20/11/2025
When you are moving around many parts of Malawi today, one thing is clear. Our land has changed so fast. Places that used to be green and full of life are now dry, open, and bare. The natural trees we grew up seeing have become rare. Some of the wild fruits we enjoyed as children cannot be found . Young people only know them from pictures or from stories by the grannies.
In some villages, you can walk a long distance without finding even one old indigenous tree. The hills that were once covered with thick forests now stand empty and exposed. Soil erosion is getting worse, rivers are drying up earlier than before, and the hot season feels hotter every year. The changes are visible, and they are affecting everyone.
This did not happen by mistake. Some of the damage comes from our own actions. Industries release smoke and waste into the air. Forests are cleared for charcoal and farming. Some people cut trees because they have no other choice for survival. Others do it without understanding what will happen in the future. But whether we understand it or not, we all feel the effects.
Floods, droughts, hunger, heatwaves, and unpredictable rains are slowly becoming normal. Families are struggling, children walk longer distances for water, and farmers fight to protect their crops in a climate that no longer behaves the way it used to.
People ask who is responsible and if there is a solution. The truth is that responsibility is shared. Government, communities, industries, and individuals all play a part. And the solution must also come from everyone working together.
This is why Green Lens Stories exists. It is here to share honest stories about our environment. Stories from villages, from rivers, from farms, and from forests that are disappearing. Stories that help us understand what is happening and what can still be saved.
My name is Sandfor Sambwita, studying for a Master of Arts at the Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences. I started Green Lens Stories to shine a light on the environmental issues affecting our communities and to highlight people who are trying to make a difference.
If we learn, act, and change our habits, even in small ways, we can protect what is left of our natural environment and restore the beauty Malawi once had.
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