Miombo Ecoregion Vision Report - Biodiversity Foundation for Africa

Miombo Ecoregion Report, page 58
threatened) including the restricted Lilian's Lovebird and Pel's Fishing Owl. There is local
seasonal altitudinal movement of birds. The Shire River acts as a refuge for fish from the overfished
Lake Malombe.
Protected areas include Liwonde National Park, and the Forest Reserves of Zomba, Liwonde,
Mangochi and Namizumu.
Population pressures are high, particularly in the Malawi portion, resulting in habitat destruction
and encroachment of cultivation, and over-exploitation of natural resources. Poaching of wildlife
and timber is a problem in places. Part of the area is under commercial tobacco estates. There is a
CBNRM programme operating in the Liwonde area. The escarpment and montane woodlands are
important for watershed protection by reducing flooding.
17. LOWER SHIRE VALLEY / WESTERN ESCARPMENT
A relatively small area of escarpment and valley lowland in southern Malawi east of the Shire
River. It comprises dry miombo and mopane woodlands, Acacia-Combretum woodland,
escarpment and riparian woodland, patches of dry deciduous forest/thicket and, rarely, lowland
evergreen forest.
Dry deciduous and evergreen forest are rare in this part of the region, and support a number of
unusual and threatened plant species. Some are believed to be endemic. The area contains the
northernmost population of Nyala antelope, and has a rich bat fauna. Although elephant is not
found now, it was present in the past. There are a number of restricted distribution forest birds
found here, including nationally and regionally threatened species. Several endemic river fish
species are found.
Protected areas include Lengwe National Park and various forest (Thambani, Matandwe) and
wildlife (Mwabvi, Majete) reserves. About half the area is under some form of protection.
Threats include population pressure and encroachment from the Shire valley, including
expansion of sugar plantations, smallholder irrigation schemes, unsustainable harvesting of
natural resources and poaching. People often move into the area and settle to escape occasional
flooding. The woodlands of the area are important as protection against flooding downslope. Pit
sawing in the forest areas is a problem. There is considerable wildlife-based tourism potential.
18. COPPERBELT
A transfrontier area straddling the DRC–Zambia border in north-central Zambia and southern
DRC between Lubumbashi and Ndola, adjacent to the Upemba–Kundelungu area (Area 19). It
comprises the headwaters of the major Kafue river system and, in the DRC, part of the
headwaters of the Luapula. Of major significance are the copper-bearing rocks of the Zambian
copperbelt and Katanga. The vegetation is mostly wet miombo woodland with dambo grasslands,
swamp forest, dry evergreen forest and patches of chipya (Acacia–Combretum woodland).
Plant diversity is also high owing to the intrusion of Congolian elements along drainage lines, in
a similar fashion to the Zambezi headwaters (Area 2). Of particular note is the high number of
plant endemics (c.56 species) confined to the mineral toxic soils on copper outcrops. There are
many species of ground orchid, some of which are now threatened. A number of butterfly
endemics are found and there is high invertebrate species diversity, again associated with swamp
forest, grassland and Congolian rainforest patches.