Moving forward in Zimbabwe - Brooks World Poverty Institute - The ...

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Moving forward in Zimbabwe Reducing poverty and promoting growth systems in the country. Gold panning mushroomed since 2000 and involves an estimated one million people, who operate along more that 5,000 km of Zimbabwe’s rivers. Panning is carried out unsustainably and unsystematically, usually in river beds, banks and flood plains with no concern for the environment. Trees are cut down haphazardly, pits several metres deep are dug and alluvial soil is removed, resulting in erosion and siltation as the soil and rocks are washed into streams. Chemicals such as mercury and cyanide are used, which are harmful to human health and pollute the environment. At one level the state saw panners as people struggling to survive and, depending on the election calendar, was happy to let them be. At another level they were viewed as a threat to the environment and in mid-2007 the Government of Zimbabwe initiated the nation-wide Operation Chikorokosa Chapera (stop gold panning), spearheaded by the Zimbabwe Republic Police, to address the menace of uncontrolled gold panning. The operation was short-lived and generally deemed ineffective as in many instances panners were tipped off before police raids. In general, we can say that, as a result of the crisis, local resource management was now driven by: • A failure of agricultural productivity (due to the lack of inputs, especially fertiliser) so that extensive staple cereal farming is scarcely viable. This drove people towards environmental goods, especially those available freely. • The search for other natural resources-based livelihoods: gold panning, wildlife (hunting) tourism, timber extraction (encroachment on commercial plantations), and processing of baobab products are all identified as remunerative. • Reliance on ‘mining’ environmental goods upon access to markets where payment is in foreign exchange. Since 2000, irrespective of the official policies and rhetoric about environmental management, implementation has been negligible. This has created a ‘free-for-all’ open access situation that is being driven by the socio-economic crisis and poverty and is causing massive environmental degradation. 5.5 Towards poverty – focused post-crisis environment and development recovery Despite the situation described above there are important opportunities for rectifying the situation in future with an improved enabling environment, characterised by good governance and accountability. Zimbabwe has rich natural resources, particularly minerals, land and biodiversity, which, if managed wisely by adding value and developing good market linkages, could significantly contribute towards sustainable development. A sound policy framework exists, together with structures that can easily be revived. Experience has shown that, in order to be effective, action needs to be concentrated at local level, empowering district councils, district-level government agencies, local NGOs and community-based organisations. These local institutions need support, training and capacity building to make them competent and effective in implementing policies and legislation, and to be accountable downwards as well as upwards. A people-centred, participatory approach is required that marries local knowledge with professional science. An integrated, multi-sector holistic approach to the environment that recognises the linkages between environment and all aspects of development could be facilitated by the formation of a sustainability framework with a few basic principles for Zimbabwe, recognised at the highest level and implemented by all on the ground, coupled with increased environmental awareness and education. While not all proposed recovery programmes include environmental sustainability, the UNDP (2008) discussion document on Zimbabwe’s economic recovery emphasises sustainability and under Strategic Objective 3, includes the need to reduce poverty and improve environmental management. We look in more detail below at some of the potential opportunities for increasing economic opportunities for people through better natural resource management. Promotion of community-based natural product enterprises Local-level management of resources remains an important option for creating opportunities for people to manage and benefit from wildlife and other natural resources. During its evolution, the CAMPFIRE model has proved to be versatile and robust, and has encouraged local entrepreneurship as well as partnership with the private sector. Greater emphasis placed on private sectorcommunity partnerships below the level of the rural district council can improve expertise to run viable community-based enterprises, strengthen financial resources and provide marketing capacity. In recent years the development of natural resourcebased enterprises that are part of the local and global economy has been recognised as providing significant economic incentives and creating opportunities for local communities to be more involved in natural resources management. This has seen the development of a wide range of community-based enterprises, ranging from establishment of simple producer groups to sophisticated joint ventures and partnerships. Key factors for the success in the community-based enterprise model include the availability, quality and quantity of the resource, availability of markets and tangible benefits to the community. Product research and development is needed together with creating incentives to invest in the products. Market linkages are crucial and must be maintained. Communities should understand the market context and be able to raise awareness within the market of a new product. PhytoTrade Africa, a trade association created in 2001, which is currently buying from 30,000 producers a year in eight different countries, including Zimbabwe, links rural producers to global markets for natural products, aiming to create economic opportunities for low-income rural producers through developing a viable natural products industry in southern Africa. The utility of natural capital in securing rural livelihoods comes into sharper focus when viewed against the background of fragile agricultural systems and frequent crop failures that characterise the communal lands of southern Africa (Gondo and Mugweni, 2007). Most of its rural population still live in areas of marginal agricultural potential. Under these conditions, and in the context of livelihood diversification, commercialising natural resources can have poverty reduction outcomes. Sustainable gold panning The present situation regarding gold panning is out of control. Conventional methods of control, such as imposing fines and clampdown operations and raids, have little impact and are no deterrent, providing short-term temporary solutions to the problem. The challenge is how this valuable natural resource can be mainstreamed into the economy without causing environmental degradation, so 70
