Malawi is endowed with wetland ecosystems that provide essential services to the country’s people and the environment. Like the rest of the world, the wetlands are, however, facing challenges to sustain their services due to, among others, lack of research-based evidence to support farming system that balances food production and effort to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This chapter critically analyzes the link between Malawi’s dominant wetland farming systems and GHG emission s. We addressed the following research questions: To what extent will converting wetlands for aquaculture and rice production contribute to GHG emissions, and what could be the potential implications? Given the trade-offs in climate change mitigation efforts and food production, to what extent will integrating the two farming systems mitigate GHG emissions? The chapter instigates debate to uncover much-needed data on how much GHG Malawi’s wetland farming contributed to global emissions, its implication, and the future intervention.
Keywords: Aquaculture; Greenhouse gas; Rice paddy; Wetland farming; Integrated farming