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Author
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Phiri, Nelly N.
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Title
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Barriers to community involvement in forest fire management and strategies to enhance community participation in Ward 19 Bindura District, Mashonaland Central, Zimbabwe
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Abstract
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Forest fires threaten communities, ecosystems, and economies globally. In Zimbabwe, forest fires cause environmental degradation, loss of biodiversity, and in some cases loss of property and human lives. Forest fire monitoring programs should involve local communities in fire prevention, detection, and response, thus enhancing community resilience. As such, this study investigated the effectiveness of implementing participatory forest fire monitoring systems in Ward 19, Bindura. This study sought to determine the role of the community in the existing forest fire management systems, identify the barriers to community involvement in forest fire management systems, and establish enhancement strategies for community involvement in forest fire management. The study used a cross-sectional design for the assessment of barriers to community involvement in forest fire management. In addition, a randomized design was employed in selecting the study participants. The research tools used in this study were questionnaires, focus group discussions (FGDs), key informant interviews, and personal observations. The major causes of forest fires in Ward 19 were agriculture, hunting, and gold panning, whereas the major forest fire management systems implemented by respondents in Ward 19 were fireguards and firebreaks. The barriers to community involvement in forest fire management were lack of knowledge and unfriendly weather conditions. On the other hand, the major challenges to participation in community forest fire management were lack of manpower, knowledge, and funding. The most mentioned strategies for enhancing community involvement in forest fire management in Ward 19, were increasing manpower, improving tools and equipment, and awareness campaigns. It was also deduced that gender, marital status, and residence period significantly influenced community forest fire management participation. From the study outcomes, it can be recommended that the community should be trained on fire-fighting, and awareness campaigns should be done to increase community participation in forest fire management. Also, policies that mandate farmers to acquire a permit before burning should be formulated. In addition, communities should continuously maintain fireguards and minimize burning.
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Date
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JUNE 2024
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Publisher
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BUSE
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Keywords
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Keywords: barriers, challenges, community involvement, forest fire, and management.
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Supervisor
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Dr Mnayangadze
