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Chapter 3 The land and its people
Introduction
This chapter shall give a detailed description of the area under study, climate and vegetation, demographics and the livelihoods of the inhabitants. It shall also examine the religious beliefs, practices, world views and polity of the Shona people. Shona attitudes to nature shall be explored by focusing on animate and inanimate beings which include animals, plants, and water among others. Christian attitudes to nature shall also be explored looking at those attitudes that engender positive environmental conservation and those that are not. Activities done by Shona communities shall also be explored.
Description of the area under study and its inhabitants
The map above shows the provincial boundaries of the area that is focused by this study. With the exception of Bulawayo metropolitan, Matabeleland north and Matabeleland south provinces and the western parts of the Midlands province, the rest of the country is inhabited by the Shona people. Much of the area is high land save for the Zambezi valley in the border with Mozambique to the north and the Low-veld to the east. Almost all the rivers drain their water into the Zambezi to the north and the Limpopo to the south. Pungwe river drains direct into the Indian Ocean. There are many mineral deposits like gold in areas including Mazoe, platinum in Ngezi area in Mashonaland West Province, diamonds in Marange area in Manicaland Province, iron ore in Mwanesi in the Midlands Province, coal in Hwange in Matabeleland North Province.
Climate and vegetation
The climate of the area under study is markedly varied by altitude. It is dry and tropical and is divided into four seasons namely the rainy season which stretches from November to mid-March, the post rainy season from late March to mid-May, the cool dry season from mid-May to mid-August, and the warm dry season from mid-August to November. The rainy season is typically a time of heavy rainfall. The whole country is influenced by the Inter-tropical convergence zone especially during the month of January (www.fao.org). In years when it is poorly defined, there is below average rainfall and a serious likelihood of drought (ibid). Most of the rains fall in summer season. It is brought by the Zaire winds from the north-west that is conventional rainfall formed from hot air rising and the south-east trade winds which brings relief rainfall formed from air rising over the mountains especially in the eastern border.
Rainfall and temperature conditions in the study area are greatly affected by relief and altitude that is the height above sea level. Temperatures are chiefly affected by latitude, the distance from the equator and altitude (Munowenyu and Murray 1999:11). Normally places in low latitudes have high temperatures. The Zambezi valley which covers the area between Zimbabwe and Zambia to some parts of Mozambique and the Low-veld to the east are low lying areas with very high temperatures. The rest of the area in the central region have high altitude and have low temperatures.
Since Zimbabwe has fairly high altitudes, the influence of latitude on temperatures is not very strong. Using the average annual temperatures, three broad belts can be seen, firstly the hot region which include the Low-veld and some parts of the middle-veld and the temperatures are above 20 degrees Celsius (ibid). Secondly, there is the warm region which covers the rest of the middle-veld and virtually all the high-veld. The temperatures in this region range from 15 to 20 degrees Celsius. Thirdly there is the cool region covering the highest parts of the country especially the eastern border highlands with average temperatures ranging from 15 degrees Celsius and below but drastic changes have taken place with increased dry seasons with very hot temperatures.
Vegetation cover in Zimbabwe as indicated in graphs in chapter 1 has greatly depreciated from early 2000 onwards. Zimbabwe is made up of a series of plateaus and mountains. In the central parts of the country is the high-veld ridge which stretches from the south west to the north east occupying an area of around quarter of the country (Munowenyu and Murray 1999:68). The middle-veld has areas of wooded savannah and bracken covered hills and enjoys temperate climate. Either side of the middle-veld are low lying regions along the Limpopo valley to the south and the Zambezi valley to the north. These low lying areas are very hot and dry. In these dry hot low lying regions, Mopane and Baobab trees are common across the scrubland (Munowenyu and Murray 1999:68). The quick growing eucalyptus trees have also been introduced to provide wood for energy and to act as windbreaks in farms.
Deforestation and widespread cultivation have cleared much of the natural vegetation in the area under study. The approximate 10 percent of the land has been set aside for parkland and natural habitats and are preserved as national parks (Munowenyu and Murray 1999:70). The government acquired 12.4 million hectares of the 16 million hectares in large scale agriculture from 6796 large scale farms (www.fao.org) which resulted in the emergence of AI and A2 model farmers. A total of 127 192 households were settled under the A1 model with each household acquiring 6 hectares of land. The A2 model comprised of self-contained farming units and 12 942 individuals were allocated large tracts of land above 300 hectares. This signalled the great fall of forested land as the newly resettled farmers cleared land for agricultural purposes. Coupled with poor farming practices, land degradation reached its crescendo peak. Chemicals that were used to control weeds found their way to the river systems polluting water bodies as indicated in chapter 2.
