PICTURE: Value addition workshops for women in tourism shall be a key feature at Great Limpopo Cultural Trade Fair to be conducted by facilitators like Astrid Huelin (left)
ENVIRONMENT may be simply described as the natural world or the surrounding. The surrounding comprises of living and non-living organism. Natural resources such as vegetation, forestry, and atmosphere, wildlife, soil, natural landscapes like mountains, water bodies and micro organism come to mind.
Zimbabwe is well known for its wildlife conservation stance that saw the establishment of national parks like Hwange, Gonarezhou, Matusadona, Chimanimani and other private conservancies like world renowned Save Valley Conservancy, Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve and others.
Blessed with one of the Seven Wonders of the World, The Victoria Falls (known as Mosi-oa-Tunya in vernacular Tonga language), Zimbabwe has the potential of keeping environmental tourists coming into the country.
There is interdependency of components of our environment. For example, the soil can’t continue to exist without grass the way grass can’t survive without water. It is how we manage the environment that will help wildlife tourists choose Zimbabwe as holiday destination.
While the environment is key in bringing tourists, it is sad that most of our surroundings are not well looked after. News of the low water levels which happened late last in Zambezi River badly affected the rhythm of the Victoria Falls as well as Kariba Dam.
People have a tendency to blame the drought for disturbing the ecosystem. Drought was claimed as the chief culprit in the Zambezi case. One wonders how many other droughts affected our region but didn’t affect the Zambezi River the way it did last year. There is likelihood that Zambezi water was over-exploited.
The responsibility of conserving natural resources cannot be bestowed on environmentalists alone. Isn’t it fair to say that a lot of environmental awareness has been given to people through various means like audio-visual media, workshops and trainings? The only drawback is how the acquired knowledge is not being put to good use.
During the peak days of the concept of Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE), communities surrounding wildlife participated fully in wildlife conservation. They knew that CAMPFIRE paid them dividends so they were keen on preserving their natural resources.
Such community accord was reached using the role of traditional leaders. Culturally, traditional leaders are responsible for the dissemination of information and organisation of community activities.
In tourism, most people are keen on cultural aspects than nature itself. To win the sustainable utilisation of natural resources issue, culture cannot be sidelined. There is need to compromised the two. Culturally, communities have been exploiting natural resources and engaging their own conservation methods. Therefore, good cultural aspects have to be blended with conservation so that tourism doesn’t suffer.
One way to help achieve the goal is to add value to the community resources. Usually when a resource is exploited and marketed in its raw or semi-processed state, there is a chance that people rush to exploit more since they won’t be engaged in the final processing of the assets. The current edition of the Great Limpopo Cultural Trade Fair is addressing this issue. The fair began yesterday (Thursday) and shall end on Sunday at Boli Mhlanguleni Business Centre in Chiredzi South.
Running under the theme “Promoting women through culture, conservation and value addition,” the cultural trade fair has lined up various areas where women can add value to their cultural tourism businesses without the over-exploitation of natural resources. Facilitators like cultural designer Mrs Shirley Mathonga, environmentalists Miss Astrid Huelin and Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) shall be running the show.
By end of the fair, rural women shall be empowered to conserve natural resources and boost tourism.