WILDLIFE CONSERVATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN AN ‘OUTPOST OF TYRANNY'

BRIAN GRATWICKE AND BRENT STAPELKAMP
ZIMCONSERVATION

There are three main types of land tenure in Zimbabwe – privately owned, communally owned, and national parks land. The privately owned land has been the epicentre of Zimbabwe’s current crisis and has undergone severe changes in recent years, while the other two systems have been affected indirectly as a result of the breakdown of the rule of law and the commercial farming sector that was Zimbabwe’s economic backbone prior to 2000.

1) Private Land – In 2000, commercial farmers (mainly white) owned slightly over 8 million ha of land (21% Zimbabwe’s land area) under a free-hold land tenure system used to grant the owner full, perpetual rights over their land [25] Landowners, as in much of the developed world were able to use their title deeds as collateral to obtain loans from banks in order to develop their commercial enterprises. This system was so successful that Zimbabwe produced food for export throughout the SADC region, supplied 10% of Europe’s horticultural imports and was the world’s second largest tobacco producer. From a conservation perspective, these lands had much the same environmental issues as commercial farms everywhere else in the world. Skilled professionals with university degrees usually tackled these problems and had access to capital and could manage their land according to best practices. Land ownership provided a real incentive to carefully manage land for long-term sustainability [25]. Some of the environmental problems associated with private lands included: over-use of pesticides and fertilizers, dam construction, invasive species, forest clearance for agriculture and water pollution resulting from concentrated livestock operations.

What was particularly interesting from a conservation perspective was the growing popularity of wildlife farming and ranching, which satisfied the twin aims of biodiversity conservation and profit. Research showed that it was more profitable to farm wildlife than cattle in drier regions receiving rainfall below 750mm/year [59]. By 1995, the wildlife producer’s association had 351 members with over 250,600 head of game [75].

Private land tenure is now a quagmire with land being grabbed by peasants who were incited, or in some cases paid, to do so by politicians [76]. This land was re-grabbed by the politicians and traded between Zanu PF officials, police and army officials depending on whose in favour that particular day [77-79], but the land itself is an asset that proves very difficult to liquidate, especially under the current circumstances.

Wildlife farms and game conservancies were no more spared: In 2002, just 2 years into the “fast-track land reform” the chairman of the wildlife producer’s association remarked “It is estimated conservatively that we have lost about 50% of our wildlife, 65% of our tourism in the country and up to 90% safari hunting on commercial farms, and a huge reduction in capture and translocations of wildlife on conservancies” [75]. All reports to the police of random individuals driving onto former game farms and shooting were ignored by the police, resulting in a war zone [12, 75] on privately owned land where whole fences have been turned into thousands of snares killing thousands of animals, particularly in Matabeleland South and Mashonaland West [75]. Records maintained from just 14 farms that were not declared “no-go areas” in the Save Conservancy indicate that between 2001 and 2002, 1150 animal carcases were recovered from snares representing a trophy value of US$656,000 [80] (Fig 2). The illegal settlers were overtly hostile and threatening towards tourists with cameras as they did not want to appear in any photographic records [4]. 22% of the Save Conservancy is now occupied by illegal settlers, 80km of perimeter fence have been removed and there are 5000 cattle living in the conservancy where they are coming into contact with buffalo that are infected with foot and mouth disease [81].

Recently, the government declared through the State-owned newspaper that illegal settlers in the Save Valley, Gwayi, Bubi, Bubye Bibiana, Bubiana, Dete and Hwange Conservancies were degrading the vegetation and decimating the wildlife, that they would be removed and that the land would continue to be run as conservancies [12, 57, 82] (Fig 3). However, along with much of the other rhetoric associated with land reform, no constructive action taken because the government is sorely lacking the resources, expertise and will-power.

