HARNESSING FOREST RESOURCES TO REDUCE POVERTY AND LAND DEGRADATION IN MUSHANDIKE RESETTLEMENT AREA, ZIMBABWE

The study sought to assess the efficacy of harnessing forest resources to enhance rural livelihood, reduce poverty and land degradation in Mushandike. In many parts of Mushandike, the remaining natural forests and the biodiversity treasures they harbor are at a risk from agricultural and grazing expansion, excessive exploitation and uncontrolled wild fires. Deforestation continues because converting forests to other uses is almost always profitable for individual farmers. The human imprint on the forests emerges from millions of individual decisions in pursuit of food and livelihoods. However society as a whole bears the costs of lost biodiversity, global warming, smoke pollution, and degradation of water sources. Many people who depend on these forests for important elements of their livelihood are facing a grim future if these forests continue to degrade and disappear. The research used both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. Questionnaires and in-depth structured interviews were the major instruments used to gather data. The research noted that farmers in Mushandike have not benefited much from forest resources; hence they are in a situational prism of ‘rich forests, poor people. Forests in Mushandike are constantly undervalued in both economic and social terms, with much of the environmental value of forest ecosystems falling outside of formal markets. The research further noted that sustainable forest management is essential to achieving sustainable development and is a critical means to eradicate poverty, significantly reduce deforestation, halt the loss of forest biodiversity and land and resource degradation, and improve food security and access to safe water and affordable energy. The research recommends that confronting forest conservation challenges requires assessing and managing inherent trade-offs between immediate human needs and maintaining the capacity of ecosystems to provide goods and services in the future.