NJEREMOTO BIODIVERSITY INSTITUTE FOUNDATION ZIMBABWE PROFILE

Facilitating Empowered Communities to use their Indigenous Knowledge to Enhance Sustainable Grazing and Wetland Management

PROJECT QUOTE: “Growing up in traditional Shonawoodlands, biodiversity was the norm. I am sad seeing the demise of the ecosystemdue to land degradation. Project Sustainable Rangelands Management sees theblooming savanna grasslandsin Zimbabwe and in all semi-arid rangelands of the world.” Osmond Mugweni

1.1Introduction/ Background

PERSONAL HISTORY

The Founder, Executive Director and Principal Researcher of the Njeremoto Biodiversity Institute, Osmond Mugweni is the eldest son in a family of eleven (2 boys and 9 girls). This family falls in the Chief Svosve clan. Most of his early childhood was spend with his grandfather who used to relate many stories of the beauty of the land, the rich biodiversity and the abundant wildlife. In the years 1956 (as a two year toddler) to the late 1960s, he used to herd cattle and enjoy swimming and fishing in deep pools in the rivers and streams, and in early summer together with his colleagues, he used to catch fish that were swimming up stream. This experience now sounds like science fiction to his children since all these streams and rivers are now full of silt. This is the major motivation for his research work that has been tried out and demonstrated since 1986 to the present date.

After graduating with a First Class Diploma in Agriculture at ChiberoAgriculturalCollege, Mugweni became a farm manager where he was growing irrigated tobacco, maize and wheat in Zimbabwe. After one season he was perturbed by the high input, polluting production system. He left and joined the government extension service as a Conservation Officer. As a conservation officer during the period 1978 to 1983 he focused on whole catchment management practices for gully rehabilitation. From his efforts, his employers promoted him to become a district Agricultural Extension Officer for Buhera in Manicaland province, which lies in the severely degrading Save River Catchment. Faced with this challenge he initiated whole catchment rehabilitation projects one of them was the Garamwera Gully, which won the First Zimbabwe Department of Natural Resources Parade Conservation Competition. This triggered a wave of gully reclamation projects in Zimbabwe which dominated this competition between 1986 and 2000. This gully project resulted in Mugweni meeting Allan Savory of the Centre for Holistic Resource Management. Mugweni was nominated by the Ministry of Agriculture as one of the five people to be funded by the USAID and the Ford foundation to attend the Centre for Holistic Resource Management on Sustainable agriculture. During the period 1st January to 31st December 1986 the tour of duty made Mugweni to visit the Rodale Institute in Pennsylvania where he met the Amish community as well, The Thompson Farm in Iowa, the Floccine Family in Wyoming who kept a herd of Bison, several Holistic Resource Management Ranger practitioners in New Mexico, Denver, South Dakota, Arizona and WyomingStates.

On returning home Mugweni started the pilot work in Musoni community of Buhera on the principles that the key issue on land management was the difference on the decay processes in the non-arid and arid environment. Professionally Osmond is a LEAD Fellow as well as an Ashoka Fellow. He has received The Grasslands Society and the Holistic Resource Management on this work.

The Sustainable Grazing Management Project is a simulation of pilot work, on rehabilitation of semi-arid rangelands, done at Musoni, Razi/Charinge and Triangle Ranch between 1986 and 2002 that clearly demonstrates that given the correct and appropriate management frame, combined with the high commitment to achieve commonly owned goals from a self-directed and intrinsically motivated community; as well as being patient enough to give the whole process the correct time frame; the currently degrading Communal Grazing Areas of the semi-arid environments, can be sustainably rehabilitated. The result of which can be a highly productive, ecologically stable and diverse rangeland at the current stocking rates.

The Sustainable Grazing Management Project that is evolving at the Njeremoto Biodiversity Institute, which is located at No. 12 Northdale Farm in Gutu District of Masvingo Province, is demonstrating the Indigenous Shona Knowledge on Grazing and Land Management. The project approach is based on use of the participatory development management model (PDM). The institutional set up is that the Institute will be run by a Trust in which pilot communities will be fully representatives on the board of trust by December 2004.

In the Shona culture, the land (that is the plants, animals, soil, water, air, and others) evolved with herding animals. Hence in the Shona culture, the absence of one results in the destruction of the other. The conventional grazing management belief that too many animals cause overgrazing is a misconception of the semi-arid savanna environments of Southern Africa where these environments evolved with thousands of herding grazers such as wildebeests and buffalo. The Shona believe that overgrazing is caused by inadequate recovery period for grazed plants. Further, they believe that in conventional western grazing management practice overgrazing is a result of domesticated animals overstaying on the same piece of land (continuous grazing) or returning too soon to the grazed area (rapid rotational grazing systems). The current land management practices for cattle ranching in arid areas are adversely impacting the ecological stability of the grazed ecosystems. The conventional ranching method is based on regulating animal numbers, simply releasing them into a given holding and allowing them to graze at will. However, if animals graze continuously on a given plot of land, or return to graze before the plants have fully recovered, degradation occurs. Similarly over-extended post grazing recovery periods (over-rest) for land plots also cause degradation, since plants left under grazed for too long eventually grow old and die, leaving soils unprotected from the forces of erosion.

