Community based natural resource management (CBNRM) : a vehicle towards sustainable rural development. The case of campfire in Zimbabwe's Mashonaland west Hurungwe district

There is a definite policy shift in Southern Africa away from privatization to an acceptance that in certain situations under certain conditions, common property is indeed a more efficient resource management regime than other tenure systems. Governments and indeed the international community have come to realize the need to involve communities in natural resources management through creating partnership agreements or the use of participatory methodologies in planning for natural resources management. The forebears of these programmes have been the devolved wildlife management programmes of Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia under Administrative Design for Game Management Areas (ADMADE), The Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) and Living a Finite Environment (LIFE) respectively. The experience from CBNRM initiatives in the region suggests that broad spectrum natural resource management and use under the authority and control of local communities in marginal arid and semi arid areas offers competitively productive returns to those from other land or resource use options. CBNRM strategies can make significant contributions to economic diversification- a critical objective for sustainable development. It is thus the intention of this paper to reveal the extent to which the CBNRM initiatives under CAMPFIRE in the Hurungwe District under Mashonaland West Province of Zimbabwe have contributed to sustainable rural development through capacity building, empowerment, institutional development and self reliance thereby contributing directly to the achievement of the key national objectives of poverty alleviation, equitable income distribution and food security.