LocationsHow the UN Biodiversity Lab Supports Evidence-Based Global Biodiversity Framework Implementation
Prioritizing Biodiversity Action for Economic Resilience in Malawi
February 6, 2026
Lions in a Malawian national park.
Photo: Savoche/2022
As Malawi advances the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) of the UN Biodiversity Convention, national institutions are moving rapidly to translate global targets into tangible national action. Recognizing that biodiversity is the engine of the country’s development, from the aquatic richness of Lake Malawi to the forest watersheds that regulate climate, the government is prioritizing the recovery of its natural capital. With an annual forest loss of 33,000 to 42,000 hectares, the degradation of these systems poses a direct threat to economic resilience, specifically driving siltation in the Shire River and compromising the essential ecosystem services and national infrastructure that fuel the nation.
An antelope in a Malawi nature reserve.
Photo: Godfrey Phiri/2013
From Isolated Datasets to a Shared Evidence Base
Previously, biodiversity information was fragmented across individuals, institutions and departments, making a unified national view difficult to achieve. To overcome this, Malawi utilized the UN Biodiversity Lab (UNBL) and the process of mapping its Essential Life Support Areas (ELSA) tool to consolidate local data in a secure workspace on UNBL. These national datasets can now be visualized alongside over 1,000 global data layers at the click of a button, enabling technical experts and decision-makers to identify the most useful data for national planning and reporting needs, tag them by relevant target or policy, and perform further analytics. Central to this has been the collaboration with the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and its Technical Support Centre (TSC).
Through the Spatial Biodiversity Assessment, Prioritization, and Planning (SBAPP) regional project, the SANBI TSC provided the technical guidance and scientific expertise needed to help Malawi refine its national data. This partnership supported institutions in aligning their mapping with international standards. By leveraging these tools, the Environmental Affairs Department (EAD) and the Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST) have enabled different sectors to pool their expertise into a single, shared map to guide implementation of Malawi’s National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP).
Lake Malawi
Traveling Otter/2013
Co-creating National Priority Maps
A central outcome of this process was the participatory creation of a national spatial prioritization map.
Tiwonge Mzumara-Gawa, SBAPP Project Coordinator for Malawi, notes:
“The creation of this map represents a direct achievement of Objective 7 under the SBAPP project for Malawi, providing the spatial evidence needed to translate our national biodiversity goals into measurable action.”
Developed using “gold-standard” conservation planning science, the ELSA Tool enables users to run a spatial prioritization to identify where actions to protect nature, restore nature, sustainably manage nature, and green urban areas can best contribute to achievement of the KMGBF. The ELSA approach and ELSA Tool available on UNBL supports iterative spatial planning in response to rapidly changing national priorities and updated or enhanced spatial data mapping biodiversity, climate, and human well-being values.
Through a participatory validation process, 21 different national datasets were integrated into the ELSA tool to reflect Malawi’s national biodiversity targets and resource management priorities on the ground, including elements such as clean water provision, protection of threatened ecosystems on land and in Lake Malawi, and improving aquatic resource management. The resulting map shows the places where conservation, restoration, sustainable management, and urban greening actions will have the highest impact on ecosystem health and economic stability, that secures the nature-dependent livelihoods of Malawi’s people for the long term.
Boniface Chimwaza, Chief Environmental Planning Officer, Environmental Affairs Department, Ministry of Natural Resources and Climate Change of Malawi, highlighted the practical value of this collaborative approach:
"This prioritization map is a true reflection of the realities on the ground in Malawi."
This sentiment was affirmed by stakeholders from the Department of Fisheries and the Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW), confirming that the tool accurately captures key protected areas and lake ecosystems.
A Spatial Backbone for Biodiversity Strategy and Reporting
Beyond visualization, this work provides the spatial backbone for Malawi’s National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP III). This strategic integration is essential for translating data into governance, as noted by Mphatso Kalemba, Chief Environmental Officer (Biodiversity), Environmental Affairs Department, Ministry of Natural Resources and Climate Change of Malawi:
“The ELSA integrated spatial planning tool is enabling Malawi to bring together foundational national data in a spatial prioritization framework to create an action map to guide NBSAP implementation in an efficient manner, with reality in mind.”
Davies Chogawana, Biodiversity Conservation Manager, Malawi Environment Protection Authority, further emphasized:
"By providing a clear spatial evidence base, this priority map has become the foundational blueprint for our NBSAP III, ensuring our national targets are both ambitious and actionable."
Key Application Areas
Stakeholders from various sectors have already recognized how this work will transform national strategy across several key areas, including:
- Strategic Planning and Targeted Action. The map identifies priorities for protection and restoration, directly supporting the documentation of Malawi’s biodiversity and illustrating the interactions between different ecosystems.
- National Reporting (7NR). It establishes a central repository for spatial data on UNBL, and updates of the ecosystem protection level national indicator.
- Policy Integration. The map provides the evidence base needed to develop Malawi’s Offsets Strategy and update the National Physical Development Plan.
- Evidence-Based Policy. It moves the NBSAP III from general text to specific, mapped actions built on validated, nationally owned data.
- Scenario Building and Research. By serving as a baseline for researchers to project land use changes and future biodiversity states, the map facilitates long-term planning and academic study.
- Closing Data Gaps. It provides evidence for decision makers, ensuring that biodiversity is integrated into national strategic planning.
Reflecting on these diverse applications, Mphatso Kalemba highlighted the long-term goal of the initiative:
“We do not just want to develop these tools but want to see them being used in various planning and implementation, as well as reporting processes”.
Empowering National Experts and Building Capacity
Beyond the creation of maps, the project has focused on empowering national experts to navigate and utilize spatial data. Through a series of online training sessions and hands-on interactions with the UNBL platform, Malawian scientists and policy makers are developing the technical skills required for long-term biodiversity monitoring.
This process has been transformative for technical experts like Dr. Elizabeth Mwafongo, Botanist at the National Herbarium & Botanic Gardens of Malawi, who noted the impact of this new access to data:
“The ELSA tool on UNBL was quite an eye-opener for me; I hadn’t realized that such a tool existed. It utilizes a science-based spatial prioritization framework to identify critical areas where nature-based actions can yield the best outcomes. This is very useful for Malawi.”
The training sessions did more than just introduce a tool; they highlighted the strategic importance of data transparency and the need for continuous data improvement. Dr. Mwafongo further emphasized:
“This was the first time interacting with various spatial datasets on the UNBL platform, I quickly realized the importance of having such access to this data for decision-making, as well as the need to fill in the gaps in the data available on the platform.”
This focus on capacity ensures that the UNBL is not just a one-off resource, but a sustainable workspace where Malawi can continue to refine its data and drive informed decision-making well into the future.
For more information on the use of UNBL in Malawi, please see the technical report and policy note about this work. For more information on UN Biodiversity Lab (UNBL) and its Essential Life Support Area (ELSA) Integrated Spatial Planning Tool which are freely available to all non-commercial users in any country, please see the overview of UNBL features and the ELSA page on UNBL.