ZambiaProef 06-07-2005 12:45 Pagina 1

WWF Living Documents DGIS-TMF Programme Managing the Miombo Economic Crisis Threatens People and Nature in ’s

• Coming home to the forest

• Agriculture rides on the back of fuelwood

• The strong women of

• Big influence, big polluter

The Kafue River provides water and food for up to 40 percent of Zambia’s population. Any unsustainable use of natural resources in the river’s basin - like the discharge of effluent by the copper mines or the harvesting of wood for charcoal production by thousands of jobless former miners - therefore affects not only local people but also communities downstream. A new WWF project aims to contribute to improved livelihoods in the Kafue Basin through integrated forest, water and land management. ZambiaProef 06-07-2005 12:45 Pagina 2

LIVING DOCUMENTS WWF DGIS-TMF Programme

Introduction The biggest charcoal consumer in Southern Africa

The collapse of copper prices in the 1990s forced many officers are not in a position to stop the ongoing mines in the Copperbelt to close, leading to a massive loss encroachment of the remaining forest areas. A lack of of jobs. Having no place to go, most former mine workers funds and of transport means that they spend most of their time sitting idly in their offices. settled in nearby rural areas and tried to make a new The desperate economic situation of the living out of the area’s natural resources. The population, in combination with the poorly resourced unsustainable harvesting of wood for charcoal production government departments, has resulted in the and clearing for maize fields is likely to deal a final blow depletion of the Copperbelt’s wet miombo forests at to the Copperbelt’s already severely threatened the alarming rate of 1.9 percent per year (other estimates go as high as a 5 percent annual loss). In woodlands. the period 1990-2001, woodland loss due to deforestation caused by tree harvesting and n inventory of protected forest areas in Zambia’s agricultural expansion was 31 percent, according to a ACopperbelt area makes grim reading. Of the 45 recent WWF study. forest reserves or national forests (covering 19 Escalating demands for wood fuel (and for mining percent of the land area), six can be described as timber) are the main reasons for the drastic changes ‘intact’. Some others are ‘under pressure’, but the in the Copperbelt environment. Harvesting for majority of the Copperbelt’s forest reserves are charcoal in particular drives the dynamics of the described as ‘settled in’, ‘encroached’or ‘depleted’. woodland loss. The charcoal is sold as far field as the The list dates from 1998, and one should assume that capital Lusaka. by now the situation has deteriorated further. Recent data shows that Zambia is the biggest Take for example the Miengwe Reserve in the charcoal consumer in the region; over 40,000 people , according to the list one of the few are engaged in charcoal production on a full-time ‘intact’forest reserves. The Masaiti district will be basis. one of the pilot areas in the new WWF Copperbelt ‘Energy policies in this country fuel the demand project. When asked about the Miengwe Reserve, the for charcoal,’says Fortune Shonhiwa, programme responsible district forestry officer says he is not officer of WWF’s Miombo Ecoregion Conservation aware of the actual situation because he and his men Programme in Southern Africa, ‘electricity is Improved have not been able to go there for some time prohibitively expensive and beyond the reach of the charcoal kilns (although he has been told that the reserve has ordinary household. Thus charcoal production is in use in recently been given out for concession to a logging likely to continue until other energy sources are Malawi company). It is obvious that the Masaiti forest identified. In the absence of this, the best we can do is to try to make the production of charcoal in the Copperbelt more sustainable.’At the same time, she adds, a lobby should be started for a better energy policy in the country that stimulates access of the

WWF-CANON / FREDERICK J.WEYERHAEUSER rural poor to electricity, rather than export it. There are several ways to stimulate a more environmentally-friendly charcoal production process, like using selective felling methods, the planting of woodlots or the introduction of improved kilns. Offering the charcoal producers a chance to develop other, more sustainable income-generating activities is also part of a strategy that aims to halt the loss of the Copperbelt’s woodland, before it is completely gone.

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LIVING DOCUMENTS WWF DGIS-TMF Programme BUREAU M&O

Elisabeth (left) and Rose, before the beehives they have placed in the forest. A small grant allowed the women’s cooperative to have these beehives made, but the women still have to find a way to buy the wax to attract the bees. In the meantime, they use the traditional method of collecting honey in fallen trees.

The women of Luanshya take the initiative Mutamba Twishala - Let’s not stay behind

‘The mines here closed in 1999. One year later, we ose Mashikinyi and Elisabeth Chishana are chair decided to form a women’s group. The situation became Rand vice-chair of the Women’s Cooperative quite desperate. We had no means to feed the children Luanshya, which also has the name of Mutamba Twishala (‘Let’s not stay behind’). We are sitting on anymore, or to pay for their schools. So we decided to go the ground on some rugs, in between the maize into the forest, to grow maize and vegetables. It was the fields. only way to survive.’ Earlier that day we had met the women, who

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LIVING DOCUMENTS WWF DGIS-TMF Programme BUREAU M&O

offered to show us the fields in the Muwa forest fields and produce charcoal. This forest is close to the which they had established in the past years. To reach Kafue river. Further cutting will have a severe impact them, we needed to pass the mine area. Of the four on the water catchment area.’ mines that once operated here, only one is still Indeed we see many maize fields, on both sides of working. All around, over a wide area, old mine the way. We stop at a small house to try to talk to the installations can be seen, all of them rusty and inhabitants, but nobody is there. ‘These people must neglected. The canteen has been closed. The hospital have fled into the forest when they saw us approach’, was taken over by the government, and the quality of says Rose. ‘People live in fear of the mine owners, service has drastically gone down. There are several who still own all land. They do not allow people to dumpsites; in between them are compounds where cultivate it. So people are forced to go into the forest, former miners still live. There are many people on which is not allowed either.’ the streets, walking and talking. There is not much When the women of Mutamba Twishala decided else they can do. The mood is resigned. ‘Many of that they too would go into the forest, they told them accepted the offers of the mine company nobody about their plans. But nevertheless some several years ago and bought their houses’, explains people holding official functions like the secretary at Elisabeth, who also lives in a compound. ‘Now they the rural district council and the representative of a cannot go anywhere. They have houses but no jobs.’ traditional chief, discovered their plans and asked for After passing a security post (the guards search money in return for permits. ‘Afterwards it turned out our car thoroughly), we leave the mine area and after that all these people were crooks’, tells Rose. ‘Their a while enter Muwa forest. ‘This forest,’explains word was worth nothing. They cheated us. Nobody project officer Elijah Nsonge, ‘is the only one of five gives permits to work in the forest.’ former forest reserves in this area which is still When more and more people went into the forest reasonably intact. The rest have been logged. We fear for logging and the cultivation of fields, the Forest that this will happen to this forest too. There is lots of Department came into action. Rose: ‘They went to encroachments by ex-miners who establish illegal the forest and when they saw the scale of

