Wildlife and Environmental Society of Malawi

Contributions: 8

Proportion of the area of contributions comprising Key Biodiversity Areas: 99.9%

WESM is a membership organization whose members contribute to environment and wildlife conservation in Malawi. WESM is a national organisation with a secretariat in Blantyre and 9 Branches across the country, namely in; Balaka, Blantyre, Dwangwa, Lilongwe, Monkey Bay, Mzuzu, Nkhata Bay, Mulanje and Zomba.The Branches are managed by annually elected volunteer committees and in few cases supported by employed staff. WESM’s membership is its most priced resource as members volunteer their time and resources to ensure the organisation is moving towards its vision. WESM is currently the principal national non-governmental organization (NGO) working in the field of wildlife, natural resources, environmental education and conservation. The organization current Building on Experience for Environmental Sustainability (BEES) Strategy is built upon 5 Pillars, that build on WESM’s strength as a membership organisation and reflect the different areas of WESM’s work. These pillars are: People, Biodiversity, Knowledge, Governance and Sustainability. WESM works through awareness campaigns and extension services involving the local community, researchers and youth groups. The prime focus of the environment education program has been through community and school based wildlife clubs. WESM is the BirdLife Partner for Malawi and an IUCN Member. It works in co-operation with a range of donors, government departments, NGOs, SME’s, commercial and private agencies to achieve its objectives. The BEES strategy therefore also ensures that WESM’s activities are contributing to local, regional and global priorities. WESM works to contribute to Malawi’s Vision 2063, particularly to the enabler ‘Environmental Sustainability’ but also making contributions to those on ‘Mindset Change’, Human Capital Development’ and ‘Effective Governance Systems and Institutions’. It also makes important contributions towards achievement of 10 of the Sustainable Development Goals. The BEES strategy’s Biodiversity and People pillars directly contribute to the Species, Sites, System and society pillars of the BirdLife International 2023 - 2027 African Partnership strategy. Science which is a foundation for the BLI strategy links into the Knowledge pillar of the BEES strategy. Furthermore, our BEES strategy contributes to the People, Land, Water and Climate targets of the IUCN Nature 2030 programmes.