Tropical deforestation threatens both the livelihoods of people that inhabit forests and the environment. The Mezimbite sustainable indigenous forestry project in Mozambique aims to develop livelihoods and use community forest resources in a sustainable manner by harvesting timber and non-timber resources at an environmentally sustainable rate. The project brings together a private company, two communities that own forest resources, workers from other communities, and funding from external sources. Livelihoods are developed by transforming forest resources into a wide range of products such as furniture, doorframes, bracelets and household goods. A value chain analysis of two of the projects most important product categories in terms of revenues, designer bracelets and furniture, reveals that the project captures important economic rents that give it the potential to become economically sustainable. The design and training skills of the project leader and the skills of turners and carpenters (human resource rents), combined with access to high quality hardwoods (natural resource rents) result in quality products of unique design that can be sold in high-end markets in Europe, the US and South Africa. These products can realise high margins because they are competitive with similar products that are less environmentally or socially friendly. The project also has access to marketing agents at reduced cost (marketing rents), while the personal network of the project leader (relational rents) brings in private customers to buy furniture, interior decorators who resell furniture, bracelet retailers, and a marketing agent. The environmental and social character of the project helps to secure the cooperation of the agents, gives the project access to grants from foundations and NGOs (financial rents), and it ensures access to niche markets of environmentally conscious consumers in Europe and the US. Unfortunately, there are no infrastructural rents as the project site is not connected to the electricity grid, and no fixed telephone, fax or email is on site. It is also far away from markets, which leads to long delivery times and high transport cost, especially for furniture. A number of recommendations are made in order to increase sales and strengthen the project's economic sustainability. These recommendation relate to functional, product and process upgrades of the value chain. Firstly, the project should consider bringing its furniture into retail stores to reduce dependency on relational rents, which requires development of a standard furniture collection with a catalogue. This also requires stocking furniture closer to the markets in the US, Europe and South Africa to reduce transportation cost en delivery times. Secondly, the bracelet collection should be reduced to small limited editions that change every twice a year. Thirdly contact with customers, agents and retailers should be improved, for instance by establishing a small office in the nearby city of Beira with email, fax and telephone and of a dedicated sales person. The amount of wood that can be harvested under the sustainable management plan is large enough to deal with an increase of furniture and bracelet production. However, it remains unclear whether the economic benefits are large enough for the community to keep their support for the project. Only a small percentage of the sales revenues of the bracelets and furniture flow towards members of the forest communities and most jobs are created outside the community. I recommend that the project consider employing more people in the Mezimbite Forest Centre from the participating communities. In spite of low employment rates, community members receive fruit trees from the nursery, degraded woodlands are reforested and income is derived from the sales of the other products manufactured in the project. An increase in sales and production would lead to higher benefits and more employment. A recommendation is that further monitoring and evaluation of the project take place to ensure dual goals of economic development and sustainable use of forest resources is achieved. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.

This study investigates the level of the implications of a community based project in Madjadjane area, Matutuine District in Mozambique and constitutes a Mini-dissertation for a Masters Degree in Environment and Development. It is composed of two parts. Component A comprises a literature review and was written following CEAD guidelines and Component B, which constitutes the research paper written in the stylesheet for publication in the South African Geographical Journal (Appendix 2 of the Component A). The literature review charts the evolution of tourism from the ancient forms to the mass tourism after the Second World War and then to the more recent forms of tourism. The review also discusses approaches related to development, sustainable development, rural development, community based natural resources management and livelihoods, which are critical to understanding the context in which tourism takes place. Alternative tourism approaches such as sustainable tourism, nature based tourism, eco-tourism, rural tourism, pro-poor tourism and community based tourism are evaluated in terms of their impacts on host communities. From this discussion, community based tourism with its focus on poverty alleviation and livelihood improvement emerges as one of the more appropriate options for tourism development in poor countries. The study concluded that from the Madjadjane community perspective, although the project emerged along with small commercial activities, it has not yet brought significant economic benefits, nor improvement of their livelihoods. The positive impact is the increased awareness of the value of the conservation of natural resources amongst the local residents. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2005.

Thesis (MScAgric (Conservation Ecology and Entomology)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / This study assessed (a) the inclusion of local communities in the process of the establishment and management of Parque Nacional do Limpopo (PNL); (b) local community resources use practices, livelihoods strategies, land resources use and ownership and institutional arrangements at the grassroots; and (c) attitudes and perceptions of local communities towards the park and its implications for the sustainability of the park. The study shows that local stakeholders were left out in the planning and implementation processes of the park, which was through top-down approach. There was a lack of involvement of local communities and co-ordination with local stakeholders concerning on-the-ground activities. Local community participation occurs through consultation, thereby depriving primary stakeholders of any decision-making power. However, the study notes that the ongoing interaction between the park management, community advocacy organisations and local communities in the park represents a positive step towards the evolving practice of participatory governance of the protected area. It is also shown that local communities have diverse livelihood strategies, including subsistence agriculture, livestock herding, forest products harvesting, small businesses, handicrafts and cash remittances by migrate labourers. It is worth noting that land and forest resources use constitutes the foundation of their livelihood strategies. Local communities considered land to belong to traditional land chiefs who head local socio-cultural and political organizations in rural areas. They allocate land and control access to natural resources. Other community members asserted that the land belongs to the respective families that inherited and use it. The legal framework in Mozambique authorises the establishment of new institutions at the grassroots. This overlaps with the pre-existing traditional institutions in the rural areas, resulting in power conflicts and in some cases disruption of local institutions for governance ...