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LIVING DOCUMENTS WWF DGIS-TMF Programme

They have already begun placing beehives in the forest, to collect honey. They would like to be given assistance for other activities like growing mushrooms and caterpillars, maybe digging a fish pond, buying a machine for knitting, etc. ‘We’ve talked about these issues within the group and the women are very enthusiastic’, says Rose. ‘The establishment of micro credit facilities would also be great, because at present nobody has any money to invest in any projects.’ While taking a stroll through the maize fields, project officer Elijah has already observed that the women could do a much better job with some advice and some input, like fertiliser. ‘They will have a bad maize harvest’, he said, pointing at the scanty and underdeveloped cobs. ‘The soil is poor, but the people also do not know how to grow maize. It’s sad if you realise how much hard labour they have put in here, and they will get almost nothing in return. If they had had some fertiliser, they could have had a better harvest with only one third of the area. Without fertiliser it would be better to grow vegetables here, and groundnut. These are much better suited for this poor soil.’ When asked why their group is exclusively for women, the women laugh. ‘Having men in our group would be a bad idea’, Rose says. ‘We don’t want the BUREAU M&O men to get hold of the group’s money. That would be dangerous. We keep the money for the families, which is better.’ Then they recall how their husbands laughed about encroachments going on, they were furious. They their plans in the beginning, and still prefer to ignore arrested some people and destroyed crops. They their activities. ‘They did not believe we would forbade anyone to further cut down trees. So we succeed in forming a group and become productive. decided to work only in open spaces, which have Now they still wait and see. At the moment we still been cut already. We don’t want trouble. But the do not bring in extra income, but at least we are able encroachment is still going on.’ to harvest and to feed our families.’ Several of the husbands have gone soliciting for No support from the husbands jobs at the new mines, say the women, mainly in the Chairperson Rose was the only one of the women north-west of the country. Some of them went away who already owned a piece of land. The others had for months, only to come back disillusioned. ‘Maybe no experience whatsoever with agriculture, and had it is because they are losing their strength now’, to learn everything from scratch. The establishment Elisabeth says. ‘By the time that a new mine might of a group was a requirement of the Agricultural want them, they really will be too old. I do not Department to get some assistance. The group believe there is a future anymore for us in mining.’ received some input like seeds for reduced prices. Now some of the husbands do nothing, others are It all turned out reasonably well. ‘There is a big involved in the charcoal business. Sometimes one of improvement in our situation, now and then’, says them helps his wife for a day at her field in the forest; Elisabeth. ‘Forming the group was a good idea. Only mostly however the women do the work themselves, in this way can you achieve results.’ sometimes assisted by their children or some A problem however is that the kind of agriculture relatives. Smiling, Rose tells about her own husband, the women practise is seasonal, meaning that they who only came to have a look at her field for the first have to save money and food for the periods in time after two years. At the end of the day, we bring between harvests. both women back to their homes. Rose’s husband After their initial success, the women’s group now comes out of house to shake hands. He asks: ‘So wants to start other activities to generate income. you’ve visited my farm, did you like it?’ ▲

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LIVING DOCUMENTS WWF DGIS-TMF Programme

Threatened dambos

A specific element of the Copperbelt are the many seasonal wetlands called dambos. These treeless depressions vary in size from 1 to 27 sq. km.Together they form anywhere between 6 and 10 percent of the land surface in the Copperbelt.The edges of the dambos are quite popular for subsistence agriculture because of their fertile soils and water availability. Rampant cultivation in the dambos (and along river/stream banks) is leading to erosion and siltation of these water sources. Pollution is another threat to the dambos.Water pollution related problems stem from the siting of mine tailings on the heads of dambos as well as the discharge of effluent into rivers and streams. At least seven dambos have tailings dams sited on them. Scientists assume that the carbonates in the underlying rocks neutralise the acids emanating from the tailings.That may be true, but it is also obvious that the copper and cobalt particulates and sediments have clogged the dambo systems rendering them ineffective in terms of their hydrologic functions.The combined effect of silting and erosion BUREAU M&O of tailings and cultivation have led to an estimated loss of close to 45 percent of the dambo surface in the Copperbelt between 1990 and 2001.

Trading charcoal

Enoch has packed his bicycle with charcoal.We encounter him with two companions on their way from the Muwa forest to the city of Luwanshya, some 30 km away.There they will sell their loads on the Mpatamatu market. Each bicycle load will earn them some 10,000 kwacha, the equivalent of two dollars.They have been living for two weeks in the forest to cut enough trees and to turn it into charcoal. In total they have produced eight cubic meters of charcoal.They will have to go back to the forest two more times to fetch the rest of it.The income it generates will be just enough for a living, say the men.When everything is sold, they will have to return to the forest once more. None of them ever worked in the mines. So far, the forest has been their BUREAU M&O source of income, and they hope it will be the same in the future.

