Environmental Education and Community-Based Natural Resource Management in Zambia

Abstract

This chapter analyses the relationship between Environmental Education (EE) and Community-Based Natural Resources Management (CBNRM) in Zambia. It examines the roles that EE could play in the management of natural resources. The chapter begins with the general introduction on CBNRM. It further analyses the concept of Environmental Education by explaining its aims and objectives. The chapter further deliberates on the history of CBNRM as an approach to natural resource management in Africa and Zambia in particular. The chapter concludes by giving an analysis of the roles played by EE in CBNRM in Zambia and recommends the incorporation of EE in the sustainable management of natural resources in the country. Doing so would provide every person with opportunities to acquire the knowledge, values, attitudes, commitment and skills needed to protect and improve the environment.

1. Introduction

There is a growing interest in rural community development and conservation of natural resources in Africa in recent years that has led to the development of the community-based natural resources management [1]. This is as a consequence of recognised general failures of centralised approaches to natural resources management to arrest lasting losses of biodiversity all over the world during colonial and post-independence periods led to a search for an alternative ‘Community-Based Natural Resources Management’ (CBNRM). The concept of CBNRM rose specifically to address the objectives of environmental, social, economic as well as social justice. CBNRM has been adopted as a positive approach to the management of natural resources management in many countries. This is because the approach integrates wildlife conservation and rural development goals [2, 3].

The concept of CBNRM rose specifically to address the objectives of environmental, social, economic as well as social justice. CBNRM has been adopted as a positive approach to the management of natural resources management in many countries. This is because the approach integrates wildlife conservation and rural development goals [2, 4, 5] noted that benefits to natural resource reliant on communities that are closely dependent on wildlife management. The approach according to [5] identifies that local communities could be motivated to embrace sustainable practices to natural resource management. According to the assumption of the foundation of CBNRM, the local communities are interested and willing to adopt and implement conservation programmes so as long as they are legally entitled to ownership of resources and its related benefits [6]. In view of these benefits, CBNRM stresses social fencing as a tool for conserving the natural resources in question and perpetuating the flow of benefits associated with it. In this context, the natural environment is treated as part of the community and perceives the community as part of the landscape. There is gratitude of the interdependence of physical environments with the community. Identifying the interdependence of community well-being and ecosystem health, there is need to strengthen the capacity of communities to have the ability to speak in decisions about planning and design of conservation initiatives affecting them at local level.

The natural environment plays a huge role in supporting peoples’ livelihoods, the health and welfare at large and people in turn have faith in their source of income, food and other resources. This is the case for many across the world who live in inaccessible villages with little access to outside markets. They depend on the land to offer them with enough food to feed their families through the year and enough money so that they can meet the expense of medical care, clothing and shelter.

In Zambia, the rural livelihoods depend significantly on the use of wildlife and other natural resources, harvesting forest community and on small-scale agriculture [7]. Further observation by [7] indicates that Zambia is one of Africa’s most resource-rich countries with its two-thirds of land area being forested and nearly 40% of the land area being restricted within a network of national parks and forest reserves, as well as co-managed areas that overlap with customary community lands. These resources have to be sustainably managed. The local people who are in direct use of these resources have to be involved in planning and sustained yield practices. One of the most influential strategies to use to engage the local communities in sustainable use of natural resources is through Environmental Education (EE). It is against this background that this chapter emphases on the role of Environmental Education in Community-Based Natural Resource Management in Zambia. This is because the local communities have to be educated about the importance of sustainable management of natural resources in the country.

2. What is environmental education (EE)?

In order to understand how environmental education can be used as a strategy to natural resources management amongst the local communities in Zambia, there is need to clarify the concept. Environmental Education (EE) is a process that allows individuals to discover environmental issues, engage in problem solving and take action to improve the environment. EE refers to organised efforts to teach about how natural environments function and, particularly, how human beings can manage their behaviour and ecosystems in order to live sustainably. EE is sometimes used more broadly to include all efforts to educate the public and other audiences, including print materials, websites, media campaigns, etc. Related disciplines include outdoor education and experiential education [8]. One of the most important definition of EE given by UNESCO states that EE is a process that increases people’s knowledge and consciousness about the environment and related challenges, advances the necessary skills and expertise to address the challenges, advances the essential skills and expertise to address the challenges and fosters attitudes, motivations and obligations to make informed decisions and take responsible action [8].

