ABSTRACT
Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) has caught the imagination of policy-makers throughout the region. Building largely on the experience of the pioneering schemes in Zimbabwe and Zambia, CBNRM is given prominence in national environmental action plans and nature conservation strategies in every country. The purpose of these observations is not to reject CBNRM, but to avoid adopting the approach as a magic bullet. In Botswana, one of the main experiences with CBNRM is the Chobe Enclave Project, which, although fairly new, is reported as being successful. Association of Zimbabwean Traditional Environmental Conservationists (AZTREC) works in the Masvingo area of Zimbabwe and was formed by people who had been active in the liberation struggle. To be effective on a bigger scale in the region, and across a wider range of natural resources, it will be necessary to scale up CBNRM, from a project to a programme approach.