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‘Agriculture rides on the back of fuel wood’

The new project is aiming to work closely rankly speaking, I have my reservations about with key local government officials. How do ‘Fthat project of yours’, Lishonwa Mulongwe, they feel about that? says suddenly at the end of our conversation. We have talked for an hour or so with this research

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LIVING DOCUMENTS WWF DGIS-TMF Programme

officer of the regional Forestry Department in his the forest, and nobody will stop you. They said so Kitwe office, comfortably seated in a large green because they needed the votes of the people. Our lounge suite. Mulongwe has already made it clear government is very reluctant to stop the forest that he is not the sort of person to mince his words encroachment, or to reallocate people. When we when he meets somebody for the first time. Before proposed moving people out of the forest reserves, turning his attention to the upcoming WWF-project, which are protected areas finally, they said: can’t we he had already criticised regional politicians (‘their wait with this until after the elections?’ only concern is winning the next election’) and large land owners (‘so many people are in desperate need Most forestry officers are ill of land, and these rich guys just let their land stand When, later that day, we talk with a colleague of idle’). Mulongwe, Lloyd Jembo of the Kitwe Department What worries the Kitwe forestry officer is the lack for Agriculture, the story is much the same. ‘We are of cooperation between projects already operating in supposed to train these former miners into becoming the area. ‘Organisations like Oxfam and World good farmers’, he says. ‘But there are many Vision work here, and their activities are not problems related to that. First of all, most of these connected. Not to each other, not to the government. people have settled in forest areas, or have created Sometimes there are even conflicting interests. Like fields there, and we are not allowed to train them in one organisation planting trees in an area where there, because they are there illegally. We could try another one is helping to build a road. These projects bringing them to camps outside the forest for are mostly based on consultants’reports, and they do training. We have fifteen training camps available. not always represent the interests of the local people. But then we have a problem with our staff. We have The people know that, and they are suspicious. They only seven field officers at the moment. There are should be consulted in a much better way.’ more, but they are all ill.’ There are, according to Mulongwe, yet other The lack of staff and of funds results in lots of reasons why outside interference in this area may be frustration, on both sides. Jembo tells about the doomed to failure. One of these has to do with the group of farmers that came to him because they specific composition of Copperbelt societies, which wanted training in marketing. ‘That is a subject they are largely composed of immigrants from other know nothing about. They just decide to grow a crop, regions. ‘We have very unstable societies here. and when it is ready and they are not able to sell it, People move around, they go where they can find a they come to us and ask for help. That is also a legacy job. It is quite different from a stable community that of the past, when the government took care of all has there for many centuries. It is very difficult to marketing and distribution. So these people wanted bring people together for training here. Most of them us to teach them. We did, but we can’t give any are miners, not farmers. They are only in the charcoal follow-up because of lack of resources. We can’t help business because that is easy money. You could better them to get inputs like fertiliser, we can’t help them give them training in something comparable such as to organise the distribution.’ bee keeping than teach them how to grow maize. There remain other problems to solve too, if the They have no history as farmers. They do not know Agriculture Department is to succeed in training the how to grow; they only know how to clear. Maybe would-be agriculturalists. Jembo: ‘Where do we they cultivate one crop per season. Then they move bring these trained farmers afterwards? To which on.’ lands? We can’t drive them out of the forest. There is Finally, there is the question of how to deal with agricultural land available outside the forest, but is local politicians, which may turn out to be the most not equally shared. Some people have a lot of land difficult problem of all. Mulongwe: ‘If the project at but they refuse to hand this out. So there is not much a certain time comes to the conclusion that it is of an alternative.’ necessary to evict people out of the forests, you Jembo suggests the only way to tackle the cannot do that without the politicians’help. They are problems is to be realistic, and pragmatic. ‘There the ones that encouraged the people to go into the should be de-gazetting of the forests. Certain areas forests in the first place, that was their answer when which are already encroached should be declared these people were asking for help after the mines legal areas to settle. That way you would be in a closed. First the people asked the politicians for better position to protect the rest of the reserves. But regular agricultural land. They said: ‘there is no land, that is not our job. The political leaders do not take except for the forest’. This is nonsense, because there action. They are too busy with politics, instead of is plenty of land. Most of it is in the hands of a few doing what they should do.’ rich individuals. And most of it is lying idle. But the Both men agree that the use of fuel wood and the politicians said to the people, it’s ok, you can go to production of charcoal are the major causes of

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LIVING DOCUMENTS WWF DGIS-TMF Programme BUREAU M&O

deforestation in the area. After an area of forest has could help stimulate the use of non-timber forest been cleared, people start using the land for products, for instance. There are good commercial agriculture. Or, as Mulongwe says: ‘Agriculture rides opportunities for the sale of indigenous fruits. on the back of the fuel wood.’Pointing out that any Processing these in locally made jams and jellies intervention will have to tackle this situation, both would even be better. The same is true for the provincial officials however say they don’t have production of etheric oils. Agroforestry, including the immediate solutions at hand. Maybe make better use creation of small plantations, could help to tackle the of the sawdust that is produced at the many sawmills charcoal problem. in the country, for cooking purposes, suggests ‘We can share our information with the project’, Mulongwe. Stimulate the use of electricity, says says Mulongwe. ‘But if we could succeed in getting Jembo, by improving the incomes of local people. Or some extra funds, our input could be more maybe those fuel-efficient stoves he’d heard about substantial. We can provide staff and deliver seeds would be helpful. Large-scale creation of tree from our tree nurseries for reforestation. We could plantations would be a good idea too, says help experiment with simple new technologies, like Mulongwe. ‘But all this means depending on foreign the production of jams. We can also connect the donors, as always’, he sighs. mines with the local population; try to convince the If the project is going to invest some funds in the mine companies that they should allow people to use area, both departments are quite willing to cooperate. parts of the enormous areas they now have in control, ‘We’ve got enough ideas that are in line with the for growing food.’ project proposal’, says Mulongwe. His department ▲

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LIVING DOCUMENTS WWF DGIS-TMF Programme

