---|
| Artificial - Terrestrial | 5 | |
| Forest | 73 | |
| Grassland | 1 | |
| Shrubland | 19 |
Threats
| Threat level 1 | Threat level 2 | Threat level 3 | Timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Climate change & severe weather | Habitat shifting & alteration | Only in the future | |
| Residential & commercial development | Housing & urban areas | Ongoing | |
| Agriculture & aquaculture | Annual & perennial non-timber crops | Shifting agriculture | Ongoing |
| Agriculture & aquaculture | Annual & perennial non-timber crops | Small-holder farming | Ongoing |
| Biological resource use | Logging & wood harvesting | Unintentional effects: large scale (species being assessed is not the target) [harvest] | Ongoing |
| Biological resource use | Logging & wood harvesting | Unintentional effects: subsistence/small scale (species being assessed is not the target) [harvest] | Ongoing |
| Invasive & other problematic species, genes & diseases | Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases | Named species | Ongoing |
| Invasive & other problematic species, genes & diseases | Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases | Unspecified species | Ongoing |
| Natural system modifications | Fire & fire suppression | Increase in fire frequency/intensity | Ongoing |