Where are you: Home News September 2002


September 2002 Newsletter

Impact Of Water Reforms On Small Scale Farmers

Zimbabwe engaged in the water reform process so that water could be allocated more equitably and efficiently among other key reasons. The process has culminated in the enactment of a new water Act with major positive intensions. However, there are some key issues that need to be investigated before one can make an informed judgment on the effects of water reforms on small scale farmers (small scale commercial, resettlement area and communal area farmers). It is also of paramount importance to avoid the temptation of lumping together different types of farmers within each of the three mentioned sub-sectors.

Some key areas that need investigation:

• Some indication on the proportion of farmers in each sub-sector that had water rights before the enactment of the new water act;

• The proportion of water entitled to small scale farmers;

• Participation of each of the sub-sectors in the water reform process and their input;

• Knowledge about the water reforms and impact on water allocation and utilization by each sub-sector and;

• Potential demand of water permits by small scale farmers either as individuals or as organized groups.

The Southern African Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (SafMA)
IES has become part of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) through the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment for Southern Africa (SAfMA). The MA is an international effort to assess the capacity of ecosystems to support human well-being and life on earth. Several hundred leading social and natural scientists from all over the world are conducting the assessment, with the help of the public and decision –makers who use and manage ecosystems resources. The SAfMA, initiated in 2000 is an integral part of the MA. The southern African component aims to assess the services provided by ecosystems in southern Africa and their impacts on the lives of the region’s people. The assessment will explore how local, informal management systems and conventional formal management systems can be combined to manage ecosystems in ways that ensure the continued provision of ecosystem services in the region.

The SAfMA will be undertaken at multiple spatial scales. It consists of a southern African sub-global component, three basin-wide studies of the Gariep, the Zambezi and the Okavango river systems and a number of assessments at local level. The Southern African Assessment will take place between August 2002 and July 2004 and has seven project teams in South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe /Mozambique. IES is involved in SAfMA in two ways: Dr Tim Lynam, a research associate of the Institute is the team leader of the Gorongosa-Marromeu assessment of the SAfMA and Dr Connie Musvoto the deputy director of the institute is the regional coordinator.

The Zimbabwe National Environmental Policy
IES has been contracted by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) to facilitate the development of a National Environmental Policy (NEP). The environmental policy will be a national document, to be approved by cabinet and parliament and should commit government and society at large. The Institute will, through its project team and project manager (Mr Alois Mandondo) be responsible for the overall organisation and management of all activities related to the process, though working closely with MET and a National Environmental Policy (NEP) Steering Committee. The process will begin in October 2002.

The institute will take an approach that ensures that the process leads to a policy that is:

• Guided by the national development agenda

• Harmonised with related policies

• Practical

• Responsive to national aspirations and sensitive to the values and interests of remote communities

• Mindful of resource limitations

• And a product of effective and wide-ranging national dialogue and consultations during the policy formulating process

 The major challenge associated with the policy development process is ensuring that the final output correctly reflects the concerns raised by stakeholders. This challenge will be met by facilitating a highly consultative process that involves all key stakeholders from the relevant sectors.

The First International Training Workshop on Conservation Agriculture
The International Training Workshop for Extension Staff in Conservation Agriculture - Concepts and Practices in Smallholder Farming Systems, was as a result of joint efforts involving the African Conservation Tillage Network (ACT), Africare-SAMeP (Zambia Office), the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives in Zambia. The workshop also received support from by way of sponsorship of participants or Resource Persons. These include the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit GTZ, Care-International, RELMA, Africare-Tanzania, Africare-South Africa and Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Rural Development in Namibia.

The workshop was held from the 7th to the 20th July 2002 at the Ibis Gardens in Chisamba area (about 80 km north of Lusaka town) in Zambia.  A total of twenty-four (24) participants drawn from both public and NGO institutions in five countries, namely Namibia, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa and Zambia took part in the workshop.

