Malawi's Third National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP III) covers the period from
2025 to 2035. It lays out strategies and actions that Malawi will undertake to enhance
conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity for the benefit of the people, the
environment and the economy. At the global level, the NBSAP III is aligned to the Kunming
Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) while at national level it is in line with the principles
of the Constitution of the Republic of Malawi and Enabler 7 on Environmental Sustainability
of Malawi 2063.

The strategy provides an overview of Malawi’s biodiversity, highlighting its value, current
status and trends across different ecosystems including their species and genetic diversity. It
presents priority actions to conserve Malawi’s 69 ecosystem types, 87 protected areas, 44
key biodiversity areas, over 1500 endemic species and priority landscapes among others.
Malawi’s biodiversity faces significant and interrelated challenges driven by habitat loss,
land-use change, overexploitation of natural resources, pollution, invasive alien species and
the impacts of climate change. Rapid population growth, agricultural expansion,
infrastructure development, and unsustainable harvesting practices continue to degrade
ecosystems and fragment habitats, threatening endemic and vulnerable species. These
pressures are compounded by weak enforcement, limited institutional capacity, poverty, and
inadequate integration of biodiversity considerations into national development planning. To
address these underlying drivers is essential to halt biodiversity loss and secure ecosystem
services critical to Malawi’s sustainable development.  The NBSAP III therefore proposes
ways of achieving this through:

• Strengthened legal and institutional frameworks and building of capacities 
• Strong political commitment and cross-sectoral coordination
• Sustainable financing mechanisms (public, private, and international)
• Science-policy interface for evidence-based decision-making
• Integration of gender, youth and indigenous and local knowledge systems

This NBSAP has five specific objectives and 23 targets including a set of associated actions
for restoration of degraded terrestrial, wetlands and aquatic ecosystems; mainstreaming of
biodiversity in national and sectoral plans; promoting biodiversity friendly enterprises and
sustainable livelihoods, implementing equitable access and benefit sharing mechanisms;
regulating biotechnology establishment of biodiversity data systems, monitoring
frameworks and regular reporting; and enhancing community-based conservation and
awareness programmes.

The overall total estimated cost for implementing the NBSAP III is approximately USD 1.02
billion. The costing reveals the significant variations across the implementation of respective
targets with Target 3 on protected area management and other effective based conservation
accounting for the largest share exceeding USD437 million, followed by Target 5 on reducing
human induced extinction and maintaining genetic diversity with an estimated cost of USD
179 million.

Once successfully implemented, by 2035, it is expected that biodiversity loss will be halted
and ecosystem resilience will be improved; there will be increased contribution of biodiversity
to GDP and livelihoods security; communities will be empowered as custodians and
beneficiaries of natural resources and there will be enhanced climate resilience through
nature-based solutions and ecosystem-based adaptation among others.