2) Communal Land – 42% of Zimbabwe’s land surface is occupied by 66% of its population under a system where the State President grants usufruct rights to villagers and chiefs. There is no legal security of land tenure and title deeds do not exist thus farming occurs mostly at a subsistence level, resulting in only minimal reinvestment in the land and an absence of economies of scale. Because of their high population pressure, communal lands are severely degraded from an environmental perspective, the most common problems being severe deforestation compounded by chronic overgrazing and erosion. The resulting desertification on communal lands is clearly visible from satellite images, often following fence-lines rather than underlying geology [27] (Fig 4).

Despite the prevalence of these environmental problems, some Communal areas had fairly significant game populations and hunting was strictly controlled by the state with any proceeds being channelled to the central government until the formation of CAMPFIRE – (Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources). CAMPFIRE was a radical change in policy because it recognized that local communities should benefit directly from the wildlife resources on their land, in so doing, they develop a sense of ownership and custodianship over their wildlife. This year, CAMPFIRE hunting revenues amounted to Z$5 billion (US$3 million), which is nearly 10% of all hunting revenue generated in the 2005 hunting-season. Over 50% of the revenue was disbursed back to the communities where the revenue was generated [83-85]. Sight-seeing, as opposed to hunting has long been coveted as an area for CAMPFIRE to diversify into so that it can expand its revenue base [83], but this remains unlikely given that Zimbabwe is perceived abroad as a politically unstable and dangerous destination for people with fair complexions.

Communal lands have traditionally been very poor, environmentally degraded areas due to the high human and livestock population densities and it is uncertain whether the land reform programme will result in any real benefits to communal landscapes, even though one of the government’s reasons for justifying the land confiscation was that they wanted to reduce population pressure in communally owned areas. Historically, some private conservancies have provided technical support, management skills and land to surrounding CAMPFIRE areas, but since the demise of the private landowners many of their skilled wildlife professionals have moved elsewhere [86].

3) National Parks - 15% of the country is classified as protected land in the form of National Parks, Safari Areas and Forest Reserves. They had established a reputation as some of the best-managed parks in the world, run by highly trained, professional staff [59, 87]. National Parks and Forests have apparently escaped relatively unscathed in the recent upheaval [1, 88], but some have periodically been target of opportunism and illegal hunting or wood harvesting [89].

The bankruptcy of the State has severely affected the work of those people that have been trying to maintain some state of normalcy in the National Parks systems who acutely need equipment, such as vehicles for anti-poaching operations and fuel to run the pumps that keep waterholes filled [1, 13]. Technologically, the National Parks system has been left in the 1980’s as the staff members have limited computer access and most records and report and accounting systems are hand-written. The Zimbabwe National Parks Authority does not host a website.

Of all the National Parks, settlers have so far invaded only Gonarezohou, claiming historical rights to about 11,000ha [11]. A regional governor has actively encouraged their actions, but the Minister of the Environment simply denies that the settlers exist [11]. The Great-Limpopo Trans-Frontier Park has

come under intense criticism due to these land-invasions, the break down in rule of law, and the poaching reports from the surrounding conservancies that were supposed to be a part of the larger park [8, 91, 92]. Donors have been very wary of giving money to Zimbabwe as there is limited accountability for funds that get sent through the Zimbabwean government, however the authorities seem to have found a loophole in a NEPAD funding agreement and have now declared that the park belongs to SADC. According to this logic, that Zimbabwe can access the fund even though its appalling governance record forbids this [92, 93]. Zanu-PF, with considerable support from neighbouring governments continues to bury its head in the sand and routinely denies that there are any environmental problems, or land invasions, affecting the park—despite numerous reports and photographic evidence to the contrary [94-96]. This messaging war only achieves a mood of unhealthy uncertainty, deterring tourists and resulting in the non-resolution of issues raised over four years ago and the daily deterioration of the situation on the ground.

Wildlife and safari areas continue to be administered by the government and foreign (mostly American) hunters have not been deterred by the political upheaval in the same way that other tourists have, the parks management authorities report that hunting revenues have remained fairly consistent over the last few years with Z$60 billion being realized in the 2005 hunting season [24].

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