Salima district faces a number of challenges that are as a result of inadequate financial and material resources. As Salima District SEP (Social Economic Profile) singles out erratic rains and drought as most serious issues under climate change. Therefore this proposal has been designed to plant over 100,000 trees and building the capacity for local structures on natural resources in order to mitigate the effects of drought and floods through empowering the communities to protect and replant trees on bare land and along river banks.

At the same time livelihoods of the people will improve because the river beds of the fierce rivers will no longer burst causing over flooding. The replanted places and river lines will discourage soil erosion and the green vegetation will act as a buffer zone against harmful gaseous exchanges that precipitate climate change. Almost all the people living in Chimphanga are subsistence farmers. The project will empower the communities to cohabit with the forest resources thereby creating sense of ownership for the protection of trees.
TICOSO proposes to implement this project in GVH Chiphanga, T/A Khombedza in Salima District. Salima is gifted with a varieties of natural resources that consist of fertile soil, forests, plentiful of water that boosting economy of this country including different species of fish and resources. These natural resources are mishandled and not properly utilized which would have provided a basis for sustainable socio-economic development and contribute greatly to the eradication of poverty in the district. This is so because proper utilization of natural resources cannot be achieved without human centred development, which not only calls for the conservation of natural resources but the actual access to use and manage of such resources. Salima natural resources and environment in meticulous GVH Chimphanga is being rapidly depleted and degraded due to combined effects of population growth, charcoal burning , firewood, curios, brick making, harmful bush fires, rough cultivation, poor land management practices and poverty.

Women are hardest hit by the effects of environment mismanagement because of the gender roles, which they play in resource utilization.

The rate for deforestation at national level is in the range of 1.0 to 2.8 percent per year. However, Salima district rate is currently estimated at 5.6 percent per year.

As the supply of these resources become scares due to high deforestation, bush fires, the land become highly degraded due to bare land which causes soil erosion, galleys and floods.
Objectives:
? To increase the use of energy saving technologies at community level.
? To reduce deforestation and promote reforestation activities of the exotic and natural trees.
? To improve the community structures in forest management as a means preventing land degradation to attain social and economic development.