Planting to save Malawi's national tree

The critically endangered Mulanje cedars are being razed by illegal loggers. Can a massive tree-planting campaign reverse the decline?

Malawi's critically endangered national tree, the Mulanje cedars, are a minuscule, dwindling fraction of the world's 3tn trees. These rare trees grow atop a single imposing granite massif, Mount Mulanje, where illegal loggers are axing them to extinction.

The Mulanje Mountain Conservation Trust (MMCT) aims to reverse the cedar's decline. With funding from international donors, it has provided forest guards, boosted tourism and organised an unprecedented tree-planting campaign.