Pilot work conducted for the period 1986 to 2002 as regards time controlled grazing; overgrazing, rest and animal impact in semi-arid/brittle environments/rangelands can be summarized as:

1)Overgrazing weakens or even kills individual plants which reduces the ability of such plants to provide soil cover. Over-rest also produces this. The noted difference is that under overgrazing the plants are often of many age groups, while under over-rest the plants are usually old and dying with fewer young plants.

2)High animal impact causes many plants to grow with tight plant spacing. On the other hand, no animal impact causes ever-increasing spaces between plants on capped soil surfaces.

3)Overgrazing with low animal impact and no herding behaviour causes large bare areas to develop, similar to what is produced by effects of over-rest.

4)Overgrazing combined with high animal impact, which is common in Zimbabwean Communal Areas, accompanied by herding behaviour, results in tight low vigor plant communities of a near mono-culture with a high proportion of growing leaf and young plants.

5)Time controlled grazing combined with high animal impact and herding behaviour produces multi-species of healthy, tight plant communities with a good age distribution, which would support many other life forms on such a land. This seems to be the desirable productive, ecologically stable and sustainable system to be promoted for the future management of Communal Grazing.

6)The project approach is based on use of the participatory development management model (PDM). The institutional set up is such that the Institute will be run by a Trust in which pilot communities will be fully represented on the board of trust by December 2005 as equal partners.

The work at Njeremoto Biodiversity Institute will demonstrate this and it is replicated with rural satellite communities. It is hoped that communities who visit the Institute will adopt the sustainable grazing management practice, which is guided by a holistic view to resource management.

2.1Legal Identity

The Institute has been established as an autonomous legal entity and it has been set up a not for profit Foundation as this was felt to be the most appropriate form.

A Board with seven Trustees runs the Institute and the Management Team led by the Executive Director performs the day-to-day operational tasks.

3.1The Mandate

The Mandate of the Institute is to focus on the use of the Catalytic Participatory Development Management Model at community and Institute Levels as the most effective way of empowering and capacitating the staff and communities for sustainable resource management and informing or influencing policy-making levels on issues that affect the knowledge system, well being and their ecosystem

4.1The Vision and Mission

The long-term goal of the Institute is to facilitate and see “empowered” resource managers, local communities, and academia sustainably managing semi-arid rangelands productively and with stable landscapes.

The mission of the Institute is to partner with Institutions, vulnerable and disadvantaged communities with similar values, vision and goals to improve their social, economic, and civic well being through the promotion of the catalytic programme for participatory development management to realize all Millennium Development Goals in healthy, highly productive and ecologically stable ecosystem.

5.1The Objectives

This project has the following outputs and benefits:

Creates a landform for the demonstration of Sustainable Wetland Utilization and Management based on Indigenous Shona Practices Prior to Introduction of Western Ideas in Zimbabwe at Njeremoto Biodiversity Demonstration and Training Institute by 31st December 2004 that will benefit all the impoverished rural communities living in all semi-arid regions globally and those living in the communal areas of Zimbabwe in particular who are surviving on less than US$ 1 per day. Hence the project will contribute to the attainment of Millennium Goal One (Eradication of extreme poverty and hunger) that is the elimination of Hunger and Starvation, as well as the achievement of Millennium Goal Seven (Ensure environmental Sustainability and Preservation and Protection of Biodiversity) and Goal Eight (Develop a global partnership for development) by 2015. This is because

Semi-Arid Rural Communities and Producers are trained initially at the Institute and later at satellite communities through farmer-to-farmer exchange visits in Zimbabwe and other Southern African Countries.

Internships are promoted with collaborating pilot communities and regions.

The demonstration and training, done at the center influences human aspects such as quality of life and the environment in Zimbabwe and other Southern African countries.

MSc and PhD student, interns or volunteers are attached to the Institute to monitor and document the changes and impact on the ecological, socio-cultural and economic systems. This will significantly contribute to the knowledge base in the academic world that will result in a Paradigm shift in the livestock management in semi-arid rangelands. This will be because overgrazing and overrest will be viewed as the key factors causing degradation in semi arid rangelands by the international community and that their control will be due to time management rather than the current control of animal numbers.

PROJECT EXPECTED OUTCOMES/OBJECTIVES ARE:

1)Sustainable wetland utilization and management is developed and fully functional at the Njeremoto Biodiversity Demonstration and Training Institute on 12 Northdale Farm Gutu District.

2)Communities and Producers are trained initially at the Institute and later at satellite communities through farmer-to-farmer exchange visits in Zimbabwe and other Southern African Countries.

3)Internships are promoted with collaborating pilot communities and regions.

4)The demonstration and training, done at the center influences human aspects such as quality of life and the environment in Zimbabwe and other Southern African countries.

