USAID/Zimbabwe : Zimbabwe Biodiversity and Tropical Forest Assessment

USAID/Zimbabwe has undertaken this Biodiversity and Tropical Forestry Assessment to inform the

process of preparing their FY 2013 – 2015 transitional Country Development Cooperation Strategy and

ensure that investments across its entire bilateral portfolio address Zimbabwe’s conservation and

sustainability challenges to the maximum productive extent. The assessment adheres to the

requirements of sections 118 and 119 of the Foreign Assistance Act.

A two person team consisting of an NRM specialist team leader and a USFS silviculturist conducted the

assessment, complimented by the USAID/Zimbabwe acting MEO for portions of the field work.

Following ten days of preparation in the US, the team traveled to Zimbabwe, where they conducted

meetings and interviews with over 40 key persons and undertook a brief site visit between the dates of

January 30 and February 10, 2012. Following an outbrief with USAID/Zimbabwe staff, the team returned

to the United States where they prepared a document for review by USAID/Zimbabwe. After making

edits in response to comments from USAID/Zimbabwe, the team submitted a final for approval on

March 19, 2012.

Zimbabwe’s climatic and geological foundation favors neither a large timber industry nor widespread

crop agriculture. Savanna woodland interspersed with open grasslands covers much of the country, and

while woodlands are found on over half of the total area, nine tenths of these forests have little or no

commercial timber value. As to agriculture, about seven tenths of the country’s soils are sandy, light

textured and of limited inherent cropping potential. Limits in groundwater require a heavy reliance on

surface water, yet inadequate and erratic rainfall constrains crop farming across at least sixty percent of

the country. Climate change is expected to severely increase the water stress already evident, and the

aggressive promotion of maize has limited farmer access to a diversity of crop varieties necessary to

remain resilient in the face of climate variability.

Within these constraints, Zimbabwe’s five distinct ecoregions, nevertheless, provide habitats for an

abundant and diverse flora and fauna. Once internationally recognized for its conservation of threatened

wildlife, the country continues to provide habitats for over two hundred plants found only in Zimbabwe

and contains an important portion of the internationally significant Eastern Afromontane hotspot.

Zimbabwe is also responsible for the habitats of thirty eight vulnerable species, three of which, including

the black rhinoceros, are critically and globally endangered.

More at :

http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNAEA224.pdf