ABOUT
COMMUNITY CAMPFIRE
ASSOCIATION OF ZIMBABWE
CCAZ was founded in 2021 to support the active participation of local communities in natural resource management by amplifying their voices across different natural resource governance levels.
Community Campfire Association of Zimbabwe (CCAZ) is a not-for-profit organization for local communities living in areas with high-value natural resources such as wildlife, timber, and non-timber forest products. CCAZ was founded in 2021 to support the active participation of local communities in natural resource management by amplifying their voices across different natural resource governance levels. CCAZs vision is to have communities lead in decisions on natural resources management, use and benefits. In addition, CCAZ envisions communities significantly and sustainably benefiting. from natural resource use. We complement government policies on devolution and economic empowerment. The government aims to have the country reach middle-income status by 2030, and CCAZ works in marginalized areas to support the government and ensure local communities are not left behind.
The CCAZ constituency covers rural districts across the country of Zimbabwe, with an initial focus on districts implementing the Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) programme. The CAMPFIRE programme was initiated by the government in the late 1980s to support community-led development and sustainable use of natural resources. Put another way it is a programme that helps rural communities manage natural resources for their own local development. The original thrust was on high-value wildlife but has broadened to cover a wide range of other natural resources such as timber and non-timber forest products. However, despite celebrated intentions and benefits, local communities have remained largely disenfranchised and powerless in making decisions, especially about high-value natural resources in their areas as testified by the CCAZ founders.
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The CCAZ founders are local community representatives from 15 rural districts of Zimbabwe, most of which are adjacent to national parks. The founders have deep connections with the CAMPFIRE programme, with many born, raised, and still residing in their home districts where the programme is being implemented. The founders have had a long experience of the program, including its positive and negative impacts. They understand the nuances accompanying the programme. The founders have been, and some are still in the formal governance structures and understand the flaws in the system as it relates to natural resources management. They believe that an independent body formed by and for local communities gives an honest space for communities to be heard.
CCAZ was formed against a backdrop of declining benefits to communities and a rise in human-wildlife conflict (HWC) in areas where people live alongside wildlife. Human-wildlife conflicts (HWC) increased due to shrinking wildlife habitats resulting from human encroachment into wildlife areas. HWC has resulted in losses of human lives, crops, and livestock, undermining the livelihoods of local communities living in areas with wildlife. Local communities in rural districts with other natural resources such as timber and nontimber forest products have also experienced little to no benefits.
The current status disempowers local communities from meaningful decision-making over natural resource management, HWC mitigation, and benefit sharing across a number of natural resources. In areas with wildlife such as elephants, buffaloes and carnivores, the cost of living with wildlife has become too high, causing local communities to devalue wildlife conservation efforts. Often, this has led to a rise in retaliatory killing of problem animals, increased poaching, and calls by distressed local communities for an end to wildlife conservation programs in their areas. In non-wildlife areas, disenfranchised local people are reluctant to participate in conservation preferably engaging in behaviors that degrade the environment, such as deforestation.
PARTNERS.
