Access Mapping and Chains: The Woodcraft Curio Market around Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

Abstract

"The paper uses commodity chain analysis to examine the transformation of access and control in woodcraft markets around Victoria Falls in the context of changing policies in the last two decades. The mushrooming of a transnational market for curios has begun to transform the use and management of forests. The paper discusses the distribution of benefits along the chain. It also elaborates on the relationship between property rights operating at a variety of scales beginning with trees on individual farmland or private property, trees on communal woodlands or common property and trees on state land (protected forests and national parks) or state property with other strategies that actors use to gain and control access at different stages of the commodity chain including harvesting, processing, and marketing. In conclusion, the implications for policy are discussed."