Community action in the management of community forests in Swaziland: the case of Ngcayini and Ezikhotheni chiefdoms.

Abstract

It is evident that community action is indispensable in order to attain sustainable management of community resources in general and particularly community forests, as well as to control land degradation. In Swaziland however, the examination of factors behind fruitful community action is quite recent, hence there is a paucity of published documents on this subject. Therefore the aim of the research presented here was to assess the role of community action in the management of community forests in Swaziland using the Ngcayini and Ezikhotheni chiefdoms as case studies. The study focused on the following issues: 1) the management of community resources by internal and external stakeholders; 2) the rules governing the management of forest resources and the manner in which the derived benefits are utilized and distributed, and 3) the extent of community action in the management of community resources. The research has also provided a critical review of the opportunities and threats associated with community action in the management of community forests, the extent of community forest resource utilization, and the nature and extent of land degradation associated with such resource utilization. Data were collected by selecting and interviewing respondents who comprised internal and external stakeholders. The internal stakeholders included 300 heads of households (100 from Ngcayini and 200 from Ezikhotheni), eight members of the community inner council, comprising the headman, three inner council members and three ward elders from each chiefdom), six Natural Resource Management Committee members (three from each chiefdom), as well as the Individual chiefdom councillors (Bucopho) at Ngcayini and Ezikhotheni chiefdoms as case studies. Notably, sampling was only done at Ezikhotheni where 200 out of 500 homesteads selected using simple random sampling. Regardless of the number of households in a homestead, only one head of household was interviewed. External stakeholders included four officers in the Forestry Section of the Ministry Tourism and Environmental Affairs (MTEA); four officers of the Swaziland Environment Authority (SEA); the Livelihoods Manager for World Vision; and the Director of Environment for Conserve Swaziland. Considering that the study involves the views and opinions of human beings as the key subjects, ethical clearance was solicited through the University of KwaZulu-Natal Ethics Committee (protocol reference number HSS/0729/017D). The research findings indicate that access to forest resources is free in natural forests, yet in plantation-style community forests it is controlled by traditional authorities and Natural Resource Management Committees (NRMCs). Resources extracted from plantation-style community forests are sold to community members, and the proceeds are then used to fulfil the needs of the community concerned. For instance, at Ngcayini the proceeds fund community leaders when attending royal duties and buy a royal kraal stamp and its accessories as indicated by 37% of the heads of households and 100% of the community leaders. At Ezikhotheni they financed a water project and support neighbourhood care points according to 6% of the heads of households and 18.2% of the community leaders. In terms of the management of community forests, both internal and external stakeholders relied on a number of strategies. For instance, both males and females indiscriminately engaged in planting, pruning, mending fences, making and maintaining fire breaks and harvesting forest products. Moreover, the findings reveal that there was generally community-wide cooperation from ordinary community members to community leaders in the management of community forests. Nonetheless, such cooperation was challenged by issues such as chieftaincy disputes, prevailing poverty issues and rapid population growth. In the management of community forests, the Ezikhotheni and Ngcayini chiefdoms collaborated with a range of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), government departments and parastatals. Nevertheless, such collaborations were fraught with benefits and challenges. Furthermore, there are elaborate rules governing the management of community forests in the specific chiefdoms studied (90% Ezikhotheni and 88% at Ngcayini). The rules are formulated by all community members and enforced by community leaders. Despite the elaborate rules, there are challenges of illegal burning and harvesting of resources, as well as the theft of fence materials surrounding the forests and gullies. Nonetheless, perpetrators are generally exposed and reprimanded through levying of fines. In addition, community members indicated knowledge of national policies and legislation relating to the management of community forests. On another note, community action appeared to be embraced more extensively at the Ezikhotheni than at the Ngcayini chiefdoms. In spite of this, community action in both chiefdoms was fraught with both opportunities and threats. Regarding land degradation, the findings highlighted that erosion in the form of gullying was active and advancing from 2.14 hectares in 2008 to 2.59 hectares in 2017 at Ngcayini, whereas at Ezikhotheni it was diminishing from 9.78 hectares in 2008 to 9.37 hectares in 2017 due to successful rehabilitation following the planting of trees. Plantation-style community forests were generally increasing from 2008 to 2017 in both chiefdoms (4.48 to 7.15 hectares at Ezikhotheni and 0.35 to 0.48 hectares at Ngcayini), signalling the effectiveness of the afforestation intervention and a success of community action in the management of community forests. Moreover, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) also depicts a general increase from 2008 to 2017 in both chiefdoms (0.34 to 0.43 at Ezikhotheni and 0.33 to 0.56 at Ngcayini); which too is indicative of the effectiveness of the afforestation intervention and the success of community action in the management of community forests.