Community-Based Management in Zambia

from Lewis, 1995

 

 In Zambia, as in much of sub-Saharan Africa, land tenure is in the form of communal ownership. Also, animals such as elephants and large predators benefit from large homeranges. These factors make community-based wildlife and resource management a desirable option, because private ownership of land is rare or nonexistent and a fragmented approach to management proves detrimental to biodiversity. GIS systems are being used to collect and organize data on a grassroots level as well as provide a common language between villagers, village leaders, and researchers to develop a management plan that best benefits the community as well as the wildlife. By organizing the local people, GIS is helping to build local capacity to manage their own resources, creating local ownership of ideas and leading to more sustainable management.
The research for this project focused on a bottom-up approach. Data were collected from the local people in the field to build an information database about the distribution of wildlife, vegetation densities, boundaries of chieftancies, land use practices, location of illegal resource use events such as poaching, location of water sources, and several other factors that influence management strategies for the area. In this way, valuable local data were transferred from the collective memory of the community to a more easily preserved and accessible format. The map seen at right is an example of a base map used in data collection. Researchers organize community meetings in which leaders or villagers can indicate exactly where resources lie and where potential conflict may arise.

Once the data are collected, maps like the one shown here can be generated. These have proven invaluable as communication tools within the local communities. The GIS-generated maps serve as the center of participatory discussions in order to settle boundary or resource allocation disputes, raise community awareness about resource and wildlife management issues, and illustrate resource use or misuse. Having visual aids also helps model how present resource use practices will affect the future availability of those resources. For example, one chief highlighted in this study was able to see how the growth of two villages would block the movements of wildlife to their feeding areas. The maps have been particularly useful in establishing "zones of use" management plans.

Although there are several technical hurdles to making GIS an integral part of community-based management, practices highlighted in this study have enormous potential in building local capacity to manage community land efficiently and sustainably. With GIS, community members can more easily draw on and benefit from wildlife and other resources while having the foresight to manage those resources effectively.