Community-based natural resource management and social exclusion in Zimbabwe

Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM), which is aimed at ensuring meaningful participation of rural communities in decision-making and promoting sustainable utilisation of natural resources, has been criticised for excluding local communities from decision-making. Using the concept of social exclusion and a qualitative approach, the study's main objective was to analyse the exclusion faced by the minority Doma ethnic group in the Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) programme in northern Zimbabwe. Findings showed that the Doma were excluded from decision-making related to wildlife management by powerful stakeholders, who included political elites, local authority officials, government conservation authorities, and the safari operator. The crux of this exclusion revolved around the large differences between their livelihood practices and those of the other stakeholders, their low-status position and peripheral location. The Doma also participated in their exclusion as they decided to take an indifferent approach to CAMPFIRE.