Chigonda Tanyaradzwa
Department of Physics, Geography and Environmental Science, Great Zimbabwe University, Masvingo, Zimbabwe.
Scientifica (Cairo). 2018 Aug 19;2018:6214318. doi: 10.1155/2018/6214318. eCollection 2018.
Access to natural resources has changed over the years in Zimbabwe. At least three broad periods of biodiversity conservation, utilisation, and access can be identified in the country, namely, the precolonial, colonial, and postindependence periods. This paper reviews the relationships between human livelihoods and biodiversity conservation in the rural areas of Zimbabwe during these periods and is informed by an extensive review of the relevant literature. A combination of historical narrative, thematic, and content analysis was used in analysing the various documents into meaningful information addressing the objective of the study. Traditional societies in precolonial Zimbabwe had access to abundant natural resources. However, access to these resources was not uncontrolled, but was limited by traditional beliefs, taboos, and customs enforced through community leadership structures. The advent of colonialism in the late 19th century dispossessed indigenous African communities of natural resources through command-type conservation legislation. At independence in 1980, the new majority government sought to redress the natural resource ownership imbalances created during colonialism, culminating in some significant measure of devolution in natural resource management to local communities in the late 1980s, though such devolution has been criticised for being incomplete. An accelerated land reform exercise since the year 2000 has adversely affected biodiversity conservation activities in the country, including the conservation-related livelihood benefits derived from protected areas. The review paper highlights the need for a more complete devolution of natural resource ownership and management down to the grassroots levels in the communal areas, if social and ecological sustainability is to be fully realised in these areas. On the other hand, the disruption of conservation activities in the country due to the ill-planned accelerated land reform exercise that has demarcated land for arable farming in some of the protected areas should be held in check as a matter of urgency.
多年来，津巴布韦获取自然资源的情况发生了变化。该国至少可以确定三个生物多样性保护、利用和获取的大致时期，即殖民前、殖民和独立后时期。本文回顾了这些时期津巴布韦农村地区人类生计与生物多样性保护之间的关系，并参考了对相关文献的广泛综述。在分析各种文件以获取解决研究目标的有意义信息时，采用了历史叙述、主题分析和内容分析相结合的方法。殖民前的津巴布韦传统社会能够获取丰富的自然资源。然而，获取这些资源并非不受控制，而是受到通过社区领导结构实施的传统信仰、禁忌和习俗的限制。19世纪末殖民主义的到来，通过指令性保护立法剥夺了非洲土著社区的自然资源。1980年独立时，新的多数派政府试图纠正殖民主义期间造成的自然资源所有权失衡问题，最终在20世纪80年代末将自然资源管理在一定程度上大幅下放给当地社区，尽管这种下放因不彻底而受到批评。自2000年以来加速进行的土地改革对该国的生物多样性保护活动产生了不利影响，包括来自保护区的与保护相关的生计利益。该综述文章强调，如果要在这些地区充分实现社会和生态可持续性，就需要将自然资源所有权和管理更彻底地下放到社区地区的基层。另一方面，由于计划不周的加速土地改革，在一些保护区划定土地用于耕种，从而扰乱了该国的保护活动，这一情况应作为紧急事项加以控制。
