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Wildlife, Habitat, Environment Protection and Community Integration Action
Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force (ZCTF) - participant
Bulawayo, December 05, 2003

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The Concern
The immediate curtailment of mismanagement, decimation and degradation of Zimbabwe's valuable wildlife, natural habitats, sensitive environments, dependent sociological structures and extensive economic needs, through the introduction of effective management systems across biologically and geographically sensitive locations in Zimbabwe.

The latter biomes are perilously threatened by injudicious poaching of high and low value fauna, avifauna and flora, rapid enhancement of desertification in pristine woodland areas, abolition of critical water resources through extensive pollution and causeway destruction by uncontrolled small mining operations, pervasive soil erosion, silting of essential dams, toxic mercury and cyanide emissions into river systems and general environment and natural habitat obliteration.

The Address
A group of environmentalists, conservationists, educationalists, biodiversity management professionals, game ranchers and concerned members of the public attended a meeting in Bulawayo on 5th December 2003, to discuss pertinent issues towards constructing a strategy to present Heads of Argument to the government, specific ministerial departments, the Office of the President of Zimbabwe and role playing organisations and individuals, for appropriate approval and support for the re-introduction of competent management in wildlife, natural habitats, environmentally sensitive areas in synergy with dependent community integration and development initiatives.

It was agreed that the concerns at hand focused on economic and sociological concerns as they would impact on wildlife, natural habitats, environmental matters and dependent community development, and not political implications.

The results of the meeting, as inadequate as they are at this conceptual stage, are being shared with interested local, regional and international institutes, societies, organisations, individuals and other valuable input/feedback resources that have been identified as directly and indirectly significant to the group's objectives.

Introductory Note Summary
Wildlife, natural and protected areas are inadequately protected, with extensive evidence of negligence by land-users, landowners, open society, local authorities and governments. Appropriate strengths are not being identified nor effectively employed and weaknesses are becoming dominant in determining management practices. Conditions specific to sensitive areas need early investigation, followed by appropriate entrenchment of strategically planned needs linked to sustainable protective action through capacity building and wide-reaching participation by key components. Known expertise in wildlife, natural habitat and environmental management techniques, such as experienced past and current landowners/users, should be engaged to facilitate appropriate controls and accountability. Communities need to be integrated into biodiversity programmes and share responsibility and benefits. Funding avenues to support strategic plans need urgent approach.

Participation
The biomes encompassing fauna, avifauna, flora, natural habitats, environmental issues, water and soils as they may be defined as natural assets integral to sociological and economic development, were stated by the group to be comprehensively fundamental to a mission statement that clearly embraces conserving them in an holistic form and without compromise and should be taken to include essential maintenance processes for life support systems in a realistically sustainable manner in the best interests of Zimbabwe's sociological, economic, wildlife, natural environment and community needs.

The group was guided towards achieving its goals through cell discussions and adopting sets of principles that included :

1. Avoiding political references and confrontation
2. Sourcing necessary data to make appropriate decisions
3. Evaluating the present situation against achievable proposals
4. Constructing solutions around a specific (pilot) project for broadening later
5. Including community leaders and key stakeholders in preliminary discussion and planning process
6. Work towards developing an organisation with strategic partnerships

• Zimbabwe is faced with an alarming crisis related to stress and land/habitat collapse
• Large numbers of Zimbabweans live in abject poverty midst non-existent structures that hinder their progress and quality of life
• Poverty as the scourge of the country remains a major cause and consequence of environmental degradation
• Water scarcity and pollution have become a colossal problem
• The current events of gold panning along hundreds of kilometres of Zimbabwe's river systems, is destroying natural water resources and dependent biodiversities at an alarming rate
• Rapidly declining water supplies and poor sanitation have started to increase rates of water borne diseases such as dysentery and even cholera.

Across the board, the group considered the effects of injudicious exploitation/decimation of natural resources, extensive pollution, the expansion of communal agriculture into marginal areas, the deforestation of natural habitats, the indiscriminate consumptive/commercial poaching/slaughter, the irresponsible pollution and destruction of watercourses and increased toxicity counts. The latter events are all major driving forces behind wildlife, habitat and environmental degradation processes and are putting great and in some cases, irreversible pressures on Zimbabwe's natural heritage, with secondary effects that devastate biodiversity and biological resources to the extreme detriment of Zimbabwe's sociological and economic structures. In so doing, the need to approach government with an integrated management proposal as is intended for discussion and compilation in the meeting, has become imperative.

Zimbabwe's rich biological diversity is being treated as dispensable wasteland under the auspices of misguided communities. Man cannot live within wildlife and natural environments without causing extensive damage.

The call from the meeting is therefore, for the compilation of a document clearly depicting precise Heads of Argument that will appeal to the government, specific government departments and the Office of the President, to timeously consider the approval of re-introducing experienced and qualified management into key areas currently staggered by careless processes.

This approval would ideally incorporate current landowner management who possess the model working knowledge and experience in their specific areas, to immediately arrest degradation, followed by the early implementation of pre-set procedures for a logically integrated wildlife, habitat and environmental management system designed to suit the best progressive interests of Zimbabwe's rural sociological and economic development needs.

With appropriate mechanisms in place, the benefits would be colossal :

• Tourism should start to regain its rightful status in Zimbabwe
• Hunting could well begin to re-establish its once buoyant role as a conservation practice and foreign income generator
• Employment opportunities will be created
• Communities will develop and assume partnership and accountability roles through integrated capacity building
• Education systems in adjoining remote areas will regain prominence
• Essential health services unique to outlying locales will be brought back on stream
• Social structures will be strengthened
• Economic dependency on the State will diminish as communities become internally self-reliant
• Critical local, regional and international public relations will gain momentum and the international donor market will revisit its Zimbabwean funding capabilities

In all, the quality of life and security of tenure for landowners/users and communities will be installed. Moreover, the urgent water, environmental and community concerns would receive early address.

The reality is, the proposal is reasonable and practicable. It requires only the direction and energy of the discussion group, linked to value adding partnership input. After all, the question "Are we part of the problem or are we part of the solution?" could be asked, as the future of wildlife, habitat, environment and community integration is not a matter of chance, but a matter of choice. Its future security must be achieved and not waited for.

If this is true, recipients of this document are encouraged to respond with thoughts, proposals and even criticism before the next meeting on 16th January 2004.

Thank you,

Dr John Fulton
Facilitator

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