As well as the above major projects, AYISE from time to time will engage in smaller scale volunteer-led projects, covering activities such as tree nursery creation and stream-clean-ups.

Malawi has many beautiful and scientifically interesting natural environments; such as the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Lake Malawi National Park - protected for it's Cichlid fish which are unique to the lake and are a good example of isolated species diversification; and the rare subtropical tropical montane environment of the Mulanje Mountain Forest Reserve. However the pressure of the increasing population threatens these sites unless suitably sustainable practices are adopted. Current problems include:

• illegal felling of trees in the Mulanje Mountain Forest Reserve, as well as other less protected areas - the wood is generally collected for the purposes of generating charcoal or for firing bricks. Both of these practices take place at the 'cottage industry' level, which is a particularly inefficient for these activities and requires a large amount of wood. Thus there is a significant problem of deforestation in the Mulanje area, and many other previously forested areas. This leads to soil erosion, the reduction of soil fertility, loss of shade, and the destruction of habitat for many endangered animals.
• waste collections are nonexistent or rare for most poor communities in Malawi, so a lot of waste piles up at the side of roads, presenting a hygiene hazard and propagating vector borne diseases such as Cholera. An additional issue to this, is that a lot of potential compost is being wasted.
• climate change will not spare Malawi, despite the country's minimal input to the problem, and so solutions need to be found to the potentially violent weather. At the same time Malawi must join global efforts to reduce carbon emissions by employing renewable energy generating techniques (such as sustainable forestry, solar electricity, solar cookers, hydro electric power, wind turbines, etc)
• clean water supplies are not available to all communities in Malawi, and so AYISE supports borehole drilling, and sanitation projects where and when we can.