COMPLEX SYSTEM: Lake Malawi and its many functions - Biodiversity, Fisheries, hydropower generation, greenbelt irrigation initiative, tourism

1. System name: Lake Malawi

2. Brief description:

'Unique biodiversity:' Lake Malawi is special to all Malawians and globally for a number of reasons. It is a center of biodiversity endemism and is home to unique fish species. It boosts the Lake Malawi National Park, a UNESCO heritage site, an underwater nature reserve. See https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/289/. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1984, celebrated for its stunning ecosystem that is home to hundreds of fish species, Lake Malawi National Park’s importance when it comes to the study of evolution is likened to that of the Galapagos Islands finches! Another key feature is that of the midges that swarm over Lake Malawi and can be seen from space.

Lake Malawi as a major water body supplying water for irrigation and drinking water

Lake Malawi as source of the Shire River, implications for hydroelectricity generation on the Shire

Lake Malawi as a tourist destination

3. Current constraints (factors of production etc):

• The dynamics of the lake levels, lake temperatures and condition, and how it responds to various factors affecting the watershed area, are not fully understood, despite several major research projects on the lake (GEF, IGBP/PAGES, etc)

• Land degradation in the watershed area is assumed to cause siltation and changes in inflow to the lake, affecting its ecology and overall water levels

• Variability in rainfall in the watershed area is assumed to impact inflow, and ultimately the outflow.

• Inadequate data collection relating to water inputs, withdrawals, water temperatures etc, are a major constraint to a data-driven analysis of the lake and its management

• Mining activities in the watersed area are on the increase, in particular for Uranium in the north, coal and others.

4. Risks now and in the future (CC and others):

• Risk of water levels dropping too low for outflow through the Shire River to sustain electricity generation downriver

• Risk of shanging water temperatures after fisk breeding at different levels of the lake, severely impacting the unique fish biodiversity of the lake

• Risk of increasing land degradation in the watershed area increasing siltation and limiting river inflows into the lake

• Risk of contaminants from the uranium mine in the north of the country severely damaging fish ecology and production, and also risk of contamination of drinking water and water for major irrigation efforts along the lake and in the Shire Basin

• Risk of contamination of the lake leading to losses in tourist income

• Risk of collapse of the fish industry based on the lake, in particular for main species of tilapia/chambo, usipa, catfish and several other species.

5. Adaptation options to address the CC risks:

• Rehabilitation of landscapes in the watershed areas to ensure steady water inputs into the lake

• Fish genebanks to safeguard the unique biological biodiversity of the lake

• Restrictions on fishing to manage yields under changing conditions

• Construction and rehabilitation of barrages on the Shire River to manage water flows in the Shire

• Careful tradeoff in water usage between irrigation, water for Lilongwe, and water needed to outflow into the Shire River for hydroelectricity generation

• Fish breeding to sustain population of key species

6. Required other actions to ensure adaptation is successful

• Establish water use controls, policies, including for periods of low water levels

• Develop contingency plans to deal with severely low water levels in terms of electricity supply for the country

• Use of automated monitoring systems to measure inflows and outflows

7. Adaptation potential rating

• Low to medium?