Online Reporter
Ivan Zhakata
Herald Correspondent
The forestry sector is set to play a bigger role in the country’s Community-Based Natural Resources Management (CBNRM) programme with the Government saying forests offer opportunities that can benefit communities beyond wildlife-rich districts.
Acting Deputy Director for Biodiversity in the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Wildlife, Mrs Courage Mbiriyawanda, said this at the Annual National Convention on the Future of CBNRM in Harare last week, where she outlined the forestry sector’s contribution to the programme’s next decade.
Mrs Mbiriyawanda said while the Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) has established a strong foundation for wildlife-based CBNRM, the forestry sector has the potential to reach communities in districts with little or no wildlife.
“The wildlife legacy is a proven, valuable foundation but concentrated in districts with a wildlife endowment. The forest opportunity reaches the many districts with little or no wildlife,” she said.
Mrs Mbiriyawanda said the forestry sector has progressively moved from an exclusionary approach to natural resource management towards greater participation by local communities.
She said the transformation could be traced to the reservation of Mafungabusi State Forest in 1954, followed by the adoption of a co-management approach in 1993 with Canadian support.
The Resource Sharing Project, launched in 1994, subsequently pioneered formal partnerships between the State and communities in forestry management.
Between 1999 and 2006, the Adaptive Collaborative Management (ACM) pilot project, facilitated by the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the Forestry Commission, was implemented in Mafungabusi State Forest to strengthen relations between communities and the State.
“Zimbabwe pioneered state-community participation in the forest sector,” Mrs Mbiriyawanda said.
The pilot project demonstrated the potential for collaboration at local level, but also highlighted the need for supportive national policies and secure community access to forest resources.
Mrs Mbiriyawanda said lessons from the initiative were now informing efforts to establish formal community governance structures in the forestry sector.
She said recent interventions under the Global Environment Facility (GEF) had demonstrated the benefits of involving communities in forest conservation.
Under GEF 5, community fire brigades were established in the Gwaai, Ngamo and Sikumi forests through the Hwange-Sanyati Biological Corridor Project, resulting in a 60 percent decline in forest fire incidences.
The approach is now being expanded under the GEF 7 Dryland Sustainable Landscapes Impact Programme, which is being implemented in eight districts.
Mrs Mbiriyawanda said 21 Community-Based Forest Management Committees (CBFMCs) have been established and trained in 2025, with the programme targeting 60 committees managing more than 130 000 hectares of woodland.
“From one forest to eight districts. Where ACM operated at a single State forest, GEF 7 builds formal community governance on communal and conservation land across two river catchments, with traditional leaders actively involved,” she said.
More than 2 900 people were trained in forest management last year, with women accounting for 58 percent of those trained.
The committees also conducted 596 forest patrols and 351 meetings, while legal action was taken against deforestation at Muni and Mahambe.
Mrs Mbiriyawanda said CAMPFIRE remained a global leader in CBNRM, having engaged more than 700 000 households and helped protect about 50 000 square kilometres of wildlife habitat.
However, she said forestry presented a wider opportunity for community participation because forests were found in many districts without significant wildlife resources.
She said the next phase of CBNRM should focus on unlocking opportunities in carbon and climate finance through REDD+, strengthening forest and farm producer organisations, promoting non-timber forest products such as honey and developing payment for ecosystem services, particularly watershed protection.
Mrs Mbiriyawanda said the success of the programme would depend on addressing policy, financing and capacity challenges.
She said CBFMCs should be recognised in national forest policy to strengthen their legal standing, while domestic financing mechanisms, including carbon credits and forest value chains, should be developed to reduce reliance on donor funding.
Mrs Mbiriyawanda also called for the 60 targeted committees to be equipped with the necessary skills and resources to effectively manage forest resources.
“Alone we go fast, but together we can reach far. Let’s combine our talents and make something amazing happen,” she said.
Mrs Mbiriyawanda said the forestry sector has evolved from excluding communities from natural resource management to sharing resources with them and establishing formal community governance structures.
“Our journey has taken us from excluding communities, to sharing resources with them, to building formal community governance across whole districts. The forestry sector is a pioneer, ready to lead the next four decades,” she said.