The Training workshop aimed to contribute to building the desired capacity and ability among frontline agricultural extension and research staff in the identification, development and promotion of appropriate conservation farming technologies, thereby enhancing their ability to respond to related farmer’s needs and aspirations. The training’s specific objectives were to enable the participants:

• Develop a critical appreciation of the limitations in conventional farming practices as concerns sustainable use of the soil-water resources

• Gain the desired awareness and conviction in conservation farming technologies,

• Acquire practical knowledge and skill in the application of conservation agriculture practices (options) in identified socio-cultural, economic, agro-ecological circumstances

• Strengthen the extension skills in sustainable farming and facilitation of community based conservation agriculture activities.

Action Plans and Way Forward
To “ground” the information and experiences from the training, participants working in smaller country groups prepared action plans. These were based on real life circumstances and needs in the participants’ own working areas and within they ability and capacity to implement. The plans are presented in Training Workshop Report. In view of ensuring the implementation of the plans, ACT secretariat was charged with the follow-up (directly and/or through the resource persons) and provision of support that may be required in the implementation of the plans.

Among the major components of the way forward from both the resource persons and the participants were the following:

• Follow-up programme on the workshop participants;

• Training workshop for 2003

Follow-up programme on the workshop participants: The ACT secretariat was charged with the responsibility to facilitate and coordinate a follow-up programme on each of the workshop participants.

The main objectives of this participants’ follow-up programme shall be:

• to identify and provide (facilitate) support that may be required by the participants in their efforts to implement what was learnt in the workshop including their action plans.

• to monitor and assess the impact of the training on the participants’ ability to undertake their CA related work , and

• capture and refine CA training needs for persons in these categories.

Training workshop for 2003: A similar training workshop was suggested for 2003. Initial consideration were to hold the next training workshop in South Africa’s Limpopo Province with the GTZ-BASED Project as the main local partner.

World Summit on Sustainable Development

The World Summit on Sustainable Development was held in Johannesburg from the 26th of August to the 4th of September.  Some of the key outcomes of the Summit are:

Management Of The Natural Resource Base

Water: Develop integrated water resources management and water efficiency plans by 2005.

Oceans and fisheries:  Encourage the application by 2010 of the ecosystem approach for the sustainable development of the oceans.  On an urgent basis and where possible by 2015, maintain or restore depleted fish stocks to levels that can produce the maximum sustainable yield.   Put into effect the FAO international plans of action by the agreed dates:

• for the management of fishing capacity by 2005; and

• to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing by 2004.

Develop and facilitate the use of diverse approaches and tools, including the ecosystem approach, the elimination of destructive fishing practices, the establishment of marine protected areas consistent with international law and based on scientific information, including representative networks by 2012 .  Establish by 2004 a regular process under the United Nations for global reporting and assessment of the state of the marine environment.  Eliminate subsidies that contribute to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and to over-capacity.

Atmosphere:  Facilitate implementation of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer by ensuring adequate replenishment of its fund by 2003/2005.  Improve access by developing countries to alternatives to ozone-depleting substances by 2010, and assist them in complying with the phase-out schedule under the Montreal Protocol.

Biodiversity:  Achieve by 2010 a significant reduction in the current rate of loss of biological diversity.

Forests:  Accelerate implementation of the IPF/IFF proposals for action by countries and by the Collaborative Partnership on Forests, and intensify efforts on reporting to the United Nations Forum on Forests, to contribute to an assessment of progress in 2005.

Chemicals :  Aim, by 2020, to use and produce chemicals in ways that do not lead to significant adverse effects on human health and the environment.  Renew the commitment to the sound management of chemicals and of hazardous wastes throughout their life cycle.  Promote the ratification and implementation of relevant international instruments on chemicals and hazardous waste, including the Rotterdam Convention so that it can enter into force by 2003 and the Stockholm Convention so that it can enter into force by 2004.

Further develop a strategic approach to international chemicals management, based on the Bahia Declaration and Priorities for Action beyond 2000, by 2005. 

Encourage countries to implement the new globally harmonized system for the classification and labeling of chemicals as soon as possible, with a view to having the system fully operational by 2008.