Environmental policy and administrative management

3.1 Project Summary This program is part of a growing international effort to utilize properly managed livestock to restore degraded land and thereby reduce both the frequency and severity of drought and flood disasters. It builds on the successes and learning from our efforts over the last four years (funded by USAID) to develop and then test in the neighbouring Hwange Communal Lands (HCL), a Holistic Management curriculum for communities embedded in an effective community mobilisation process. As such, the process has led to the discovery of key factors influencing successful implementation in land restoration-through-livestock efforts: 1) Bulk water storage to ensure large herds can drink quickly at least once per day while being herded; and, 2) The use of mobile bomas (enclosures) that keep herds safe from predators at night, and allow crop fields to be tilled by concentrated hooves and fertilised with dung and urine, which more than doubles crop yields on the poorest of soils. Currently Africa Centre for Holistic Management (ACHM) is working with 14 communities situated in Hwange Communal Lands which are implementing the Holistic Land and Livestock Management. These communities which lie in five Chiefdom-ships include Sizinda, Dibutibu, Chisuma,Ntabayengwe, Dobolo, Makala, Siyanyanga, Chigusi/Chibombo, Mwemba, Simangani,Gurambira, Kapami, Chamabanda and,Mashala. Over the last 4 years, ACHM managed to provide water and mobile kraals (bomas) in the following communities; Sizinda, Mwemba, Chezya, Siyanyanga and Ndajila/Masikila.. The following communities will require development of water-point infrastructure at Chigusi/Chibombo and Makhala whilst 5 bomas will be required at Chamabanda,Chisuma,Chigusi/Chibombo,Gurambira, Ntabayengwe. Therefore, this project seeks to support the establishment of 2 water points with bulk water storage, 5 mobile bomas and2 nutritional gardens (see Appendix 1). The requested funds from GEF will scale up the efforts which were started through the USAID funded Holistic Land and Livestock Management. The table below shows the previous funding received from USAID and the new areas that require GEFSGP support. In each case, the community will have planned for this infrastructure, including their own contribution of 15% of cost, paid for in cash, labour and materials. They will create a maintenance fund and maintenance schedules to ensure the longevity of the assets. ACHM therefore requests for financial support from the GEF Small Grants Programme for procurement of materials required for this work and for establishing the water points. 3.2 Organizational Background and Capacity to implement the Project Africa Centre for Holistic Management (ACHM) is a non profit Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) founded and registered in 1992, to support the dissemination of Holistic Management in Southern Africa through innovative training and outreach programmes based on a practical learning site (Dimbangombe Ranch) that provides evidence of land, water and wildlife restoration using livestock as a tool. ACHM employees 72 workers. Most people in the Southern African region are affected by droughts more than any other type of natural disasters. Yet most of the droughts are human-caused or made worse by human practices. This view is further supported by Kofi Annan (1999) as he wrote, the term natural disasters has become an increasingly anachronistic misnomer. In reality, it is human behaviour that transforms natural hazards into what should be called unnatural disasters . This program is addressing those human-caused drought (and floods) through Holistic Land and Livestock Management. Pastoral droughts occur in most years in the communal grazing areas that make up the bulk of Southern African landscapes. As a result, boreholes and rivers are going dry, livestock are malnourished and more susceptible to disease, and in a genuine meteorological drought , which is made worse by the state of the land, and many animals perish. Livestock are commonly blamed for the land destruction, and there is ample evidence that livestock management practices have led to the creation of bare ground which means most of the rain that falls either evaporates immediately or runs off, creating drought in the upper catchment and floods lower down. This is desertification in process and until Southern Africa begins to reverse it the conflict, impoverishment and social breakdown that accompany it will only increase. In addition, climate variability is expected to increase due to various climate related factors over time. However, the Holistic Land and Livestock Management is an innovative approach which seeks to mitigate and reduce the impacts of pastoral droughts. Similarly, Zimbabwe and in particular Hwange Communal Lands where this project is based is not spared from the effects of droughts. Hwange Communal Lands are located in the agro-ecological region IV and V, characterised by marginal environmental conditions of low rainfall, poor soils and persistent droughts. Small holder farmers in this region depend on mixed crop and livestock production for their livelihoods. Animal husbandry is the major production activity in Hwange Communal Lands given the harsh environmental conditions characterizing this region. Through the implementation of Holistic Land and Livestock Management the project is aimed at increasing crop yields by about 3t/ha, reduces bare ground by 20% and increase forage by 40 days per hectare.

Zimbabwe