By Jeanette Manjengwa

Centre for Applied Social SciencesUniversity of Zimbabwe

Environment and Development issues in Zimbabwe, since

2000 and beyond

Overview

Concept of sustainable development

The state of Zimbabwe’s environment

Impacts of accelerated land reform on the environment

Zimbabwe’s environmental policy and institutional framework

Sustainable development strategies in Zimbabwe, from 2000 onwards

Opportunities for post recovery sustainability policies and practices in Zimbabwe

Conclusion and recommendations

Concept of sustainable development

Issues of sustainability, productivity and social justice

Environmental issues usually lowest priority

Poor people are getting poorer and the environment continues to be degraded

Global food crisis

Climate change

Challenges for southern Africa

Challenges for Zimbabwe

The state of Zimbabwe’s environment

State of the environment report

Erosion, siltation, loss of biodiversity, pollution

Tree cutting

Veld fires

Gold panning

Wetland and stream bank cultivation

Effects of changes in agriculture on the environment

Gold panning

• Unregistered illegal gold diggers and panners

Οperate along more than 5 000km of Zimbabwe’s main rivers

• Panners are highly mobile, often seasonal

• Limited technology

• Cause serious environmental damage• Pits

• Siltation

• No rehabilitation

• Difficult to control

• Very lucrative • Cause of conflicts

Operation ‘Chikorokosa chapera’

Mid 2007

Spearheaded by police

Short-lived and generally ineffective

Web of actors, conflicts of interest

Fines too low

April 2008, new fines from 50 million to 90 billion Zim dollars

Currently new schedule of fines in USD

Convictions not upheld by courts

Impacts of accelerated land reform on the environment

Objective: to ‘promote environmentally sustainable utilisation of land’

Nevertheless, environmental degradation occurring as a result of accelerated resettlement

Caused conflicts over natural resource use

No evidence of decongesting communal areas

Environmental impact of the Fast Track

No environmental audit or assessment carried out

No longitudinal studies

Anecdotal evidence

Media exaggeration

Media hype

‘decimation of wildlife’,

rampant tree cutting

‘..a motley of huts, tree stumps and charred pasture as new settlers torch flora and fauna in a land preparation process resembling Russia’s World War II “scorched earth” military strategy against Hitler’s Germany’

The complex nature of both the pattern and process of environmental change, and suggests that environmental change through land reform is not simple, linear or uni-directional as had been assumed (Elliot, 2000)

Even during the most violent and chaotic farm invasions during the time of jambanja, there was ‘order beneath ostensible disorder’ (Chaumba,Scoones and Wolmer, 2003)

In Masvingo Province although there was extensive deforestation due to clearing land for cultivation during the Fast Track, most farmers only cleared those portions needed for agriculture (Murombo, 2002).

Drivers of environmental degradation

Insecure tenure

Open access and ‘free for all’

Conflicts

Few conservation investments

Economic crisis and poverty

Gold panning

Tree cutting

Drivers of environmental degradation

Mismanagement

Stream bank cultivation

Fires

Weak State monitoring agencies

Environmental management Agency (EMA),Forestry Commission

Lack of resources

Lack of commitment

Zimbabwe’s environmental policy and institutional framework

Environmental Management Act

Environmental Impact Assessment

Environmental Policy

Ministry of Environmental and Natural Resources

EMA, FC, PWMA

Sustainable development strategies in Zimbabwe, from 2000 onwards

International environment and development initiatives

The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)

Millennium Development Goals

Trans-boundary natural resource management

Local sustainable development initiatives

Communal Areas Management Program for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE)

Natural products enterprises

Local environment and development non-governmental organisations

Year 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

Revenue (000s US$)

1800 2750 2100 2400 4600 2750 1450 750 2600

CAMPFIRE income from all sources, including wildlife, tourism and problem animal control (hides and ivory)(adapted from Jonga 2008)

Opportunities for post recovery sustainability policies and practices in Zimbabwe

Possibilities for a more sustainable future

Promotion of community based natural product enterprises

Sustainable gold panning?

Diamonds for development?

Land reform for sustainable development?

Funding opportunities

Conclusion

Environmental legislation is sound and progressive, but implementation is weak

Moribund international environmental agenda

Poverty and the economic crisis drives environmental degradation and unsustainability

RecommendationsNeed for:

Coordinated policies

An integrated approach

Effective implementation of existing environmental policies and legislation

More commitment at all levels

More resources for environmental management and monitoring, training, capacity building, incentives and instilling accountability and transparency

Recommendations

Document and disseminate examples of ‘good practices’ in natural resource management, particularly those with a focus on enhancing livelihoods and reducing poverty, and provide a platform for networking and facilitating an integrated approach to sustainable development.

Recommendations

Support environmental education for sustainable development at all levels in order to increase the capacity of communities to address environmental issues and engender values, attitudes, skills and behaviour consistent with good environmental management.

Thank you