Dependent on water and forests

Rural communities in the Copperbelt are highly dependent on water and forest resources.The major source of livelihood for the rural population as well as peri-urban dwellers is shifting agriculture. Most people use the water in dambos and rivers for cooking, washing, drinking and irrigation purposes, while downstream stakeholders use water for energy production and drinking. In terms of the forest, the predominant use of wood is for firewood and charcoal. In addition, rural households in the Copperbelt also utilise non-timber forest products such as wildfruits, medicine, fibres, poles for construction, and honey.As a result of unsustainable harvesting, it has been estimated that 30 percent of the province’s population (e.g. in the ) is experiencing fuel wood shortages. Regular food shortages are also a common feature of many people in the Copperbelt area.The agricultural officer in Masaiti vividly remembers the massive food shortages in his district in the years 1996/97. Better harvest years followed; still he estimates that only 70 percent of the district’s population are able to feed their families all the year round. Slow progress in joint forest management

By Sub-Saharan African standards, Zambia arising from such participation. still has a relatively large proportion of its The programme runs until June 2005. While we were talking to Peter S. McCarter, chief technical land area under forest cover (estimated at adviser of the programme, it was not yet clear if there 30 million hectares, or 40 percent of land will be a second phase. The main reason for the area). The rate of deforestation, however, is uncertainty was that the Finnish donors were ‘not high. amused’about the slow progress on the side of the Zambian government. The bottleneck is its refusal to ccording to the UN’s Food and Agriculture let the village committees collect the revenues of the AOrganisation, Zambia had the fourth highest joint forest management themselves. Seventy percent level of forest loss in the world (estimated at 850,000 of the revenues were supposed to be for the local ha / year) in the decade 1990-2000, after Brazil, community, 30 percent for the Forestry Department. Indonesia and Sudan. To manage the remaining However, the present law does not allow this, and the Zambian forests in a more sustainable manner, the officials are hesitating about changing the rules. country’s forest policy was revised in 1998. From Which is a pity, says McCarter, because after all then on, the important role that local people can play the training and capacity building the programme has in protecting and sustainably managing forests was organised, expectations were running high. ‘There recognised. The Forest Act of 1999 makes legal was lots of suspicion in the beginning about the aims provision for the involvement of non-government of the programme. There were and are lots of stakeholders, especially local forest-adjacent conflicts too, I don’t want to paint too rosy a picture. communities, in joint forest management But gradually we succeeded in better explaining the arrangements. aims of the programme, and expectations on the side With financial assistance from the Finnish of the stakeholders began building up. But now government, a Provincial Forestry Action frustration is growing that the government won’t let Programme was established to assist the Zambian go.’ Forestry Department to develop a replicable model of Do not think we are talking about big money here, joint forest management. The programme invested in says McCarter. Revenues from forest management building capacity of Forestry Department staff, and are not high in these areas, where most wildlife has supported the active involvement of forest-adjacent been killed already. There may be some income from communities in eight pilot areas in forest income-generating activities like bee keeping or the management decisions and the sharing of benefits collecting of mushrooms.

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LIVING DOCUMENTS WWF DGIS-TMF Programme

Working for several years in Zambia, McCarter firm believer in the concept of joint or collaborative has learned a few lessons. One is a persistent lack of forest management, also in Zambia. ‘I am sure this a sense of urgency about the deforestation going on. type of management of natural resources is the ‘There has been a lot of publicity lately about the future, but it takes a long time to realise it. Twenty, problem, but still many people think there is enough thirty years. We’ve seen that in India and Nepal, forest left in the country. The lack of real population where it finally became successful. Also, there is still pressure, with an exception maybe for the a lot to find out about how the approach works best Copperbelt region, also plays a role.’ here. But finally it’s in the interest of the Another lesson has been that getting the support of communities to have a stake in the management of the local chiefs is essential. Except for the forest the natural resources they depend on. The reserves which are controlled by the government, the government lacks the resources to do the job, so I remaining forest areas are the subject of traditional think in the end they will choose for the revenues — rights. The overall power is in the hands of the chief. 30 percent is better than nothing. What we should do ‘In normal situations you can leave the question of to speed up the process is to create popular demand. user rights to them’, says McCarter. People should speak out for this approach and stand Despite his recent experiences, McCarter is still a up for it.’ ▲ BUREAU M&O

The Miombo ecoregion

Large parts of southern and eastern Africa are covered by woodlands and associated wetlands, popularly known as miombo.This vast tropical woodland is about the same size as Europe, and ranges across parts of ten countries. People have lived in this ecoregion for millions of years.The woodland structure, vegetation communities and species composition has partially been created through human intervention, especially through the use of fire, pastoralism and shifting cultivation. Sixty-five million people currently inhabit the ecoregion. A large proportion of these human inhabitants are poor, rural, semi- subsistence agriculturalists, who depend heavily on natural resources for their livelihoods. Much of both the rural and urban population depend on wood fuel for their energy needs. The vegetation of this area is primarily woodland, with an underlying layer of grass.There is a wide variety and high number of large mammalian herbivores and predators.The catchment basins for the main rivers of southern Africa (e.g., Zambezi, Kavango, Congo), for two of the African Great Lakes (Lake Malawi/Niassa and Lake Tanganyika), and for the Okavango Delta lies in this ecoregion. Millions of people depend on the water from these rivers. Since 2002, the Miombo Ecoregion Programme in the WWF-Southern Africa Programme Office - based in Harare, Zimbabwe - has been developing a biodiversity conservation agenda for the Miombo ecoregion.The most significant output to date has been the delineation of 26 Areas of Biological Significance, priority landscapes that have become the centre of conservation effort in the ecoregion. One of these is the Copperbelt area in Zambia.

