Sport Events and Environmental Sustainability: Towards an Eco-Friendly Agenda in Malawi

The study aimed to explore the environmentally sustainable measures adopted and implemented by the sporting events sector in Malawi, with a focus on understanding the current practices in place and identifying existing gaps in environmental management. Sporting events are seen as valuable platforms for raising environmental awareness and educating stakeholders. Using a qualitative approach, in-depth interviews were conducted with 24 purposefully selected experts from the sports and tourism sectors. The findings reveal minimal efforts toward making sporting events environmentally sustainable. While ecotourism-rich destinations in developing countries offer potential for sustainable sport tourism, challenges such as limited environmental awareness, financial constraints, and poor intersectoral collaboration persist. The study advocates for collaborative governance to overcome these barriers and support environmentally sustainable tourism. It offers practical and policy insights to strengthen the link between sport tourism and sustainability in developing contexts.