Jeanette Manjengwa assesses the issue of sustainable development Presented at 'Moving Forward with Pro-poor Reconstruction in Zimbabwe' International Conference, Harare, Zimbabwe, (25 and 26 August 2009)

1. Environment and Development
issues in Zimbabwe, since
2000 and beyond
By Jeanette Manjengwa
Centre for Applied Social Sciences
University of Zimbabwe

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

8. Gold panning
• Unregistered illegal gold diggers and panners
Operate 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. Environmental impact of the
Fast Track
No environmental audit or assessment
carried out
No longitudinal studies
Anecdotal evidence
Media exaggeration

16. 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’

17. 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)

18. 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).

19. Drivers of environmental degradation
Insecure tenure
Open access and ‘free for all’
Conflicts
Few conservation investments
Economic crisis and poverty
Gold panning
Tree cutting

20. 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

21. Zimbabwe’s environmental policy
and institutional framework
Environmental Management Act
Environmental Impact Assessment
Environmental Policy
Ministry of Environmental and Natural
Resources
EMA, FC, PWMA

22. 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

23. CAMPFIRE income from all sources, including
wildlife, tourism and problem animal control (hides
and ivory)
(adapted from Jonga 2008)
Year 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Revenue
(000s
US$)
1800 2750 2100 2400 4600 2750 1450 750 2600

24. 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

25. 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

26. Recommendations
Need 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

27. 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.

28. 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.

29. Thank you