Land Use Planning And Woodland Management: A Case Study Of Local Control And Regulatory Capacity On Household And Communal Woodland Resources In Zimbabwe

Abstract

The article is in two sections and addresses the issues surrounding how small-scale communal farmers protect and control the use of tree resources on individual plots and communal woodland resources. The first section is descriptive and the second section is explanatory. Three sets offorms of control can be identified: individual household controls on household controlled resources, cultural forms of control tied to traditional sacred and secular institutions, and secular controls synonimous with different layers/categories of state institutions. I argue that cultural forms of control are rather diffuse in their operation and effect. State-imposed controls and those issued through state-created community institutions, despite being mentioned across all sections of the community, were not enforced to the extent that community members abided by them. Exclusion of non-community members was the exception. The second section attempts to unravel the forces behind the ineffectiveness of community institutions. I argue that contests over the control of resources within the community (and, paradoxically, the need to build community goodwill) and power relations which do not favour the community viz a viz state agencies, explain the ineffectiveness of community institutions to regulate use. The orchestration of a shift in the locus of control in favour of communities and institution building support programmes are identified as the ways forward.