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LIVING DOCUMENTS WWF DGIS-TMF Programme

The Kafue river headwaters

The headwaters of the Kafue river are located within the Northwestern and Copperbelt in the 1,000 mm per annum rainfall zone, which straddles the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia. Estimated to be 154,000 km2 in extent, the headwaters sit on the copper and cobalt bearing rocks whose exploitation has led to a number of environmental and natural resources management problems.While the problems are widespread across the whole expanse of the headwaters, the WWF-project focuses within the Copperbelt Area of Biological Significance (22,407 km2).This area is dominated by wet miombo woodland with dambo grasslands, swamp forest, dry evergreen forest and patches of chipya (burnt grassland). Plant diversity is high owing to the intrusion of Congolian elements along drainage lines. Of particular note is the high number of plant endemics confined to the mineral toxic soils on copper outcrops.There are many species of ground orchid, some of which are now threatened. A number of butterfly endemics are found and there is high invertebrate species diversity, associated with swamp forest, grassland and Congolian rainforest patches. The Kafue river drains 20 percent of Zambia’s land surface. It is an important source of water and food for up to 40 percent of the country’s population. Providing water to almost all of Zambia’s major towns, the Kafue further provides up to 70 percent of the local people’s protein intake.The river and its habitats are home to over 400 species of birds, rare mammals such as the sitatunga and multimammate mouse, over ten endemic species of fish, unique floodplain, riparian, and wetland vegetation. Further, the Kafue’s flow sustains the Kafue Gorge and Itezhi tezhi hydroelectric dams, the Kafue Flats and Lukanga swamps, Kafue, Lochnivar and Blue Lagoon national parks, and is a major tributary of the Zambezi River, which covers eight countries in eastern and southern Africa. Furthermore, parts of the river basin, the Kafue Flats, has been declared a Ramsar site.Yet the river’s vital attributes are increasingly coming under siege from the changes taking place in the headwaters where erosion, deforestation, pollution, and other unsustainable natural resources utilisation strategies are affecting the quantity and quality of the Kafue’s stream flow. WWF-SARPO MUYEYE CHAMBWERA

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LIVING DOCUMENTS WWF DGIS-TMF Programme

The project Conserving Forest and Freshwater Resources for Livelihood Improvement within the Headwaters of the Kafue River Basin

General project goal Objectives To contribute to improved livelihoods through integrated 1 Woodland loss will be reduced by 10 percent in the three forest, water and land management in the headwaters of the project sites by 2008. Kafue Basin. a Within four years of the project start date, at least 20 percent of the charcoal producers in the three project sites Funding, execution and duration will be using selective felling and improved kilns and/or The project is funded by the Netherlands’government through other methods in charcoal production processes WWF-International under a programme entitled Poverty b By the end of 2008, 20 percent of charcoal producers in Reduction through Improved Natural Resource Management. three project sites have replaced 50 percent of their The project is executed by WWF-SARPO, the Southern Africa charcoal income with income from agriculture based Regional Programme Office in Harare, Zimbabwe, as part of livelihood activities. its Miombo Ecoregion Conservation Programme. The c 20 percent of the households in the project sites have been Copperbelt project is currently scheduled to last for four years trained and are implementing at least two viable starting in July 2004. alternative natural resources based livelihood strategies. 2 By 2008, 50 percent of cultivated river banks, dambos and Specific goals associated upland areas in at least one catchment area in 1. Natural resources management: reducing poverty in rural each of the three working districts are appropriately utilised: communities by safeguarding and restoring the quality and a by having representative plant diversity still present in 20 quantity of woodlands and freshwater ecosystem goods and percent of dambos within each catchment. services that are essential for local people’s livelihoods b at least 50 percent of dambos in the catchment area have 2. Establishing-strengthening civil society organisations to optimal seasonal plant cover. more effectively participate in the management of the c siltation levels have been reduced by 30 percent in the woodland and freshwater ecosystems and influence local, working catchments. national and international policies and planning processes. d at least 60 percent of households cultivating on upland 3. Ensuring that policy frameworks work: improving policies areas within the catchment adopt improved agricultural and planning to provide incentives for equitable and practices. sustainable development. 3 By the end of the project, mine dumps and tailing coverage is maintained at 2005 levels and the levels of toxic elements in the Kafue river and its tributaries are reduced to 10 percent of current levels. ▲

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LIVING DOCUMENTS WWF DGIS-TMF Programme BUREAU M&O

Learning how to live in the forest again Coming home

‘Settling in the forest felt like coming home. us. After some introductory conversation, we ask him Thirty or forty years ago, when we were still to tell us the story behind this settlement, which is young, we came from our villages to Kitwe, only a few years old. ‘All of us were working and living in Kitwe’, he to find jobs there. At the end of our lives we says, pointing at his fellow-members of the village are back in the forest again. We could still committee. ‘We came in the Sixties, or the Seventies, remember the lives our fathers and mothers when there was lots of work because of the mines.’ lived. So we helped each other in getting None of the men assembled here have been miners back the memories of what exactly they did themselves, but all of them worked indirectly for the mining industry, as technicians, storekeepers or to grow food.’ plumbers. ‘Then, starting in 1995, everything went down’, t takes about an hour to go from the regional mine says Patson. ‘The bad copper prices led to the Icentre Kitwe to Misaka, a settlement of some privatisation and to the closure of many mines. One hundred families in the forest. A group of seven men by one we all lost our jobs. If one loses employment, is waiting for us, in the meeting place of the village. you have to take a decision. Going back to the All of them are over 50 years old; most of them have villages where we were born was not an option: it grey hair. Chairman Mtonga Patson (54) welcomes was too far away and there were no jobs there either.

