Annex D details the types of wild fruits harvested. Overharvesting can also lead to reduced tree regeneration as there are fewer seeds returned to the forest. The study suggested that people in Binga were living off wild fruit sales since crop yields were extremely low. Wild fruit was being overharvested and stolen from trees in people’s fields in the district. A Forestry Commission representative explained: “People harvest everything. Some in the communities no longer have enough fruit. Some of the trees are now personalised by certain people yet they belong to the whole community. Those who want to sell must pay for a Forest Produce Permit, but no one has ever done that, and local Forestry Commission rarely benefits from these permits. We sometimes fine people for selling the fruits but at times we just leave them because they are just trying to survive.” Uncontrolled sand extraction, which destroys water courses, was noted as a problem in Hwange where the study suggests the RDC is allowing companies to extract sand without any proper regulation. The sand is used in construction of buildings. Communities accuse RDC employees of being involved in illegal extraction. When asked about uncontrolled extraction of sand, the RDC argued that those extracting sand were doing it according to the RDC and EMA regulations, however this was doubtful given the number of complaints from the community during FGDs.
3.3 Who is responsible for the degradation? The responses to this question did not identify one clear group. Not surprisingly it seems that different types of people (men, women, youth, duty bearers, and companies) are engaged in different resource degradation activities at different levels for different reasons, as this excerpt from a FGD with female youth in Binga explains: “Wildlife poaching is done by men and male youths, meat is sold to get income for buying household needs and sending children to school… Nobody in the community cares about enforcing or reporting poaching cases and policing lies in the RDC rangers, the police and Parks and wildlife… Both men, women and youths are responsible for selling pit sand and quarry [stones] illegally being motivated by the fact that they are not getting benefits from the resource which they deem as theirs. Some traditional leaders are also engaged in this illegal act. Sand extraction has resulted in the widening of Lukosi river channel as commercial extractors have opened up access roads within the channel itself totally destroying riverbank in some areas. EMA is meant to be regulating the conduct of council and commercial extractors unfortunately no one known to the community has been arrested for breaking this law. EMA is… selective in the application of the law as it [EMA] descends heavily on farmers practicing stream bank cultivation leaving people causing immense environmental pollution and degradation. They are labelled as corrupt.” Youth Study participants most frequently cited male youth as the responsible party (mentioned 32 times) for natural resource degradation. However, most respondents, including young people themselves, said that youth were not heavily involved with livelihoods linked to natural resources. The older respondents suggested that young people are attracted to livelihoods that give quick returns and are transient—as youth aim to move to urban areas or across borders. For young men who have not migrated, mining, sand extraction, and brickmaking are the main livelihoods related to natural resources. For young women, wild fruit harvesting and basketry were identified as key livelihoods linked to natural resources. The research team has interpreted this contradiction to suggest that despite a low youth population in rural areas, young people contribute to natural resource degradation for the following reasons: 1) the young people that do live in rural areas aim for livelihoods that are not agriculture-related because the returns are quicker; 2) young people use the available natural resources since there are few livelihood options; and 3) young people do a lot of damage despite their small population because of their increased strength and level of physical activity. 17
