Controls and Sanctions over the Use of Resources in the Kafue Flats of Zambia

Abstract

"The research on which this paper is based, enquired into the traditional management of the resources of a non-equilibrium environment, the Kafue Flats, a Zambian flood plain. Management includes crop cultivation, trans-humant pastoralism, fishing, hunting, and the gathering of forest products. The purpose of this paper is to describe the links between the actual use and the system of controls and sanctions of the use.

"Generally, in order to effect regulation of resource use, there must be an institutions surmounting political, ethnic, and economic divisions, which is able to endorse commonly respected, enforceable sanctions. In this locality the source of such control was found in what have been termed 'territorial shrines' here known as malende.

"These findings suggest that in the subsistence economy of the Flats the utilization and regulation of natural resources is linked in a fundamental way to political and religious organization. Although local communities still control land use this has to be achieved within a dual legislative context, the terms of which are not entirely under their control. For example, grazing and fire management have been controlled by local leaders for more than 1000 years with the Kafue Flats becoming one of the more productive grasslands in the world. Control of the management systems is as powerful as ever, but outside control of the one resource, water for production of electricity, has damaged grazing lands.

"It is clear that local people have access to funds of indigenous knowledge held by various experts varying in age and status. There are examples of people using the store of knowledge to adapt to the changing ecological conditions of the area. It is the capacity for change, reliant on the common access to information, which is the strength of the traditional system."