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So, to keep alive, the only option was to move to the of them says. ‘It would be foolish of the government nearest forest. We decided not to wait for our to send us back to town, where we have no food or retrenchment packages, as so many do. After six income. Now we are even able to feed the town a bit months there was still nothing. We heard the stories with our products, and with some help we could do a from people in Solwesi who waited for five years. much better job in the future.’ Each of us at one time asked himself what type of life The collective memory of the settlers helped them they were living in Kitwe, without a job and without to grow maize, sweet potatoes and cassava. But they money. Then we made a decision to go back to the don’t know anything about modern techniques, they forest.’ emphasise. Now they notice that their agricultural Finding a place in the Misaka forest was not easy. production is dwindling at some places; the maize is There had been settlers before them who claimed this turning yellow and loses its cobs. ‘We guess the soil is forestland - which actually belonged to the Forest getting depleted’, chairman Patson says. ‘People now Department. People started making charcoal, and say we should do crop rotation. But the problem is we soon many others followed. Chairman Patson: ‘We depend on maize. That is our staple food.’All the land had to beg and beg to the government officials and to that has been allocated to the group is in use, and the people already living here to give us part of the expanding the agricultural area is not possible. Using land. Then finally the Forest Department agreed. Now fertiliser would be the solution, the men realise, but the area on this side of the road, down to the river, has they do not have enough money to buy this. been demarcated. The department allows us to stay So all their hopes are now based on the coming here, and it will be de-gazetted. We are here to stay.’ activities. Chairman Patson is already aware of the The group dedicated itself to the clearing of the specific project character. ‘We hope to learn about forestland for agricultural production. They no nature conservation, how to protect natural longer practise charcoal production, they say. ‘Only resources. We have no knowledge of soil erosion. But some for our own use, but not for sale. There are still we know nature is important, we cannot live without other people who do so, but it has become very it. If we cut down all the trees, it will become a difficult. There are lots of patrols.’ desert. We hope the project will teach us how to live All the men agree that they are now far better off in harmony with the forest.’ than living unemployed in Kitwe. At least they can grow their own food, and send their children to the Proud to live here primary school which is just a few kilometres away. After the conversation, the men accompany us for a ‘We do not have to work for a salary anymore’, one stroll through the forest area. Small houses and huts, BUREAU M&O

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in between maize fields, are spread all over the area. got malaria. Now I am used to this life. If a mosquito We meet John Muyembo (53) and his wife Ida Cheloi bites me, no problem. I am immune.’ Muyembo (52), who invite us to visit their newly- His wife also had to work very hard. In town she built house. ‘Much better than the shack we’ve lived looked after the household and raised the children, in since we came here, five years ago’, John proudly but here in the forest she has to work in the field too. says. Their daughter, who lives in the city of , ‘There is not time to rest at all’, she says. helped them with some money. This allowed them to But despite the hard work, both say they are buy the rafters for the ceiling. Neighbours helped happy. ‘I am very proud to live here’, Ida says. ‘It make the bricks. means you are sure to be able to sustain yourself and The married couple have nine children in total; six your family. That’s very important.’ of them still live at home. The eldest three live in John agrees. He emphasises that he is happy to live town. One has become a teacher, the other two will in isolation. ‘It’s a peaceful life. Nobody bothers you. follow in her footsteps. ‘It’s important to work for the You are not dependent, you are your own boss. No government; that gives you some guarantee that you one interferes with us. We are free. We live the life of will not lose your job’, John says. our ancestors again, and that is good.’ The couple lived for 27 years in Kitwe, where Both are optimistic about the future. ‘If God lets John worked for Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines us live’, John says, ‘our lives will improve. We will as a boilermaker. When the company was privatised be better off than in history.’But his optimism is also in March 2000, he lost his job. Some time later they based on the fact that there may be project activities decided to join the group that developed plans to in the area. ‘You people should teach us how to live build a new life in the forest. After a difficult start, in the bush, without destroying it. And maybe you both say they now have begun to forget about town could also ask the government for a bit more land, life. ‘At first in the forest, I had to work harder than I because actually it’s hardly enough for our family.’ ever did in my whole life’, John says. ‘I got sick of it, ▲ BUREAU M&O

John Muyembo and his wife Ida

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BUREAU M&O Mining industry in the Copperbelt Big influence, big polluter

‘If I held a much higher office than this’, brought by mining’, Sakala says. ‘We became used to sighs Joseph Sakala, manager of the free electricity, free education, etc etc.’ Environmental Council of Zambia for the The crisis in the mining industry put an end to this period of relative wealth and free social services. Northern region, ‘I would direct Zambia to That’s hard, says Sakala, but in the end most people concentrate on agriculture. For it has lots of find a way to deal with it. In his opinion the country opportunities. Mining creates so many though still has not found a way to deal with the problems, which future generations have to environmental problems caused by the mining and deal with. I would say that the damage done processing of minerals. There is no adequate policy to the country by the mining is much greater to fight the direct pollution of air, land and water (during the smelting process, gases and vapours are than the profits, but I am just an released into the atmosphere where they may environmentalist.’ combine with rain drops to form acid raid; during the cleaning and cooling processes, the discharged or the past 60 years, the Zambian economy has liquids find their way into the surface and Fbeen heavily reliant on the mining of copper and underground water systems). And there is no efficient cobalt, prompting other people to think that Zambia policy to deal with the direct loss of biodiversity that was born with ‘a copper spoon in its mouth’. ‘People is caused by mining through the opening up and simply got crazy about the new riches that were clearing of areas. To give an example: governmental

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efforts to stimulate large commercial forestry plantations that were meant to supply the mines with timber turned out to be a failure, due to the poor management of these plantations. Up to today the mines are relying on indigenous forest for their timber. Now copper and cobalt prices are finally on the rise BUREAU M&O again, new mines are opening up in the area that has the

Bwana mine complex Bwana Mkubwa mine has nothing to hide ‘Copper mining will never be a clean process, but we do our best to contain it as much as possible’, says Israel Zandonda. He is environmental manager of the Bwana Mkubwa copper mine and sulphuric acid plant. Mine and plant, located close to the regional mining centre Ndola, are 100 percent owned by the Canadian company . Established back in 1910, Bwana Mkubwa is one of the oldest mines in the country. When asked if we can have a look around at the mine area, and especially see the tailings and discharge facilities, Zandonda immediately agrees.‘We’ve got nothing to hide’, he says. Zandonda actually worked with the Environmental Council in Ndola, before making the move to the commercial Bwana mine: sector. Now he claims that the Bwana Mkubwa mine operates way above actual environmental this basin will standards in Zambia.‘We’ve got a closed system here’, he says.‘No discharged liquids go into the be closed next open water, it’s a contained system. Maybe there is some leakage, but we try to avoid that too.We year, when a have even been reclaiming tailings since 1998.’ new one will be ready.

