Zimbabwe

C

Plants and Animals

The land of Zimbabwe is primarily covered with savannah; a particularly lush grass grows during the moist summers. Forests are found only in limited areas along the eastern border and in the wettest areas of the Highveld. A rich variety of wildlife includes elephant, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, lion, hyena, crocodile, antelope, impala, giraffe, zebra, and baboon. Zimbabwe has taken a lead in wildlife conservation in Africa, and especially in the protection of the rhinoceros and elephant. It has helped pioneer new approaches to conservation, including giving local people an economic stake in the preservation of endangered species, and the development of wildlife ranching.

D

Natural Resources

Zimbabwe is rich in mineral resources. Most minerals are found in the Great Dyke, including chromium ores, copper, asbestos, nickel, gold, silver, and iron ore. Large coal reserves are found in the north-west near Hwange. Other mineral resources include cobalt and tin.

E

Environmental Concerns

Zimbabwe is mostly arid, with biomes ranging from dry woodland to grassland and dunes. Woodland covers about 22.5 per cent (1995) of the country, although the rate of deforestation is becoming serious. Reforestation programmes are under way to counteract the effects of firewood collection and pasture clearing. State forests make up slightly more than 2 per cent of the country, a small portion of which is moist forest. Wetlands are few, and some of the major ones are in or near protected areas.

Zimbabwe was among the first African nations to formulate a coherent conservation strategy, introduced in 1987. About 7.9 per cent (1997) of the country’s land is protected in a system that includes national parks, wildlife reserves, safari parks, and other areas. The government officially views the promotion of wildlife management as an economic form of sustainable resource use, and the country has a strong record of involving local people in the management of national parks, wildlife reserves, and other protected areas. Wildlife and game parks produce millions of pounds in tourist revenue, a large proportion of which remains in the local communities.

Zimbabwe’s rich biodiversity is important to its ecology and economy. Of about 192 endemic species, more than 40 per cent are endangered. Poaching is a serious threat, especially to valuable endangered species, such as the black rhinoceros and African elephant. The government protects some animal reserves with armed wardens.

Explosive population growth in the 1980s put significant pressure on agriculture and land use in Zimbabwe, yet per capita agricultural output did not increase between 1980 and 1990. Water availability is a major problem, and the nation is subject to periodic droughts that can be devastating to agriculture and the economy. Overcropping and overgrazing have led to soil erosion. Widespread pesticide contamination—especially from the dieldrin and DDT used in tsetse fly control—has significantly affected wildlife and human health. Zimbabwe participates in the World Heritage Convention, and three official sites have been designated. The country has also signed international environmental agreements on biodiversity, climate change, endangered species, law of the sea, and the ozone layer. Zimbabwe shares several cross-border protected areas with its neighbours Botswana and Zambia.

III

Population

The bulk of Zimbabwe’s population is formed by two major Bantu-speaking ethnic groups: the Shona (Mashona), who constitute at least 70 per cent of the total population, and the Ndebele (Matabele), who constitute about 16 per cent of the total and are concentrated in the south-western regions. The European minority comprises 2 per cent of the population. There are several minor indigenous ethnic groups, including the Tonga, Sena, Venda, and Sotho. The country also has small minorities of Asians and people of mixed ethnic origin. Ethnic conflict between the Matabele and the Mashona erupted in the 1980s because the ruling political party, aligned to the Mashona, had suppressed the main opposition party, which represented the Matabele.

A

Population Characteristics

Zimbabwe has a population of 12,311,143 (2007 estimate), which gives the country an average population density of only 32 people per sq km (82 per sq mi). Zimbabwe has a high population growth rate (3 per cent a year in the early 1980s; an estimated 0.59 per cent in 2007). Around 64 per cent of the population live in rural areas. The emigration of whites, which began in the mid-1970s, continued after independence in 1980; in the early 1990s there were 100,000 whites, compared with 223,000 in 1980. Even so, and despite a considerable increase in the numbers of black entrepreneurs and senior managers, the white community was still playing a dominant role in Zimbabwe’s large private sector more than a decade after independence. Whites are generally more affluent than blacks. There was a small but steady flow of Zimbabweans into South Africa in search of better-paid employment, which in turn exacerbated unemployment problems in that country. Average life expectancy at birth (2007 estimate) is 39.5 years (38.4 years for women and 40.6 years for men), although this will be considerably higher for the white population.