Abstract
Illegal wood harvesting, a factor that threatens conservation efforts, was assessed in Chimanimani National Park (CNP), eastern Zimbabwe, in April 2016. The study identified preferred indigenous woody species, determined the uses and quantities of indigenous wood extracted, and established local people’s knowledge and perceptions on forest resource conservation, institutional framework and management by-laws. Mixed data collection methods, which included questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used. For questionnaires, a three-stage sampling design was adopted; that is, purposive sampling, where three Wards (i.e. Chikukwa Ward 11, Chikwakwa Ward 17 and Ngorima Ward 5b) were selected as study areas from a total of seventeen Wards in Chimanimani District. The three selected Wards had a combined total of 15 villages. Stage 2 involved random sampling, where three villages, one from each selected Ward, i.e. Batanai (75 households), Chikukwa (110 households) and Tamuka (46 households), with a total of 231 households, were chosen. Stage 3 was the random selection of households, where 46 questionnaires were administered and collected in the 3 selected villages, representing 20% of the targeted population. The study results highlighted that the preferred woody species included those of Acacia, Bauhinia, Brachystegia, Combretum, Pericopsis and Terminalia genera. The illegally harvested indigenous woody plants were principally for household uses. Quantities collected ranged from 0.2 to 0.4 tons for firewood monthly and 3 to 6 tons mostly for tobacco curing. Most respondents reported that by-laws were not effective in combating illegal wood harvesting. It was concluded that CNP woodlands are under pressure due to illegal wood harvesting. It is recommended that a robust community-based strategy to conserve woody species and natural resource utilisation be developed.
Highlights
Disturbances taking place in protected areas, especially on indigenous woody species posed by human activities are a cause for concern
This study aimed to address the following objectives, i.e. to: 1) identify preferred indigenous woody species, determine the uses and quantities of indigenous woody plants extracted by communities adjacent to the Chimanimani National Park (CNP), and 2) assess the local knowledge and perspectives on the effectiveness of forest resource by-laws2 and the institutional frameworks in forest resource management
Preferred Indigenous Woody Species, Uses and Quantities Extracted by Communities Adjacent to the CNP
Summary
Disturbances taking place in protected areas, especially on indigenous woody species posed by human activities are a cause for concern. In Asia, some protected areas like Malaysia’s Janda Baik face massive pressures of deforestation due to human encroachment, increased demand for forest products, urban development and illegal agricultural practices (World Wide Fund, WWF, 2001). In South America, Brazil’s commercial farmers clear cerrado and engage in illegal wood harvesting in protected forests to generate large profits with an estimated 8.5 million hectares of protected tropical rainforests in Brazil being lost every year (Thomas, 2004). The protected tropical rainforests of Brazil were estimated to be less by 90% - 95% of their original state in the early 2000s (WWF, 2001)
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