Conservation, Land Conflicts and Sustainable Tourism in Southern Africa

Contemporary Issues and Approaches

Regis Musavengane, Llewellyn Leonard, Regis Musavengane, Llewellyn Leonard

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781000585353
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Natural Resource Extraction Industry
• Index: Business

This book examines the nexus between conservation, land conflicts, and sustainable tourism approaches in Southern Africa, with a focus on equity, access, restitution, and redistribution.

While Southern Africa is home to important biodiversity, pristine woodlands, and grasslands, and is a habitat for important wildlife species, it is also a land of contestations over its natural resources with a complex historical legacy and a wide variety of competing and conflicting issues surrounding race, cultural and traditional practices, and neoliberalism. Drawing on insights from conservation, environmental, and tourism experts, this volume presents the nexus between land conflicts and conservation in the region. The chapters reveal the hegemony of humans on land and associated resources including wildlife and minerals. By using social science approaches, the book unites environmental, scientific, social, and political issues, as it is imperative we understand the holistic nature of land conflicts in nature-based tourism. Discussing the management theories and approaches to community-based tourism in communities where there are or were land conflicts is critical to understanding the current state and future of tourism in African rural spaces. This volume determines the extent to which land reform impacts community-based tourism in Africa to develop resilient destination strategies and shares solutions to existing land conflicts to promote conservation and nature-based tourism.

The book will be of great interest to students, academics, development experts, and policymakers in the field of conservation, tourism geography, sociology, development studies, land use, and environmental management and African studies.

1 Land conflicts in Southern AfricaThe sustainability of tourism and conservation

Regis Musavengane and Llewellyn Leonard

DOI: 10.4324/9781003188902-1

The Law of the Land¹

Now this is the law of the land, son

as old and as new as the hills

And the farmer who keeps it may prosper

but the farmer that breaks it, it kills.

Unlike the law of the man, son

this law it never runs slack,

What you take from the land for your own, son,

you’ve damn well got to put back.

Now we of the old generation took land on the cheap and made good

We ploughed, we stocked, and we burnt, son, we took whatever we could,

But erosion came creeping slowly, then hastened on with a rush,

Our rooigras went to glory, and we don’t relish steekgras as much.

The good old days are gone, son

when those slopes were white with lambs,

The lands lie thin and straight, son,

and the silt has chocked our dams.

Did l say those days were gone son? For me

they are almost gone

But for you they will come again, son,

when the task I set you is done.

I’ve paid for this farm and fenced it,

I’ve robbed it, and now I unmask –

You’ve got to put it back, son,

And yours is the harder task.

Stock all your paddocks wisely, rotate them as you can,

Block all the loose storm-waters, and spread them out like a fan.

Tramp all your straw to compost and feed it to the soil,

Contour your lands where they need it, there is virtue in sweat and toil.

We don’t really own the land, son, we hold it and pass away.

The land belongs to the nation, to the dawn of judgement day.

And the nation holds you worthy, and if you are straight and just

You’ll see that to rob the land is betraying a nation’s trust.

Don’t ask of your farm a fortune,

True worth ranks higher than gold;

To farm is a way of living, learn it

before you grow old.

So this is the law of the land, son,

to take, you’ve got to put back.

And you’ll find that your days were full, son,

when it’s time to shoulder your pack.

Introduction

At the core of issues that matter to Africans is the governance of land and the associated natural resources. This pertains to the use, access, and sharing of land and its vast natural resources (Nelson, 2010). The livelihoods of most of the African populace hinge on the land and its associated resources. The land is central to natural resource governance. Economically, land is important in the provision of ecological services that underpin agricultural livelihoods. In addition, the tourism and conservation sectors rely heavily on wildlife resources (Muboko & Murindagomo, 2014; Stone & Nyaupane, 2018). The Southern African region has almost all the major minerals necessary to transform the livelihoods of many of its citizens, but to date, the extraction of natural resources has destroyed the land and not resulted in the wealth distribution among citizens that would enable sustainable livelihoods. In many African countries, such as Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Liberia, the exploitation of extractive natural resources has only contributed to increasing political instability, conflict, wars, and socioeconomic degradation (Arthur, 2014). Politically, the quest for land and the associated natural resources led to the exploitation of Africans through colonisation, which in turn framed the current conflicts. In the postcolonial era, issues regarding natural resource governance such as land tenure continue to underpin evolving relationships between states and citizens. Inequalities relating to land use and access have been and continue to be the major reason for land conflicts in Southern Africa. This consequently affects tourism development in land-contested spaces (Nelson, 2010). There are several key natural resource challenges within Southern Africa. Some of these include limitations in inclusive decision-making over land use; large-scale land acquisitions (land grabbing) that result in anti-people investment policies; marginalisation regarding the access of vulnerable peoples to common resources; lack of devolution of natural resources and insufficient transfer of power; dispossession by powerful economic interests that deploy conservation narratives driven by outsiders’ innovations; and a greater reliance on biological science that excludes the majority of the population (Bugembu, 2016). Access to land use is a pivotal aspect in assuring sustainable rural livelihoods, with natural resources becoming natural ‘assets’ when access is guaranteed either through asset ownership or other means of securing access and control (Lee & Neves, 2009).

