Governance issues, potentials and failures of participative collective action in the Kafue Flats, Zambia

Abstract

ABSTRACT Fisheries, wildlife and pastures are under massive pressure in the Kafue Flats, a wetland, which is one of the largest floodplains in Southern and Central Africa. This ecosystem which once harboured abundant common-pool resources and which was managed by local common property regimes is now being threatened with overexploitation. The last 30 years however, have witnessed severe pressure and overuse of these commons. A historical and institutional analysis of the situation of common-pool resources indicates that overuse of fisheries and the mismanagement of wildlife goes back to the erosion of traditional institutions by state governance. Institutional weakness resulting from economic decline in the country is of major concern as the institutions can no longer effectively enforce regulations in the area, a situation which has led to a de facto open access constellation for common-pool resources. The paper discusses three cases. The first is the WWF-Wetland Project and the Administrative Management Design (ADMADE) initiative which was designed to deal with management of Lochinvar and Blue Lagoon National Parks and the adjacent Game Management Area through the involvement of local chiefs and local communities. The second case refers to the Partners for Wetlands Project, which included local people via their chiefs as well as the public and private sectors from large agricultural enterprises to the eastern side of the Kafue Flats (Mwanachinwala Conservation Area project in Mazabuka). However, both attempts yielded poor results due to misconceptions of traditional representation of local communities and misinterpretation of local economic and political incentives. Although the ADMADE programme appears to be a scaling up case, its implementation continues to receive considerable resistance from opposition leaders of chiefs and later by the chiefs themselves. In the third case, the paper examines the fishery constitutional process which had started in 2004 for creating by-laws based on initiatives of local staff of the Department of Fisheries, local interest groups and researchers. A broad local debate on how to manage the fisheries in a sustainable way and develop locally based by-laws for joint management of fisheries gives good potential for success and appears promising for the future of fisheries in Kafue Flats. Despite many difficulties it is an example of local collective action in order to scale up governance of common-pool resources.