The visibility of environmental problems and amplified awareness of their consequences have made environmental issues prominent in Zambia. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, EE, conservation and management emerged on the global policy stage [9, 10]. Most international declarations and conventions to combat environmental problems call for amplified environmental awareness among the population through EE [11]. Global environmental politics will only be successful if decision-makers are backed by an environmentally aware population. The concept of sustainable development needs to be decisively anchored in people’s consciousness in order to effect behavioural change. This calls for EE that is an important tool to eliminate environmentally harmful forms of behaviour and learn how to safeguard the earth [11, 12]. Sound EE consists of learning from personal and conveyed experience in everyday situations (situational orientation), learning in connection with one’s own direct action (action orientation) and incorporation of the subject matter into the socio-political context (problem orientation) [12]. Many ecosystems are controlled by human activity, and none is free from human influence [13, 14].

For individuals to worry themselves with environmental issues, they must first be aware that environmental problems occur. Without such awareness, society will not understand the need for change; will tend not to support it and maybe reluctant to participate in the process. The result of the insensible activity of economic systems according to [15, 16] often leads to environmental degradation. Awareness of environmental risks and the importance of responding to reduce or eliminate such risks is crucial to society. Awareness helps in achieving environmental literacy across economic sectors in all regions. The magnitude of environmental degradation or the sense of how environmental problems were becoming worse was not known for many years by most people. This let to continued contribution to the problem by society inadvertently [17]. As a result, society inadvertently continued to contribute to the problem [17]. Environmental literacy achieved through EE which is part of an effective strategy to protect the earth’s resources therefore helps us learn from our mistakes [13]. This chapter therefore analyses the links between EE and CBNRM in Zambia. It examines the roles that EE could play in natural resources management.

The concept of Environmental Education can also be made clear through its aims, objectives and principles.

3. Environmental education aims, objectives and principles

Environmental education is a concept incorporating a vision of education that seeks to empower people of all ages to undertake responsibility for creating a sustainable future, an understanding of and concern for stewardship of the environment in its broadest sense and the knowledge to contribute to ecologically sustainable development. The overall goals of EE are to increase people’s knowledge about the environment and environmental issues and to influence attitudes and behaviours [18]. The term is often used to indicate education within the school system; however, it is used more broadly to include all effort to educate the public and other audiences, including the print materials, websites, media campaigns and many other efforts used in education.

4. Environmental education aims

The aim of EE according to UNESCO [19] clearly shows the economic, social, political as well as ecological interdependence of the modern world, in which decisions and actions by different countries can have international repercussions. EE therefore helps to spread a sense of responsibility and unity among countries and regions as a base for a new international order which will warranty the conservation and improvement of the environment.

At the grass root level, the main aim of EE is to engage individuals and communities in appreciating the complex nature of the natural and the built environments. In addition, EE aims to accelerate citizens to acquire knowledge, values, attitudes and practical skills to contribute in a responsible and effective way in solving social problems and in the management of the environment.

Therefore, the necessary steps for Environmental Education include:

1. Awareness: To help social groups and individuals to acquire knowledge of pollution and environmental degradation.

2. Knowledge: To help social groups and individuals to acquire knowledge of the environment beyond the immediate environment.

3. Attitude building for motivating to protect environment: To help social groups and individuals to acquire a set of values for environmental protection.

4. Participation: To provide social groups and individuals with an opportunity to be actively involved at all levels of environmental decision making.

5. Skill and capacity building: To help social groups and individuals to develop skills required for making discriminations in form, shape, sound, touch, habits and habitats. Further, to assist people to develop ability to draw unbiased inferences and conclusions.

4.1 Important outcomes of environmental education

An Effective Environmental Education programme requires the regular use of learner-centred, interactive teaching and learning strategies in various educational systems that may include the informal, formal and non-formal. The outcome of this type of education is the:

1. Clarification of environmental attitudes and commitments and

2. Development of critical thinking skills as well as learning how to work collaboratively to improve human and environmental well-being.

4.2 Main goals of environmental education

UNESCO [19] outlines the goals of EE as follows:

1. Nurture clear awareness of and concern about, economic, social, political and ecological interdependence in urban and rural areas;

2. Provide every person with opportunities to obtain the knowledge, values, attitudes, commitment and skills needed to protect and improve the environment and

3. Generate new patterns of behaviour of individuals, groups and society as a whole towards the environment.

These goals can lead to successful educational process that promotes enhanced awareness, expression of interest and behavioural changes. Positive attitudinal change is one of the most important objectives of education. Next we examine one approach where EE may find relevance.

