Twenty members of Malawi’s Parliament attended a training of the Parliamentary Committee on Environment and Climate Change Management, which had been organized by the Leadership for Environment and Development–South Eastern Africa (LEAD-SEA) in Lilongwe on 25-26 October 2014.

Poverty-Environment Initiative–Malawi (PEI Malawi) was invited to present the findings and the implications of the Economic Valuation of Sustainable Natural Resource Management in Malawi which was conducted in 2011. The PEI-supported Malawi State of Environment and Outlook Report from 2010 was also presented as part of the training by Professor Sosten Chiotha from the research organization, LEAD-SEA.

The members of Parliament welcomed the training programme and were particularly interested in the evidence of the cost of unsustainable natural resources use in Malawi. The members of Parliament highlighted that the training programme provided them with the information required to advocate for and support decisions for more sustainable use of environment and natural resources that also contribute to poverty reduction in the assembly.  

They further called for continued collaboration with institutions like LEAD-SEA and PEI Malawi so that they can use the findings of various studies to influence changes in policy, planning and budgeting for pro-poor sustainable environment, natural resources and climate change management including its implementation on the ground.