Implementing CAMPFIRE as a Sustainable Land-use Strategy: an Cultural-Historical Analysis of Wildlife in Zimbabwe's Communal Lands

Abstract

This thesis addresses the concept of CAMPFIRE, the acronym for Communal Areas Management Program for Indigenous Resources, as a sustainable land-use option in Zimbabwe's ecologically marginal Communal Lands, and in so doing explores the strengths and limitations of devolution in practice. As an alternative to centralized resource management, CAMPFIRE is evaluated from three conceptual points of reference: 1) the failure of state-controlled coercive conservation programs; 2) the subsequent trend in resource management devolution in Africa; and 3) CAMPFIRE as an appropriate model for effective devolution of natural resource management.