"Time is not on our side. We should start acting now and we will do everything in our power to ensure there is action," said Daulos Mauambeta, director of the Wildlife and Environmental Society of Malawi, the leading environmental group.

The Wildlife and Environmental Society of Malawi is one of several determined signatories of a petition presented to the government last month that called for action to halt deforestation.

Malawi lost 2.5 million hectares of both indigenous and plantation forests between 1972 and 1992, according to Mauambeta.

The government admits it is fighting a losing battle to save its trees including ebony, used for making curios, mahogany and the Mulanje cedar, Malawis national tree.

"Malawi could be losing the fight against deforestation unless several things are done," said Sabina Manda, a senior forestry official in the ministry of mines, natural resources and environment.

"The trees are hacked down for charcoal and firewood by a population which cannot afford electricity," she said.

Only eight percent of Malawis 12 million people have power in their homes.

"Most of the seven forest reserves in the south are depleted," she said.

The trees are not only cut down by Malawians who overwhelmingly rely on wood for cooking and heating, but charcoal production is also a major cause of deforestation.

About 50,000 hectares of forest are destroyed per year for charcoal production which Malawians also use for cooking and heating, according to Mauambeta.

Mwanza and Liwonde forests in the southern area bordering Mozambique are being cleared by villagers to make way for crops and for the illegal charcoal trade.

Tobacco production, which accounts for 70 percent of foreign earnings, too shares the blame. More than 40,000 tonnes of tobacco leaves are cured annually and it takes 12 cubic meters of wood to cure each tonne.

"There is indeed problems with deforestation in the tobacco industry but we are doing something about it," said Felix Mkumba, executive secretary of the tobacco farmers' lobby, the Tobacco Association of Malawi (TAMA).

TAMA donates thousands of seedlings every year to the government for villagers to plant but Mkumba said smallholder farmers prefer to plant cash crops rather than trees.

Tobacco farmer Mailosi Phiri said villagers are aware of the dangers of deforestation but they are too poor to put environmental concerns ahead of their own subsistence.

"The government should stop blaming us for deforestation but should instead give us alternative options on how to survive without cutting down trees," said Phiri.

Mauambeta said the government should draft a plan for re-stocking trees. The environmental groups are also pushing for a ban on charcoal production and have asked the government to come up with alternative sources of energy for Malawians.

The forestry expert said government should clamp down on charcoal vendors and strengthen the forestry act to provide for stiffer penalties to offenders.

Malawi, where 60 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, plants some 30 million trees every year.

"Most of the trees dont survive because people dont manage them well," said Manda.

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Wildlife and Environmental Society of Malawi