Exploring the nature of contemporary governance in forest protected areas: Empirical findings from two case study forests in western Zimbabwe
5.5: Materials and Methods
5.5.1 Location, choice and characteristics of case study forests
This study focused on exploring governance mechanisms at the individual forest level with the focal system being the indigenous FPAs in western Zimbabwe. The FPAs are found in Matabeleland north province (Figure 5.2) which is one of Zimbabwe’s eight provinces covering about 19 percent of the total area of Zimbabwe (AOAD, 1992). The population of the province was 749 017 in 2012 (excluding Bulawayo city) or 5.7% of Zimbabwe’s total population (Zimstat, 2013). The province’s main land uses are national parks, sanctuaries, resettlement land, communal areas and FPAs (Hill and Katerere, 2002). These land divisions were first established under the Land Apportionment Act of 1930 followed by the Land Tenure Act of 1969 and then the post-independence land reform programme which was accelerated since the year 2000.
HWANGE HARAR]
LUPANE
GWERU
(Inhabited)
600 Kilometers VICTORIA
L eg en d Town
2 I I Provincial boundary
□ Gwaai forest
22 □ Fuller forest (Uninhabited)
200 200 400
Figure 5.2: The location of Gwaai and Fuller forests in Matabeleland North province, Zimbabwe
Matabeleland region was selected because all the Baikiaea hardwood forests of vital local, national and international ecological and economic significance are found in this region (Judge, 1975). The region, due to the role of the forests as wildlife habitats, is both socially and economically significant for its wildlife-based tourism activities that include game viewing, trophy hunting and photographic safaris. From a governance point of view, all the major forest areas in the region are demarcated as protected state forests that are owned and managed by the state through the Forestry Commission under the Forest Act chapter 19:05.
The forests are in agro-ecological region IV that receives annual rainfall ranging from 400 - 700 mm (Vincent and Thomas, 1960). The rainfall is temporally poorly distributed and seasonal droughts are common. The rainfall has become more variable with climate change and new trends are yet to be established. The forests are on generally flat to undulating terrain that is predominantly underlain by deep unconsolidated Kalahari sand deposits. These climatic and edaphic conditions have made the region’s agricultural potential very limited resulting in the FPAs being important sources of local peasant population’s livelihoods. All
121
the forest lands have distinct vegetation zones that are related to soil and topography. Vleis are characterised by different formations of grasses that are good habitats for grazers. The Kalahari sand zones are the most extensive and they support commercially valuable Baikiaea plurijuga woodlands associated with Pterocarpus angolensis, Combretum collinum, Schinziophyton rautanenii, Croton gratissimus and Guibourtia coleosperma. Dicotyledonous herbs such as Vernoniaposkeana, Clerodendrum ternatum and Jasminum stenolobum are also common. (Judge, 1975; White, 1983; Gambiza et al., 2005). The Colophosperum mopane woodlands occur mainly on vlei margins.
Through consultation with forest management authorities in the region, the two study forests were selected - Gwaai and Fuller forests (Figure 5.2). The main criterion for categorisation of the forests was the peasant population settled in the forests. Gwaai has in situ forest inhabitants whilst Fuller has ex situ inhabitants. The Forestry Commission argues that the most serious threat to the sustainable management of the indigenous forests in Matabeleland north province is the presence of in situ inhabitants (squatters) on forest land.
The Forest Act chapter 19:05 states that there should not be human inhabitants in protected state forests except forest management authorities and their families. The two forests were chosen for comparison of governance arrangements and their outcomes because they represent the reality of forest management situation in the region. Gwaai forest with in situ inhabitants represents the unacceptable situation whilst Fuller with ex situ inhabitants represents the acceptable situation according to the Forest Act chapter 19:05 and the FC management authorities.
5.5.2: Data collection methods and procedures
In this paper, the term local governance is used to refer to governance arrangements that exist at each individual protected forest level such as the roles and inter-relationships of different actors and institutions, decision making processes, law enforcement and benefit sharing mechanisms among others. To understand the existing forest governance arrangements in the case study forests, a combination of key informant interviews, desk study review, focused group interviews and governance questionnaire addressing governance issues such as public participation, rule compliance, forest legislation enforcement and benefits sharing were employed.
Governance questionnaires constituted the main primary data collection instruments.
One questionnaire was designed and administered to FC staff members at forest level and
these were the three FC officials (District conservator, Forester and Forest Protection unit Head for each forest), the Rural District Council (RDC) natural resources officers for the four districts, Parks and Wildlife management Authority, Environmental Management Agency (EMA) district officers. Another questionnaire was designed for the local community members in and out of the forest areas. For Gwaai forest, 40 questionnaires were administered to randomly selected in situ residents and 40 to forest fringe community of Gwaai communal area. For Fuller forest 40 questionnaires were administered to Jambezi and the other 40 to Mvutu communal area household respondents that form boundaries with Fuller forest.
Respondents were household heads who were randomly selected using the household list obtained from the headman of each area.
Key informant interviews were carried out with a councillor, chief and village head from each of the communities around the study forests where questionnaires had been administered, two representatives of the companies that were logging timber at the time of study in Fuller forest, two timber processing companies (one at Lupane and one in Victoria Falls), two safari operators in Victoria falls. Planning for the interviews involved the designing of thematic interview guides, acquiring and pre-testing recording equipment and determination of venues which were convenient for both the interviewer and interviewee. All individual interviews were tape-recorded after obtaining informed consent and subsequently transcribed.
Secondary data were obtained from both grey and published literature. Grey literature consulted was obtained from the district forest offices and included forest management plans and forester reports on forest management activities in each forest. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze questionnaires whilst thematic discourse analysis was employed to analyse key informant interview data.