|
Official Opening of IPC9 by Dr. Mary Shawa |
|
Back
Official opening of the the 9th International Permaculture Conference at
Kumbali Lodge, Lilongwe, Malawi by Dr Mary Shawa, Permanent
Secretary, Nutrition and HIV and AIDS in the Office of the President and
Cabinet on the 6th of November 2009.
The Coordinator of the IPC9 Conference, Mr. Mugove Walter Nyika
Member of the International Permaculture Council, Mr Ali Sharif
The members of the International Permaculture Support Group
Officers from the government departments repesented here
Community leaders here present
Participants from around the world
Invited guests, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls
I am pleased to join you at this momentous event that has brought together people from all over the world to deliberate on sustainable solutions to the challenges that are facing our planet. I understand that this is the first time that this bienniel conference which Malawi is hosting is being held for the first time in Africa. On behalf of the government and people of Malawi and on my own behalf I would like to extend a very warm welcome to all our guests from across the world. Malawi prides itself as the warm heart of Africa and I hope that by now you have already started to enjoy the warmth from the people of Malawi. Please feel at home and take time to travel to some of our attractions such as the Lake, game parks and Mount Mulanje.
The theme of this conference, Designing solutions for a sustainable future – Plan Africa, food and empowerment comes at an opportune time as the world faces the challenges of climatic change, the food crisis and the energy crisis. Africa is particularly hard hit by these crises which are largely not of its own making. It is time for humanity to come together and find creative ways of mitigating against these challenges. In doing so it is important to ensure that the solutions that we put together must be rooted in the cultures of the local people. People must feel that they own the solutions for the sake of sustainability so it is critical that they participate in designing the solutions.
The local people have a lot to share with the world from their indigenous knowledge systems. Some of the challenges that we are facing in the area of nutrition for example could be addressed by promoting indigenous foods. True sustainable development begins with the people and their resource base which includes their knowledge systems. Our President Doctor Bingu Wa Mutharika always says that the people of Malawi may be poor but Malawi is not a poor country. The challenge lies in unlocking this great potential that we find in Malawi and in other developing countries. The land design skills that you are sharing at this conference are one way of empowering our people to move out of food and nutrition insecurity as well as poverty. I call upon all stakeholders to work together and reach out to more of our communities so that the people can use Permaculture to get on the road to sustainable development.
I am told that part of the programme of this conference is to plant trees at the homes of the local people here. We in Malawi take tree planting seriously and every year the government launches the tree planting season which for this year will soon be launched. We are at the onset of the rain season and we encourage communities to plant trees at this time so that the seedlings are well established by the end of the rainy season in April. Trees are life here and our lives are delicately interwoven with the biological resources around us. The majority of our people live off the land and trees are the single most important biological resource that we have. We use trees for building our shelter and for acess to energy, food and medicine among many other uses.
With these few words it is my honour to declare the 9th International Permaculture Conference officially open. I thank you.
Back
|
