̽�� and the Lilongwe Water Board Plant 1500 Trees

aims not only to provide quality higher education at an affordable cost through a flexible system, incorporating href="/discover/technology/online-learning/">online learning, but also to contribute to the economic development of communities and to the enhancement of the natural environment.

̽�� students and staff regularly engage in ‘green’ activities that support, protect and enhance the natural environment. This month, ̽�� students, academics and staff joined forces with staff members of the to plant one thousand five hundred trees in Katete farm. The goal of the initiative was to help preserve the ecosystem in the area served by the Water Board, which supplies water to households in and around Lilongwe.

Present at the event were the Chancellor and the Vice-Chancellor of ̽�� in Malawi, Professor Joseph Kuthemba Mwale and Dr Robert Ridley, the Director of Production and Distribution of the Lilongwe Water Board, Engineer Gustaff Chikasema, and media representatives.

Vice-Chancellor Ridley commended the start of the partnership between ̽�� and the Lilongwe Water Board and thanked the University’s students for their zeal and dedication to the ‘Go Green’ initiative, launched by the Malawi government. In addition he underlined the University’s vision to support economic development through environmentally sustainable practices, such as this one, which responds to the country’s high rate of deforestation, leading to soil erosion and contributing to global warming.

Engineer Gustaff Chikasema thanked ̽�� for collaborating in this tree-planting initiative, which will help reduce the environmental degradation at the Water Board’s area. He expressed the hope that the partnership will continue, helping to take care of the new trees planted.

In 2021, ̽�� at the Federal Level, and through its individual in-country Vice-Chancellors, signed the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Accord. ̽�� is committed to responsible consumption and production and to working in partnership with national and international organisations to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The University’s efforts have already been recognised by being shortlisted as a finalist in the UN-sponsored Green Gown International Awards as ‘Sustainability Institution of the Year 2021’.

Written by Eva Koursoumba