To consolidate the much-needed political authority and control patronage of natural resources after gaining independence, most Southern African countries maintained the centralised natural resource management (NRM) systems. This situation appears to have led to the mismanagement of natural resources due to the lack of capacity and the misaligned incentives that have culminated in the privatisation of public resources and patronage (Nelson, 2010). Resource-rich countries on the continent are among the most poorly governed. Risks related to governance issues have also hindered African countries from transforming resource wealth to production and revenues and, therefore, sustainable development. The 2017 Resource Governance Index is a tool for assessing good governance. It measures accountability and transparency rules and practices related to many issues deemed by African institutions as critical in improving benefits from resources. Generally, Africa achieves a ‘poor’ resource governance rating although there is variance between countries (Natural Resources Governance Institute, 2018). The centralised NRM of land and associated resources such as wildlife, forests, and fisheries allows for their exploitation due to the lack of capacity of the states to enforce policies. The centralised NRM system has evolved into a top-down management approach in which the elite bureaucrats and party loyalists who are far removed from the reality of rural life continue to dictate how rural residents should manage their natural resources (Musavengane & Simatele, 2016). This situation often results in the disgruntlement of local people because central government authorities naively believe that they are in a better position to make decisions concerning the management of natural resources (Binns et al., 2012). Harnessing the potential of natural resources is key to delivering better development outcomes for the African population, which is projected to double by 2050 (Natural Resources Governance Institute, 2018).

Central governments have been identified as key instigators of land conflicts (Arthur, 2014). Cheru (2002) opines that central governments oftentimes naively view themselves as better placed to make key decisions on NRM. Binns et al. (2012) add that such thinking and the associated practices result in poor policies and institutional failures that undermine the productivity of rural populations. The communication and knowledge gap created between the central governments and local communities creates a suitable environment for land conflict. Having gone through repressive eras under colonialism and apartheid, local people resist policies that are imposed upon them. Chirenje et al. (2013) note that while African governments have understood the need to devolve control and management of natural resources to the local communities, the latter are excluded from the planning and budgeting that is important in decision-making. Instead, communities are involved in the implementation of NRM programmes but lack ownership of the projects, resulting in poor commitment to the project development programmes and at times, hostile reactions from the communities. Community participation is effective when the local population is involved as project owners. Hence, Chambers (1994) and Child (2019) stress the need for greater civic participation in making decisions pertaining to NRM. The growth of democratic and development discourse has necessitated discussion on the inclusion of local people in decision-making processes in the management of land-related resources. Grassroots decision-making in common pool NRM enables and promotes the collective cooperation of stakeholders in devising strategies for effective resource management (Tantoh & Simatele, 2018). African governments need to secure the inclusion of communities in decision-making and not impose external solutions if NRM and land use are to be sustainable. Even international interventions to resolve land conflicts in Southern Africa will not be sustainable without the involvement of communities in decision-making processes. According to Kalabamu (2019), despite international support and a number of tenure reforms undertaken by various post-independence governments, land conflicts appear to be ongoing, with conflicts intensifying in terms of magnitude and frequency in some Sub-Saharan African countries. This has exacerbated the inequalities inherited from colonial regimes and created new platforms for social injustices and political instability, working against peace, social justice, and equality.

International and Southern African debate on land conflicts, NRM, and tourism

Researchers across the globe have written on land conflicts in the Sub-Saharan African region (see Bansah, 2017; Berry, 2017; Boone, 2017; Fisk, 2019). The issue of land claims is rife within the continent and has attracted many authors and publishing houses. For example, Geoforum, a leading international and interdisciplinary journal published a Special Issue on “Claim-Making as Social Practice – Land, Politics and Conflict in Africa” (Van der Haar et al., 2021). The Special Issue focused on Sub-Saharan Africa for two main reasons. First, there are widespread concerns over the intensity of the competition around land due to the global ‘land rush’ and the prevalence of land tenure insecurity in Africa. The second reason is that “there is a need to bridge the scholarships around ‘development’ and ‘conflict’, a concern, we feel, is particularly acute on the African continent considering its relative underdevelopment and the violent conflicts that affect large parts” (Van der Haar et al., 2021, p. 11). This current book agrees with such sentiments and propositions; Southern Africa should not be known for grabbing the land violently and destroying any economic activity, including tourism. Hence, the book navigates the pertinent issues on the nexus between land conflicts and tourism in Southern Africa.

In September 2021, the W...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• List of Contributors
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Land conflicts in Southern Africa: The sustainability of tourism and conservation
• PART 1 Land governance and sustainable tourism management
• PART 2 Managing natural disasters and land reform tourism crises
• PART 3 Managing land use, access, and benefit-sharing conflicts
• PART 4 Conclusion
• Index