Natural Resource-Based Conflicts in Rural Zimbabwe

This collection marks a new plateau in the study of rural Zimbabwe. A full generation after rapid, violent rapid land reform, the distinction between private and common lands has broken down. Mining and its resource curse have filled the economic void left by the collapse of tourism. This cohort of emergent, insightful authors traces startling - sometimes heart-rending - dynamics of conflict: between smallholders and a Chinese mining corporation, between foragers and the state, between large and small ethnicities, and between women and men. As always, Zimbabweans fight for their rights, however defined and contested.

David Hughes, Rutgers University, USA. Author of the book Whiteness in Zimbabwe: Race, Landscape, and the Problem of Belonging.

Natural resource conflicts are on the rise, made more intense by the effects of climate change. This is definitely the case in Zimbabwe. This important book looks at how conflicts play out around land, water, minerals and their intersections. Based on original research from every corner of the country, the case studies reveal how struggles over resources give rise to contestations around authority, with major implications for politics and governance. This must-read book will be of interest to researchers, policymakers and field practitioners and anyone interested in the politics of environmental change in Zimbabwe and beyond.

Ian Scoones, Professor, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, United Kingdom

This innovative interdisciplinary text focuses on natural resource-based conflicts in rural Zimbabwe where individuals face everyday challenges in obtaining land and water rights as well as access to fisheries and forests. Rural dwellers live in precarious situations due to a combination of unequal power dynamics and unjust laws that compromise their land tenure rights. They are prone to displacement without compensation due to mineral discoveries, dam constructions, and urban expansion. The book is essential reading for historians, sociologists, anthropologists, environmentalists, urban planners and rural development specialists.

Terence M Mashingaidze, Department of History, Midlands State University, Zimbabwe

There is need to rethink natural resource governance in the light of everyday conflicts that are multi- layered, within rural Zimbabwe. The structural forms of conflicts at micro, meso and macro levels, affect inclusive processes and equitable resource development. This comes at a time when different policy vectors are being proposed nationally to enhance the natural resource governance pillars in rural and urban Zimbabwe to enhance processes of resource efficiency.

Professor Patience Mutopo, Ministry of Environment, Climate and Wildlife, Zimbabwe