most promising reserves of these minerals but which is also the most pristine part of the country: the North western Province. Already large groups of unemployed have found their way to this province. ‘I heard that just one new mine there is building five to ten thousand new houses. That BUREAU M&O means some 50,000 people will move to the area. Imagine

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Water pollution: lacking accurate data

‘We are supposed to monitor the water quality in the region,’says one of the three officials gathered at the Department of Water Affairs in Ndola, ‘but how can we do that effectively, when we don’t have enough staff or a lab to analyse the samples? We know that there are heavy metal residues in the water and soils. Most probably these residues were also there five or ten years ago, but we have no accurate data on these years, so we cannot compare the water quality.And because we do not have these figures, we cannot convince the government that the problem needs to be tackled.We are certain that we will have major problems with the water and the chemical waste later on.There has been no chemical analysis though, which is a disaster.That is vital information for the country and for the population, but we fail to collect it.The water in the Copperbelt is used in massive quantities by the mines, and by the commercial farmers too.They use chemicals and pesticides. All this is pumped back into the rivers, which are all tributaries to the Kafue river.We could make a convincing case if we could measure that, and compare the water quality in these rivers with the quality near the Kafue sources.’

what that will mean for Zambia’s last real forests, There are a few bright spots. After pressure from the which can be found there’, Sakala says. Inevitably, Environmental Council, Konkola Copper mines (one he says, these forests will disappear too. Like the of the largest companies), recently changed its policy ones in the Copperbelt. ‘There is no way we can and now uses only legally cut wood for the smelting save them.’ process. For this, the company has established its While the focus of the mining industry may shift own plantations. The World Bank is presently to other parts of the country, due to its mining financing a five-year project to clean up some of the activities and associated industries the Copperbelt is worst pollution, as well as to study the level of lead presently still the most industrialised and urbanised contamination affecting people living in the area of Zambia. The power of the mine companies in Copperbelt area. It has also been instrumental in the the Copperbelt is substantial. Mining towns are in setting up of Citizens for Better Environment, which some instances run by mining boards, which owe has taken on board most civic organizations to allegiance to the mining companies. The unassailable address the worsening environmetal issues related to position of the international mining companies is mines in the Copperbelt. Also, former state-company also made clear by the grace period of some fifteen Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines, which sold its years (starting in 2000) they were offered before mines in 1999 to South African giant being obliged to work in a more environmentally AngloAmerican, is now beginning to take care of the friendly way. rehabilitation of its former mine dumps. Before coming to the Copperbelt region, we had These are some first steps to improving the already talked about this with Felix Chabala, senior situation, but the problems are still huge. Without a inspector of the Environmental Council of Zambia in doubt mining is still the big polluter in the Lusaka. He explained that all international mining Copperbelt area, all experts agree. Most mines companies operating in the country in the meantime continue to discharge their wastewater directly into have produced environmental plans and promised to the Kafue river and they also contribute a great deal stop the pollution. ‘But they asked for time’, said to the deforestation of the area. Chabala, ‘and they were given that. So they are To get some grip on the environmental problems immune. We accepted legal pollution and we will related to the mining industry, the Environmental have to deal with it for a long period.’ Council has set up an office in Ndola. ‘We do our When taking over the privatised Zambian mines, best to control the mines as much as possible’, says the foreign companies also got an assurance that they Joseph Sakala. ‘With each new operation, a mining would not be held responsible for the pollution that company is required to do an environmental impact happened before they took over. ‘Our hands are tied’, study. But we have a lot of problems evaluating these Chabala concluded. ‘As you know, the government studies, with lack of know-how and of data. For was the former owner. So they are responsible for the instance: we simply do not have any data on historic pollution. But we can’t sue the government. biodiversity some years ago, so we cannot answer As a country we are now left with the damage of the questions about environmental changes. So more copper industry, while the profits disappeared a long research is very much needed, as well as a bigger time ago.’ budget to do the job in a better way.’▲

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Celestine Lwatula Turning problems into talking with members of the Luanshya women group challenges

Asked what will be their greatest challenge We have to find ways to legalise them. Otherwise we in the coming period, WWF’s Copperbelt will fail in our principal goal, changing the project field staff find it difficult to name just destructive character of the charcoal harvesting.’ A third big challenge according to Celestine is to one. tackle the incapacity of local government. ‘We can assist them in many ways, but we cannot pay their t will be tough to convince the people that they allowances. If they fail to find some extra funds to ‘Ican take their life in their own hands’, says cooperate with our programme, we’ll have a big environment project officer Celestine Lwatula. ‘They problem.’ have always been dependent on the mines. That has Her colleague Elijah Nsonge, agricultural officer influenced their attitude a lot.’ of the project, wonders if it will be possible to Celestine, who worked in a refugee camps for convince local government of the need to de-gazette Congolese in the north of Zambia before coming to land for the rural population. ‘For this, we’ll have to Kitwe, also wonders how realistic it is to assume that work with the same politicians who encouraged it will be possible to replace the income people get people to go into the forests. Right now, I’m not sure from producing charcoal in the short term. That’s how to deal with them.’ almost impossible, she thinks, without solving the The other challenge, in his opinion, is the land problem first. ‘People have no land, no rights. population’s ignorance of agriculture. ‘It will be a

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Elijah Nsonge BUREAU M&O checking a poor maize harvest

tough job to substantially change their attitudes.’But, have settled in the catchment areas of the Kafue river in the end, he believes, people will want to move in a and its tributaries? We will have to find a solution for more sustainable direction, ‘because they will that, set up a dialogue with them and local understand that’s in their own interest.’ authorities. Also, can we begin to repair the Finding more challenges is not hard, says ecological damage that has already been done, like Copperbelt field-coordinator, Charlton Phiri. ‘How the dambos that have been lost, the mine pollution, are we going to solve the problem of the people who etc? It has to be done, but it will take a long time.’▲

