By Miriam Mannak
CAPE TOWN, Dec 7 2007 (IPS)

Local communities in Southern Africa should be given a greater opportunity to participate in initiatives for the management and conservation of natural resources such as water. This was one of the main conclusions of the third Zambezi Basinwide Stakeholders Forum, held recently in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

“Generally speaking, the public is poorly represented when it comes to the management of natural resources such as water. This needs to change,” said Felix Monggae, chief executive officer of the Kalahari Conservation Society in Botswana, which runs a project called ‘Every River Has Its People’.

Noted resources management consultant Bernard Khupe, “Technocrats can no longer tell communities about certain decisions after they are made already, thus when nothing can be changed. Although the public used to be satisfied with this arrangement, there has been a major shift in views in recent years.”

Residents of the basin have to be consulted, said Monggae, because they are most immediately affected by conservation strategies.

“Men and women living in the basin are the prime stakeholders. Like no one else they depend on the basin’s resources. For this reason alone, governments of the eight riparian states should promote public participation and community involvement,” he told IPS.

The Zambezi Basin traverses Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

“When it comes to decisions regarding water resource management and conservation, local knowledge is crucial,” she told IPS. “Of all the basin’s stakeholders, the members of the community know best what is happening on the ground and what is needed in their region.”

But, involving communities is not always an easy task. As Monggae indicated, this process can be complicated by the sheer number of persons living in the Zambezi Basin, which is home to some 40 million people.

In addition, said Hillary Masundire of the World Conservation Union, competing interests need to be taken into account.

“There are many different groups living in the basin, each with different needs – for instance farmers, fishers, tour operators, chiefs and households. All these groups have different requirements and ideas,” he said in an interview with IPS.

And, “Let’s not forget the wildlife, birds and vegetation. Though voiceless, they too are stakeholders, as they depend on the basin’s resources for their wellbeing.”

The establishment of community-based organisations and local forums is seen as a good means of encouraging public participation in Zambezi Basin management.

“Such organisations form a good vehicle to make communities aware of the necessity and benefits of their participation in managing and conserving the basin’s natural resources,” Monggae observed. “This because NGOs (non-governmental organisations) stand closer to the people than, for instance, the government.”

This does not mean that politicians can sit back and relax, he added: “Governments of the riparian states should be involved in promoting public participation as well. There is a strong need for co-operation between all stakeholders of the basin – governments, communities and NGOs.”

A number of initiatives aimed at raising community participation in natural resource management are underway in the Zambezi Basin, some under the auspices of Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation (IRDNC) – an NGO in Namibia.

“In 1990 we started a community which supports farmers to protect their fields and crops against animals through environmentally sound methods that do not involve killing the animals,” said the IRDNC’s Daisy Nheta of a project in the northern Caprivi Strip.

“By doing so, the animals are protected while jobs are being created, and the frustrations of the farmers are taken in consideration.”

The IRDNC also has other undertakings in progress; these vary from integrating members of the Caprivi community into the tourism industry to assisting locals with setting up their own businesses.

Nheta told IPS that Namibian authorities had played an important role in making this possible. “The government is highly aware of the importance of communities being involved in conservation strategies.”

“At the moment, there are 18 conservancies in the Caprivi strip. This means that most communities in the region benefit from conservation strategies in the form of employment, education, and tourism.”

But most importantly, added Nheta, the majority of communities want to be involved in conservation initiatives, even if they are not always seen as willing participants.

“The problem is that local communities are often perceived as a problem to conservation initiatives, for instance due to poaching and cultivating wetlands. That is because they have not been given a chance to participate.”

The stakeholders forum was held in the northern Zimbabwean resort of Victoria Falls from Nov. 27-29 by the ‘Zambezi Action Plan Project 6 Phase 2’ (ZACPRO 6.2), an initiative of the Southern African Development Community.

ZACPRO 6.2 aims to promote sustainable use of resources in the basin – one of the world’s largest – while creating greater social and economic development in the states where it is located.

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