Zambia CBNRM Forum
The Zambia CBNRM Forum is a non-profit organisation representing various community interest groups that are keen to promote community-based natural resources management (CBNRM) in Zambia. It has been in existence since 2005 and is now a member of CLN.
Vision statement of Zambia CRB Association:
“To foster sustainable livelihoods among rural communities through sustainable management and utilization of natural resources.”
The goal of the association is to influence the coordination of CBNRM interventions, influence CBNRM related policy formulation, and facilitate effective implementation of CBNRM programmes and projects that develop sustainable strategic partnerships among communities, private and public sectors through continuous consultation and networking.
“Since the formation of the National Association, we have demonstrated the importance of communities speaking with a collective voice in CBNRM. Though our communities are conserving different landscapes, they face common challenges that can only be solved through joint dialogue. This is helping government and all the communities to manage, utilize and benefit from the natural resources” – Bupe Banda, National Administrator, Zambia CRB Association.
Zambia is one of Africa’s most resource-rich countries.
Roughly two-thirds of Zambia’s land area is forested, and nearly 40 percent of the land area is contained within a network of national parks and forest reserves, and co-managed areas that overlap with customary community lands.
Rural livelihoods depend heavily on small-scale agriculture, harvesting forest products, and use of wildlife and other natural resources.
Given the close interrelationship between local natural resource use and livelihoods, and management of wildlife and forests on a national scale, community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) is central to both livelihoods and conservation outcomes locally and nationally.
In southern Africa, Zambia has a long history of working to develop various approaches to forest and wildlife management that involve local communities and attempt to develop various forms of CBNRM.
