WILDLIFE CONSERVATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN AN ‘OUTPOST OF TYRANNY’
BRIAN GRATWICKE AND BRENT STAPELKAMP
ZIMCONSERVATION
Introduction
Zimbabwe is a land defined largely by its wildlife—arguably more so than any nation on earth. For centuries, humans have been drawn to this expanse of Southern Africa for its herds of game, impressive safaris, and the charismatic representatives of the animal kingdom that await even the casual observer. Moreover, the country's breathtaking landscapes are testament to the rich natural wonders and the outstanding potential of this country, which has only been unlocked in a few high-profile areas.
Today Zimbabwe's wildlife and the environment are threatened at unprecedented levels due to the rapid social and economic changes occurring in the country due to mismanagement by its rogue government. In most countries, lawlessness is a consequence of war, revolution or some other civic breakdown – as in Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone or Somalia. Some dictatorships use lawlessness as a means of attaining power and incorporate lawless elements into their general repressive apparatus – although sometimes purging them as the Nazis did with the SA. What makes Zimbabwe unique is that the government promoted lawlessness as a deliberate instrument of policy. Back in 2000 the country was at peace, it faced no external threat and possessed functioning (well, sort of functioning) institutions. There is absolutely no reason why land reform could not have been done in a planned, orderly and equitable way. There was no public demand for farm invasions and the government engineered the whole land crisis to eliminate political opposition. Of course, they forgot about the law of unintended consequences and now face a great number of problems that might, at some time in the future, lead to a genuine breakdown of law and order. One problem is that by encouraging lawlessness and using the police to promote it, they have lost the ability to restore order even if they wanted to.
In Africa, the only possible analogy is Idi Amin's expulsion of the Asians in the 1970s. But it differs in that Amin came to power in a military coup, itself a lawless act. The resulting changes in Zimbabwe have been extremely detrimental to the wildlife and environment but this crisis has been somewhat overlooked given the scale of the humanitarian disaster gripping the country. Information about the conservation industry is scarce and anecdotal due to the corresponding break down in many of the wildlife management systems. Unlike the recent past, when more organized systems of efficient environmental management monitored and preserved large tracts of the country's flora and fauna, Zimbabwe's current political and environmental upheaval has created its own brand of natural catastrophe that threatens lives, both animal and human.
We seek to present a current and accurate assessment of the state of wildlife, conservation and environmental management in Zimbabwe. As the situation in country becomes more aggravated, reliable information is scarce and the true state of affairs becomes elusive, and compiling this report has been 4 years in the making. Journalists continue to be personally threatened, and the curious foreigner is prohibited access to huge areas of the country. Whereas reports from the ground are politicised and incomplete, reports from abroad can lean towards the sensational. The chaos is further stoked as the Zimbabwean conservation community finds itself divided by crisis and politics. In the absence of systematically collected first-source data, this report represents a synthesis of hundreds of resources, current reports, and seeks to provide an honest and penetrating analysis of the most pressing issues affecting Zimbabwe's conservation sector.