4.3 Origin of community-based natural resource management (CBNRM)

Global biodiversity is endangered by several factors such as extensive biodiversity loss, over exploitation of species, pollution, invasive species and climate change. Biodiversity loss appears to be severe in the equatorial region of the world where the world’s greatest biodiversity and species endemism are intense [20]. In order to prevent biodiversity loss, conservationists have tried finding ways of inhibiting biodiversity loss including the fences-and-fines approach which failed because of excluding the human dimension aspects of wildlife management [21]. This steered the search for a viable and sustainable alternative approach to wildlife management by conservationists [22]. The approach whereby rural communities are given ownership rights, custodianship and management responsibilities for the resource became popular in the 1960s, and it was named BNRM, also called community-based conservation (CBC) [21].

Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) is an approach to environmental protection in rural areas that attempts to integrate the goals of conservation, sustainable development and community participation [21, 23], further define CBNRM as the management of resources that include forest, land, water as well as wildlife by resource users in order for them to benefit. Projects of CBNRM, particularly in eastern and southern Africa, frequently focus on conservation of wildlife, but in principle the method may be used for management of a range of natural resources [24]. The concept of CBNRM arose and gained popularity in the early 1980s as an alternative to resource regimes that were generally perceived to be failing [25]. The approach has been applied widely in the developing world, including Zambia. As an approach that seeks to achieve both biodiversity conservation and socioeconomic objectives, CBNRM has received much support in the past years because of its attempt to integrate the goals of conservation, sustainable development and community participation [21]. Since then CBNRM has been extensively promoted in recent years as an approach for pursuing biological conservation and socioeconomic objectives.

Nabane and Matzke [22] noted that CBNRM approach gives communities full or partial control over resolutions concerning natural resources, such as water, forests, pastures, communal lands, protected areas and fisheries. The degree of CBNRM control ranges from community consultations to joint management or to full obligation for decision making and benefit collection, using tools such as joint management plans, community management plans, stakeholder consultations and workshops and communal land tenure rights. Community-based institutions are key to any CBNRM project, and selecting and building the capacity of local institutions are critical [22]. The selection process in these local institutions must always try to ensure transparency and accountability and minimise conflict at all cost. Together with decentralisation reforms, CBNRM approach guarantees stakeholder participation, increases sustainability and provides a forum for conflict resolution and as such the approach often leads to more equitable and more sustainable natural resource management than one that does not have stakeholder participation [21].

4.4 Understanding CBNRM

CBNRM approach is based on the idea that if conservation and development can be concurrently achieved, the benefits of both are served [26]. The main objective for CBNRM approach was to create, through the bottom-up participatory approach, conditions whereby a maximum number of community members stand to benefit from a sustainable management and utilisation of wildlife resources [25]. According to a typology by [27], community participation in natural resource management has a variety of approaches that range from passive to active participation (Table 1). Community and participation are therefore fundamental concepts underlying the theory of CBNRM. The participation also includes education which promotes active participation of the local communities in managing their natural resource [28]. Participation in CBNRM can take the form of direct democracy, in which all individuals belonging to a community participate themselves, or in the form of representative democracy, in which elected leaders speak for their constituents [29, 30].

Type of participation	Description
1. Passive participation	People being told what is going to happen or has already happened. Unilateral announcement without any listening to people’s responses. The information being shared belong only to external professionals
2. Participation in information giving	People answering questions; questionnaire surveys or similar approaches. People do not have the opportunities to influence proceedings; findings are neither shared checked for accuracy.
3. Participation by consultation	People are being consulted and external agents listen to views. External agents define both problems and solutions; may modify these in the light of the people’s responses. Does not concede any share in in decision making; professionals are under no obligations.
4. Participation for material incentives	People provide resources for example labour in return for food, cash or other material incentives. Much in –situ research and bio prospecting falls in this category
5. Functional participation	People form groups to meet predetermined objectives; can involve the development of externally initiated committees, etc. Does not tend to be at early stages of project cycles or planning; rather, it occurs after major decisions have been made. Initially dependent upon external initiators and facilitators; may become self- dependent.
6. Interactive participation	Joint analysis leading to action plans and the formation of new local groups or the strengthening of the existing ones. Involves interdisplinary methodologies, multiple perspectives and learning processes. Groups take control over local decisions; people have a stake in maintaining structures.
7. Self-mobilisation	Initiatives taken independently of external institutions. May challenge existing inequitable distributions.

Table 1.

Showing typology of participation.

Source: Adapted from [27].

