Savannah land use: policy and practice in Zimbabwe

A conference presented at the IUBS UESCO/UNEP conference workshop on: Economic Driving Forces And Constraints On Savanna Land Use, Nairobi, Kenya, January 1991.Zimbabwe is situated on the high plateau of east and Southern Africa and lies wholly within the tropics. There are four main physiographic regions with the eastern mountains forming a narrow band along the Mozambique border. The rest of the country is characterised by the north-east to south-west watershed - the "highveld" which lies above 1200m and which descends to the Zambezi River in the north and the Limpopo River in the southeast via a scries of plateaux, with the middle veld (900-1200m) giving way to the lowveld (below 900m). The soils are mainly derived from the ancient basement complex underlying the continent and are consequently infertile. Apart from high rainfall areas of the eastern highlands the country is predominantly wooded savanna with a mean annual rainfall of between 400 an I 1200 mm per annum with some 65% of the country receiving less than 750mm per annum. The moister, north . astern sector, is able to support commercial farming based on cash and food crops and beef production. An equable tropical climate conferred by its altitude (about 66% lies above 900m) and the promise of high agricultural potential resulted in a relatively large, for an African colony, immigrant white population. This unusual situation lead to early self governing colonial status, an entrenched dual land use system (Figs. 1 and 2), a dual agricultural economy, and delayed political independence. Within this framework we examine the developing political economy of Zimbabwe and its impact on changing land use patterns and savanna ecology. This chapter identifies the principal components which have shaped contemporary savanna land use policy and practice in Zimbabwe and provides policy recommendations of national and international relevance.IUBS -UNESCO / UNE

Do the large termite mounds of Macrotermes concentrate micronutrients in addition to macronutrients in nutrient-poor African savannas?

The influence of soil organisms on the availability of nutrients to other biota within ecosystems can be context-dependent. Fungus-culturing termites, for example, are known to concentrate nutrients by building large mounds in nutrient-poor savannas, but several factors determine the nutritional value of the mounds - whether by geophagy or consumption of forage - for large herbivores. Such factors include the limitations of the local edaphic environment and the degree of nutritional enrichment of plants growing on these mounds. We investigated, in nutrient-poor miombo vegetation in Zimbabwe, how the surrounding soils and maturity of the mounds affected concentrations of macro- and micronutrients in mounds and the woody plant foliage growing on them. All macro- and micronutrients save ammonium, extractable P, Zn and Se were enriched in large mounds relative to matrix soils, but none was significantly enriched in incipient mounds, suggesting that the full nutritional value of mounds is only expressed in large mounds. Concentrations of macronutrients, other than extractable P, in large mounds varied independently of concentrations in the matrix of surrounding topsoils. However, six (Mo, Cu, Fe, Zn, Se and Mn) of the nine micronutrient elements tested showed correlation with surrounding topsoils. Although foliar concentrations of N and P in mound species of woody plants did not differ significantly from those of matrix species, they reached maxima in mound species (5.7% for N and 0.4% for P, exceeding maxima of 4.3% and 0.24% in matrix species). Similarly, foliar concentrations of 75% of the micronutrients tested did not differ between mound and matrix species; but mound species contained maxima for 75% of these elements. Since herbivory is affected by soil nutrients, herbivores might meet their nutrient requirements in this nutrient-poor system by including mound plant species in their diets

Transfrontier Conservation Areas: people living on the edge

This book focuses on the forgotten people displaced by, or living on the edge of, protected wildlife areas. It moves beyond the grand 'enchanting promise' of conservation and development across frontiers, and unfounded notions of TFCAs as integrated social-ecological systems. Peoples' dependency on natural resources – the specific combination of crop cultivation, livestock keeping and natural resource harvesting activities – varies enormously along the conservation frontier, as does their reliance on resources on the other side of the conservation boundary. Hence, the studies in this book move from the dream of eco-tourism-fuelled development supporting nature conservation and people towards the local realities facing marginalized people, living adjacent to protected areas in environments often poorly suited to agriculture

Transfrontier Conservation Areas: people living on the edge

This book focuses on the forgotten people displaced by, or living on the edge of, protected wildlife areas. It moves beyond the grand 'enchanting promise' of conservation and development across frontiers, and unfounded notions of TFCAs as integrated social-ecological systems. Peoples' dependency on natural resources – the specific combination of crop cultivation, livestock keeping and natural resource harvesting activities – varies enormously along the conservation frontier, as does their reliance on resources on the other side of the conservation boundary. Hence, the studies in this book move from the dream of eco-tourism-fuelled development supporting nature conservation and people towards the local realities facing marginalized people, living adjacent to protected areas in environments often poorly suited to agriculture