Demography and livelihoods
It is critical at this point to explore the demography of the study area since it has some effects on the environment and its inhabitants. Demography is the science of human population dynamics which encompasses the study of the size, structure and distribution of populations and how populations change over time due to births, deaths, migration and aging (https://www.demogr.mpg.de/en). Demographic indicators are important and informative in explaining world events and they should be turned to first in order to come up with definitive environmental solutions (https://www.demogr.mpg.de/en). Population increase has adverse effects on the environment. The expanding population the world over has resulted in increased competition for natural resources, food, land and many others.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the population of the country was estimated to have been around 600 000. In 1992, population census estimated it at over 10 000 000 people. Currently the population is estimated to be above 16 million people and around 70 percent of the population live in rural areas and the rest in urban areas (www.zimstat.zw). With a population above 16 million over an area of approximately 390 757km2, it is evident that the demand for resources is higher. Shona is the largest ethnic group about 77 percent of the population consisting of the Karanga, Korekore, Manyika, Ndau, and Zezuru dialects. The second largest ethnic group is the Ndebele consisting of about 18 percent. Other minority groups like the Batonga in the Zambezi valley, Hlengwe in the Low veld and Venda in the southern border with South Africa each constitute 1 percent while Asians and Europeans constitute 2 percent (ibid).
Three major demographic and settlement changes occurred with the coming of the British settlers around 1896. First, the acquisition of large tracks of land by the white settlers for commercial agriculture until the 1950’s resulted in a situation in which much of the land was owned by well under 1 percent of the population with limited access to vast majority of the rural population (https://www.demogr.mpg.de/en). Secondly, during the colonial period, the development of industry in towns and cities especially Harare and Bulawayo meant that men were to migrate to urban areas leaving women and children in rural areas. The third major change involved the age profile of the population. A sharp drop in mortality rates and longer life expectancy between 1960 and 1992 meant the population sharply increased (ibid). The huge population meant increased demand for land, food production and the pressure was burdening the environment.
In the year 2000 after the formation of the powerful opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the then governing Zanu PF party embarked on the Fast Track Land Reform Programme and acquired large tracks of land and gave to landless blacks. Though the move to acquire and redress land imbalances was a noble idea, the way it was done was chaotic. Now almost every piece of land is occupied. Forests were cleared for agricultural purposes and the cutting down of trees to cure tobacco has risen to alarming proportions.
Livelihoods
The macro-economic challenges in the study area continue to worsen. Life is getting harder by the day for ordinary people than what it was two decades ago (Magura interviewed on 07/03/17 in Harare). Zimbabwe had never recovered fully from the economic slump that began in 2000 with the violent seizure of thousands of white owned farms with unemployment rate running as high as 80 percent (Magura interviewed on 07/03/17). Even those with jobs still suffer unpaid wages and acute shortages of cash. This has led to significant retrenchments in the formal employment sector. Income security has dwindled heavily such that the majority of the people now rely on agriculture and other related subsectors for sustenance. Livelihoods are mostly dependant on rain-fed agriculture with only a few commercial farmers doing both dry land and irrigation farming.
Acknowledgements
Dedication
Declaration
Definition of terms
Acronyms
Contents
List of Figures and Tables
Abstract
Chapter 1
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Background to the study
1.3 The research problem
1.4 Research Objectives
1.5 Research questions
1.6 Justification
1.7 Hypothesis
1.8 Methodology
1.9 Scope and limitations of the study
1.10 Chapter outline
1.11 Overview of existing Literature
Chapter 2 Review of related literature
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Literature review
2.3 Causes of global warming and subsequent climate change
2.4 Impact of global warming and climate change
2.5 Impact of climate change on food production
2.6 Impact of climate change on fresh clean water
2.7 Impact of climate change on human health and diseases
2.8 Human settlements, energy and industry
2.9 Impact of climate change on insurance and financial services.
2.10 Impact of climate change on poverty reduction
2.11 Conclusion
Chapter 3 The land and its people
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Description of the area under study and its inhabitants
3.3 Climate and vegetation .
3.4 Demography and livelihoods.
3. 5 The Shona people.
3.6 Shona traditional polity
3.7 The Shona people’s attitudes to nature .
3.8 The Shona religious and sacral view of land and water
3.9 Christian attitudes to the environment: Background issues
3.10 Activities done by Shona people in response to climate change impacts
3.11 Conclusion
Chapter 4 Research findings
4.1 Introduction
4.2 The wounded earth
4.3 Unsustainable population growth
4.4 Religious fundamental roles in environmental conservation
4.5 Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) and Weather Indicators
4.6 The role of Traditional leaders .
4.7 Diverging world views and perspectives between Christianity and Shona religions
4.8 Scientific Weather Indicators
4.9 Notable barriers to effective climate change mitigation and adaptation
4.10 Conclusion
Chapter 5 Evaluation
5.1. Introduction
5.2 The Interface between Religion, Science and Sustainable Development
5.3 Religious conservatism
5.4 Religion as a climate change coping mechanism
5.5 Sustainable Development in the face of Industrialization and Globalisation
5.6 Historical successes of Religion in correcting human wrongs
5.7 Religious contributions to climate change mitigation
5.8 The way forward: Towards a common environmental goal
5.9 Moral aptitude: The climate game changer
5.10 Shared ideology
5.11 Mitigation strategies to avert climate change
5.12 Conclusion
Chapter 6 Recommendations and conclusion
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Summary of findings and recommendations
6.3 Limitations and areas needing further research
6.4 Conclusion
Bibliography
Appendix
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