In wildlife management, a combination of active form of participation which includes functional participation, interactive participation as well as self-mobilisation and passive participation (participation for material incentives, participation by consultation and participation in information giving and passive participation) is encouraged. Active participation involves all stakeholders in decision making process at all the stages of the project, whereas passive participation does not [29]. In passive participation people participate by being told what is going to happen or has already happened [31]. The active participation of stakeholders in natural resource decision-making and use increases economic and environmental benefits and, therefore, leads to a sustainable management of natural resources.

4.5 Community-based natural resources management in Zambia

In Zambia, CBNRM programme was introduced by the Zambian Government in 1987, and it comprised wildlife in game management areas and National Parks [32]. The idea was to improve the livelihood of local people in rural communities living in national parks and game management areas and also to create awareness in the local communities regarding the importance of conserving wildlife resources [33]. The CBNRM initiative in Zambia was initiated in Lupande Game Management Area (LGMA) under the project called Lupande Integrated Resource Development Project (LIRDP). There are 35 Game Management Areas (GMAs) and 20 national parks in Zambia (Figure 1), representing 30% of the total territory of protected areas. National parks are intended for the protection and enhancement of wildlife, ecosystems and biodiversity [34]. No human settlements are allowed in the national park, only photographic safaris, also known as non-consumptive wildlife use, are allowed. GMAs act as buffer zones between the national parks and farming areas [30]). GMAs are intended to promote sustainable harvest of wildlife through hunting as an alternative to other economic activities not compatible with wildlife protection. GMAs also offer wildlife viewing but allow human settlements and licensed hunting (consumptive wildlife use). The LIRDP project promoted the sustainable use of fisheries, water, wildlife, forestry and agriculture. Later on, the initiative evolved into Administration Management Design (ADMADE) that was replicated in other GMAs [35], and today a total of 63 Community Resource Boards (CRBs) have been formed country-wide [36]. The CRBs are a form of co-management model currently active in the wildlife sector in Zambia where local communities have been given opportunity to actively participate in and benefit from natural resource management [37].

Figure 1.

National Parks and Game Management Areas of Zambia. Source: Adapted from [34].

4.6 The role of environmental education in CBNRM

Community participation is one of the key principles of CBNRM. This, therefore, confirms that participation of local resource users in the management of their resources could lead to sustainable management of natural resources [30]. In Zambia however, a large proportion of community participation in wildlife resource management lacks necessary knowledge and understanding of the world [38]. Some scholars such as [38] suggested the need to purposefully put in place a new, open, transparent and robust participatory approach called ‘EE in CBNRM’ in the GMAs so as to improve capacity building available in rural areas. The introduction of EE in natural resource management according to [38] would improve the nature of participation currently prevailing in the natural resource programme which lacks the necessary tools of understanding the world.

The introduction of EE would further enhance positive community participation in wildlife resource management in the GMAs. This is because EE is a vision of knowledge that allows community participants in natural resource management to have sufficient knowledge that will allow them to contribute to the sustainable management of natural resources. Furthermore, EE promotes behavioural change in learners by motivating people to act in a responsible way that does not exploit the resource base. In other words, EE helps to create a sense of empathy for the environment [38].

The introduction of EE in wildlife resource management in the GMA would also enable the local community to have a broader and a more complete understanding of reality. EE would also help decrease uncertainty and unlikelihood of unpremeditated consequences [38]. Finally, the incorporation of EE in Zambia would further strengthen the weak CBNRM of wildlife resources being experienced in the country and reduce loss of biodiversity experienced in most areas of the country [39]. This is because the main objective of EE is to help individuals acquire the knowledge, values, attitudes and practical skills that will assist them to participate in a responsible and effective way in solving social problems, as well as in the management of the environment. Hence, individuals and communities would appreciate complex nature and the built environment.

5. Conclusion

The above account demonstrates a link between EE and CBNRM in that while EE on the one hand aims to raise environmental awareness among human populations and to provide opportunities to acquire the knowledge, values, attitudes and skills needed to protect the environment, CBNRM on the other hand is expected to provide a scientific basis about environmental management decisions. This is because EE is a disseminator of ecological concepts [40]. EE plays an important role in natural resource management as it is a facilitator of the use of ecological knowledge that could promote sustainable utilisation of natural resources. People’s preferences for action and their social and cognitive features must be considered for the successful environmental policies that activate action on environmental degradation. Worldwide environmental politics will therefore only fulfil its tasks if policy-makers in different nations are sustained by a population whose environmental awareness and willingness to behave in an environmentally appropriate manner permits them to demand solutions to global environmental problems.