Karonga district is one of the border districts of Malawi situated in the northern region. It shares the international boundary with Tanzania to the North and district boundaries with Chitipa to the West and Rumphi to the South. It has a land size of 3,355 square kilometers (Karonga District Assembly, 2011) with a total population of 270,960. Topographically Karonga has three main zones namely the high hills and plateau zone to the west side of the district which is the main source of rivers and flooding; the rift valley escarpment zone; and the lakeshore plain zone where most of the rivers drain and where most of the populations affected by floods live. In terms of land use, arable land account for 240 square kilometers which is only 7.1% of the total land area, nature conservation accounts for 867 square kilometers which is the biggest at 25.8% of the total land area and finally non-arable land accounting for 2.8% (94 square kilometers) and the rest is water mass (Karonga District Assembly, 2011). Karonga district like all Districts in the country faces a lot of environmental problems as a result of inadequate environmental awareness, weak environmental information system, weak institutional support to environmental management and weak environmental legislation. This have resulted to; decreasing forest cover (deforestation) due to energy demand for firewood and charcoal, brick making, opening of new settlements and gardens; drying of rivers as a result of human action of cultivating along river banks, grazing and cutting down of trees in river sources. Lupembe area falls in between the high hills zone and rift valley escarpment zone down to the lakeshore plane in central of Karonga. The area has high rate of environmental degradation as stated earlier on and is also characterized by frequent droughts as it falls under the rain-shadow area of the district. Because of high deforestation and soil erosion in degraded areas upland compounded by cultivation along the river banks, the area is also characterized by frequent flooding. It is against this background that the project intends to address high environmental issues in Lupembe area. The project will therefore address issues of land degradation, climate change and sustainable forestry management which are also in line with the GEF Small Grants Programme focal areas. The project is in line with similar initiatives at district level where government is at smaller scale police and monitor use of natural resources, conduct environmental sensitization and education, agriculture extension workers are embarking on soil and water conservation projects, disaster risk management activities under the Department of Disaster Management Affairs while other Non-Governmental Organization like CIRCOD are also doing similar work in climate change and DRR. The project at all levels will make synergies with current initiatives that are being championed on the ground.

(a) To develop capacity of local communities in decision making in management and sustainable land use and other natural resources in the targeted 10 villages in Lupembe Area by 2013.
(b) To promote sustainable land management at community level in the targeted 10 villages in Lupembe Area by 2013.
(c) To build capacity of local communities in climate change adaptation and mitigation with emphasis on low carbon technologies at community level in the targeted 10 villages in Lupembe Area by 2013.
(d) To empower disadvantaged community groups to participate in decision making processes and economic empowerment through mainstreaming of gender, HIV and AIDS, Psychosocial and Micro-finance in the targeted 10 villages in Lupembe Area by 2013.