To conclude Towards a joint poverty- environment strategy

Poverty in the Copperbelt is combined with calorific requirements). An average Zambian has a high dependence on natural resources. almost half the income he or she enjoyed back in the 1960s. The currently has the This means that solutions for poverty largest share of the poor (18 percent) and extremely reduction and improved natural resource poor (15 percent) in Zambia. The majority of people management cannot be sought in isolation. have almost no money to spend, are poorly housed and have insufficient access to basic necessities such wo decades ago Zambia was one of the more as education, health, food, and clean water. There is a Tprosperous countries in sub-Saharan Africa. It widespread lack of access to income-generating now ranks as one of the least developed countries in activities and employment opportunities. Mainly due the world; close to 73 percent of the Zambian to the high rate of HIV/AIDS, life expectancy has population is characterised as poor (defined as dropped from 45 years in 1996 to 32 years in 2004. people who are unable to meet the minimum daily Clearly, there are not many other countries where a

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Kafue river concerted effort for poverty alleviation is more Large gap urgently needed than Zambia. The gap between theory and practice, however, is Growing poverty has also put increased pressure large. One cannot but conclude that there is a on the country’s natural environment. The closure of reluctance to address the Copperbelt’s worsening copper mines in the Copperbelt, previously the major environmental issues within the current policy and income-generator in the area, has exacerbated legislative framework. The overwhelming power of pressures on the natural environment – an the mines, coupled with the equally powerful but environment on which a large part of the population poorly endowed chiefs and poorly resourced in the Copperbelt already depends for numerous government departments form a perfect recipe for livelihood activities. More specifically it has resource degradation. The provincial Forestry increased pressure on the Kafue river: the river’s vital Department is not able to stop the ongoing forest attributes are increasingly coming under siege from encroachment; the Agricultural Department cannot the changes taking place in the headwaters. Erosion, stop the unplanned agricultural expansion and lacks deforestation, pollution, and other unsustainable the means to reorient unsustainable farming natural resources utilisation are affecting the quantity methods, while the Water Department has no clue and quality of the Kafue’s stream flow. Any effective how to control or even measure the level of pollution strategy for the Copperbelt must therefore look caused by the mining industry. towards joint poverty-environment solutions. The The foremost barrier to ending poverty in Zambia project WWF’s Miombo Ecoregion Conservation is the lack of sustained economic growth, concludes Programme has just started in a number of selected the country’s Poverty Reduction Paper. This poses areas in the Copperbelt aims to do exactly this. the need to identify economic activities that have the Of course, WWF is not the first to realise the need greatest contribution to poverty reduction without to address poverty-environment relationships in posing a serious threat to the environment. The Zambia and in the Copperbelt province in particular. WWF’s Copperbelt project aims to stimulate this The issue has been addressed in several national kind of economic activity. This it cannot do alone. policy documents. Zambia’s national Poverty There are a number of NGOs active in the Reduction Strategy Paper (2002) not only lists Copperbelt, of which most are guided by single deforestation, water pollution and depletion of fish as mandates or outcomes. If the problems prevalent in imposing great social costs on Zambians, but also the Copperbelt are to be addressed, there is a need for underlines the need for more research on all the agencies to get together. Poverty reduction and community-based sustainable forest management conservation should be tackled in a holistic way, and poverty reduction. addressing also the failings of governmental

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institutions and organisations active in the livelihood activities. If all this still has to be analysed Copperbelt. and researched in the coming period, it is not difficult Adding a specific gender touch to the activities is to predict that the project life cycle will be too short. inevitable. First of all this is necessary because The project aims not only at poverty reduction poverty has a greater impact on women in the through building the capacity of local communities Copperbelt, largely due to poorer education to manage natural resources, it also aims to influence opportunities and limited economic opportunities. policies at district, provincial and even But also the story of the women of Luanshya (inter)national level. And rightly so. Too many suggests that in many cases it will be more rewarding projects have in the past missed the larger picture, to start working for change through women. while focusing on the daily routine and problems. A negative policy environment may effectively block a Baseline project from reaching its specific goals and The project has formulated some very specific objectives. In the Copperbelt, this means the projected outcomes of the planned activities. That is involvement of mining companies and government a courageous approach, which addresses the frequent departments. There is no way to achieve sustainable criticism of development or conservation activities management of woodlands and waters without their for lacking measurable goals. But if the targets are engagement. Better information in the form of too ambitious it could also prove a way of putting a detailed data on the level of pollution (including the halter around one’s own neck. It is hard to say right direct risks for people and livestock making use of now if this is the case in the Copperbelt project. the polluted land and water) and the encroachment of Partly it depends on the question if there are enough natural resources going on, might be a way to data available to act as a baseline. Without knowing convince both stakeholders that urgent action is exactly how many charcoal producers are actually needed. Capacity training of government officials at operating in the project areas and how much they the provincial and district level is another way to earn with this activity, it is useless to formulate that at create the kind of enabling policy environment, that the end of the 4-year project period 20 percent of in the end will make radical changes at the field level them will have replaced 50 percent of their charcoal possible. income with income from agricultural based ▲

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Acknowledgements All text written by Hans van de Veen/Bureau M&O Environment & Development Productions © WWF June 2005

Published by the DGIS-TMF Programme based at WWF International. For further copies contact Chantal Page, DGIS-TMF Programme WWF International, Avenue de Mont Blanc 27, 1196 Gland, Switzerland Tel: +41 22 364 90 34, Fax +41 22 364 0640, E-mail: [email protected]

Coverpictures: WWF-CANON: Martin Harvey (front), Frederick J.Weyerhaeuser (back) Layout and design: MMS Grafisch Werk, Amsterdam,The Netherlands Production: Bureau M&O, Amsterdam,The Netherlands

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