ABSTRACT
The important context of culture, history, economics and politics is the broad backdrop against which a Zimbabwean natural resource management program entitled the Communal Areas Management Program For Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) is being played out. This program fosters a sense of proprietorship for the sustainable use of wildlife resources at the local level. It is part of a government-sponsored attempt at decentralization of the responsibility and benefits of wildlife through locally based wildlife utilization communal property regimes. The Chapoto ward (also known as Kanyemba) material discussed in this case-study is central to the success or failure of CAMPFIRE, because along with its implementational dimensions, it raises a set of problems in the application of common property analysis. The broader political and economic context within which CAMPFIRE is embedded, as well as the unique qualities of the ward under investigation, are both intimately intertwined in the establishment of the multiple jurisdictions concerning the use and control of the wildlife resource. An appreciation of the circumstances under which these rights are expressed (and accommodated) is vital for understanding what kind of property regime is appropriate for wildlife.