5)MSc and PhD students are attached to the Institute to monitor and document the changes and impact on the ecological, socio-cultural and economic systems.

6)Replicate and set up satellite centers in Southern Africa and globally.

7)The international community views Overgrazing and overrest as the key factors causing degradation in semi arid rangelands.

6.1The Strategies

  • Draws on the Pilot experience and the Indigenous Shona knowledge to demonstrate at the Institute and exposes communities to this before asking them to change their system (experiential participative learning)
  • Establishes and identifies pilot or satellite community who foster farmer-to-farmer learning
  • Socializes postgraduate students and their supervisors to the new paradigm of semi-arid rangelands management
  • Capitalizes on exchange visits to enhance participative and experiential learning

7.1The Programme Focus

CapacityBuilding and Empowerment of Communities for self-reliance and participatory management

Building Biodiversity and Reversing Desertification, Ensuring Communities, Wildlife and Livestock are used as Tools to Heal Landscapes

Enhancing Livelihoods of Rural Poor Communities in Semi-Arid Rangelands/Ecosystems

Managing Animals to Manage Land and Building Community Capacity for Positive Change for the Communities and their Ecosystems.

Facilitating the Realization of all the eight (8) Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

8.1The Capabilities and Competences

The institute has vast capabilities and competences as demonstrated below.

8.1.Effective Programme Coordination

Over the past twenty-year (pilot phase), the Founder and Principal Researcher has accumulated expertise and capabilities for effective participatory, sustainable management of development programmes in government, NGOs and with communities.

The Institute is demonstrating:

  • State of the art administrative, managerial and financial skills for effective portfolio execution.
  • Will establish computerized management information systems that enable fiscal discipline.
  • Project cycle management skills (situation analysis, appraisal, analytical assessment, participatory implementation, M&E and approach modeling
  • Experience in strategic partnerships (LEAD and ASHOKA Fellow) and networking for synergy to enhance cost effectiveness in service delivery during programming and implementation; and for higher development impacts.

8.2.Facilitating Participatory Development Management (PDM)

The Founder or Executive Director of the Institute has proven experience in the development of effective participatory community sustainable development models. Through sustainable partnerships with communities, empowering them through capacity building wile supporting innovative initiatives, this program creates sustainable socio-economic, cultural and ecological impacts. The major impacts are the down streaming of macro-policies and programmes such as the Poverty Reduction Strategy, the realization of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as well as the Economic Recovery Strategy to local level are realized. Communities are empowered to undertake periodic (annual) consultations to input into the national planning and budgetary cycle. The communities are also enabled to undertake participatory monitoring of the cycles including capacity for their own self- monitoring.

8.3.Empowerment of poor communities living in semi-arid rangelands

The Programme focuses in forming satellite centers with poor communities who in habit the degrading semi-arid rangelands of Southern Africa.

8.4.CapacityBuilding for Sustainable Grassroots Intervention to ensure Sustainable Grazing Management and Wetland Utilization and Management

The Institute when fully operational will undertake training in special skills to enable the community sustainable development initiatives to be more efficient and effective. The skills include:

  • Training in-group management to impart effective participatory leadership, social cohesion, transparency and accountability, equity and fairness, record keeping, resource mobilization and advocacy.
  • Entrepreneurship skills, which facilitates the community groups to make informed choices of development enterprises to match their technical and financial endowment and potentials with a view to maximizing on the benefits.
  • Savings and credit skills, which introduce the culture of savings as a source of capital for credit schemes as well as resource mobilization for capital that is invested in local community sustainable development projects that build the local community assets. This is the start of sustainability for the development initiatives in the community
  • Technical training for specific initial enterprises such as sustainable grazing management, catchment management, water harvesting, sustainable eco-agriculture, permaculture, sustainable wetland management, micro-financing agro-processing, eco- and cultural tourism, etc.

8.5.Information Exchange, Communications and Technology

The Institute facilitates target beneficiary groups/communities to visit existing best practice projects for effective “farmer-to-farmer” transfer of skills and experiences before they embark on their own project implementation. The Institute also facilitates each satellite community/project to document the situation before interventions (baseline studies); the process encountered during implementation; the results achieved and the impacts of interventions based on pre-defined indicators. The data is then colleted, and distilled into lessons learnt and best practices. These are then packaged and then disseminated through exchange visits, periodic publications and use of mass media. The Institute considers information exchange as very powerful and effective tool replication and scaling up of best practices and attitude change.

8.6.Sustainable Resource Management

The Institute promotes initiatives at satellite community level that maximizes on the derivation of benefits (goods and services) from natural resources while at the same time ensuring that the resources are not being driven to a point where regeneration is slower than removal. The Institute at Satellite community level will:

  • Environmental conservation such as catchments protection.
  • Alternative energy sources such as biogas, more efficient biomass consuming implements and where possible solar.
  • Land use planning for competing land uses in the community.
  • Optimal natural resources management including agro-forestry and organic farming, greenbelts, etc
  • Advisory services on Land tenure

8.7.Strong Implementation Capacity