Moving forward in Zimbabwe Reducing poverty and promoting growth that gold panning and small-scale mining can contribute towards sustainable development. The legal framework exists in Statutory Instrument 275/1991 of the Mines and Mineral Act, which allows for panning under certain conditions, and under the Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental Management Plans requirements of the Environmental Management Act, which provide for environmental sustainability frameworks for economic activities. A number of models and pilot schemes using more sustainable panning techniques already exist (see Shoko and Love, 2003). An organised set up would be required with an integrated approach which mainstreams the panning activities, incorporating them into formal, legal, administrative and economic structures, managed at district and ward levels. If control is devolved to the local level, management of small-scale mining and panning would be more effective, resulting in reduced environmental degradation and better rehabilitation. Furthermore this would ensure that local communities benefit from the proceeds of alluvial gold panning. The CAMPFIRE programme has shown that natural resources are better conserved when they are controlled and managed by local communities. The advantages of such an approach to alluvial gold resources would be that: communities could benefit directly from their natural resources, providing an incentive to conserve those resources; communities would monitor and police themselves, thereby reducing the costs of policing and making it more effective; rehabilitation would be ensured; and control over selling gold would be more effective. An action plan, ‘Integrated Management of Small Scale and Artisanal Mining of Gold for Sustainable Economic, Social and Environmental Development’ was developed by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism through consultation with relevant stakeholders, including Ministries of Mines, Local Government, and Finance, and CAMPFIRE Association. The action plan was presented to the Cabinet Economic Action Committee, where it was approved in principle in 2003. Since then, the initiative has not been pushed further and has been shelved, but nevertheless, it remains a sound and acceptable plan that, if implemented, could provide the basis of a future scenario for a lucrative sustainable development initiative. Recognising its importance, the Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Zimbabwe, has included sustainable mining as one of its strategic choices for addressing national environmental concerns 2008-2012 (Institute for Environmental Studies, 2008). Land reform for sustainable development Land reform is a long-term process that aims to enhance agricultural production and has potential to reduce poverty (Cliffe, 1988; DFID, 1999). There are opportunities for land distribution to benefit poor rural households, especially if they are given better quality land than they have at present and have the necessary inputs and support. However, to be successful land reform programmes should incorporate not only social and economic viability, but environmental sustainability as well. Environmental considerations of land reform are generally inadequately conceptualised, despite being a central consideration of sustainable land use (Manjengwa 2006). Under the present circumstances in Zimbabwe of economic crisis and high poverty levels, and coupled with ill-defined property rights and distorted policy regimes of the Fast Track, land reform has resulted in resource over-exploitation and environmental degradation. Both the pattern and process of environmental change through land reform tend to be complex rather than simple, linear or unidirectional. The nature and scale of environmental degradation as well as conservation measures adopted will be diverse and dynamic. While in the long term there is the need to re-establish official systems of data collection and to monitor social, economic and environmental changes, in the short term there is a need for a small sample of high quality rapid appraisal exercises, using tools such as aerial photographs, mini-surveys, key informant interviews and focus group discussions, in a small number of representative areas to corroborate anecdotal evidence and to guide priority actions. Work already done can be updated, such as Matondi’s (2005) fivevolume comprehensive study of the impacts of accelerated land reform in Mazowe District. Concerning lucrative forest resources, the timber producers who had high stakes in plantations realised their dilemma regarding the land reform programme and the need for resettlement, and subsequently made several representations to government. A multistakeholder technical committee developed a policy paper entitled ‘Proposals for the Land Reform Programme and Indigenisation of the Forestry Industry by Forestry Companies’. The policy contained guiding principles for land reform in forests, compensation mechanisms, generic land reform options and details of the timber industry’s contribution to land reform, mainly offers of forestland, for resettlement. The proposal includes non-fragmentation of plantations and states that forest land use shall not be changed to agriculture. The government accepted the proposals in principle, and although the forests and land reform policy appears to have got lost in bureaucracy, it still provides a viable scenario for future sustainable plantation management. Similarly, the wildlife and land reform policy provides potential options for conservancies and resettled farms with game. Some conservancies were invaded during the Fast Track and their operations affected by poaching and some changes in land use from game to agriculture. 5.6 Funding opportunities With the current preoccupation of the international community with climate change, there will be a number of funding and other opportunities for support available. International finance is already available for promoting sustainable development, cleaner technology and the reduction of carbon emissions. The global concept of the Green Economy and the transition to a low-carbon economy and renewable energy sources present opportunities for economic growth. The challenge for developing countries, such as Zimbabwe, is to position themselves in order to take advantage of the new economic interaction and international capital flows such as the World Bank Clean Technology Fund and the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol. Zimbabwe is in the process of ratifying the Kyoto Protocol and will soon be eligible for funding. A further challenge will be that of translating future international funding, including funding that is likely to pour into Zimbabwe for the post-crisis reconstruction period, into locallyowned, long-term, sustainable initiatives on the grounds that these produce real benefits to both people and the environment. Recipient governments are inclined to accept concepts with associated funding without questions. Therefore, when adopting internationally-inspired sustainable development initiatives it is necessary to scrutinise them in order to determine whether the 71
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