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IUCN carries out study on socio-economic facets for Zimoza
IUCN - The World Conservation Union - Regional Office for Southern Africa (ROSA)
May 04, 2003

by Caroline Gwature

IUCN has over the years been successful in achieving results in its core business, which is to conserve natural resources through implementing projects and lobbying stakeholders and decision-makers towards sustainable management. Another approach has been to conserve natural resources in Transboundary areas. One Transboundary Natural Resource Management area, which has been identified comprises Guruve District (Zimbabwe), Luangwa District (Zambia) and the Zumbo and Magoe Districts (Mozambique) and has now come to be known as the ZIMOZA area. An aspect of the project, which is fast gaining momentum and is seen as having a lot potential in alleviating poverty, is the socio-economic benefits for communities in the ZIMOZA area.

The findings of the study indicates that populations in the ZIMOZA TBNRM area are heavily dependant on natural resources such as water, fish, wildlife, forests and others for livelihood. Given the dry climate and poor soils and rainfall, it makes rain-based agriculture unreliable or too risky and hence the dependence on flood plains for agriculture.

Under its Networking and Capacity Building Programme (NETCAB), IUCN ROSA has taken the study further by profiling tourism potential in the area. There is a lot of tourism potential for the area as the prerequisites for any tourism venture, such as land, wildlife, rivers such as the Zambezi, natural forests, a variety of vegetation types, beautiful panoramic views and human resources, are present in the are in abundance.

The tourism aspect of the study is aimed at developing an understanding of the status of tourism initiatives and activities and its potential in the four districts referred to above. The findings of the study would be used later to produce a tourism development and management plan for the entire ZIMOZA TBNRM area.

These insights are at the core of the findings of the IUCN ROSA Study, which have been published into a book titled "A socio-economic and Tourism Study of Guruve, Luangwa, Zumbo and Magoe Districts."

This study was aimed at developing a database of socio-economic support systems for the four districts and to identify constraints and opportunities for the development of the area. Specifically, it aimed at assessing the extent of the communities' reliance on natural resources, sustainable use of the resources and experience of the community to manage the natural resources including the benefits derived by the members from the management of the natural resources.

This database is important for the project, as it will help identify gaps when implementing activities for the project. With funding from United States Agency for International Development (USAID) the study will assist in clearly defining ownership of resources and who is entitled to benefit from accrued benefits.

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