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

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
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