Economic value of tropical inland freshwater shallow lakes: Lesson from Lake Malombe, Malawi

Freshwater lakes provide critical ecosystem services (ESs) to local and global communities. However, many of these lakes are under serious threat from degradation, over-exploitation and pollution instigated by unsustainable use and a lack of practical management approaches. Under such conditions, it is critical to quantify the ESs of these lakes and uncover factors affecting local population participation in the conservation. The current study aims to fill this research gap by employing data collection techniques such as household surveys, focus group discussion, field observation, key informant interviews, consultative meetings and a meta-analytical approach. Lake Malombe has been selected to depict the African freshwater ecosystems' scenarios. The findings show that 97.74% of the households depend on the lake ESs. The ESs contribute US$124.36 million/year-about 1.97% of Malawi's GDP and US$1943.08/household/year. Factors such as literacy level, household level of income, age of household head, gender of household and household experiences food shortages significantly (p < 0.05) influenced participation level. The study recommends integrating the economic incentive model into the local policy framework. For example, promoting ecotourism, agroforestry and integrated fish farming can provide economic incentives, reduce direct dependency and increase local participation in conservation.