An Historical Analysis of Vulnerability and Resiliencein a Semi-Arid Region of Zambia
| dc.contributor.author | Siamwiza, Bennett Siamwiinde | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2010-10-20T12:07:12Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2010-10-20T12:07:12Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2009-12 | |
| dc.description.abstract | This article is about the Valley Tonga’s resilience to ecological vulnerability ofteninduced by near chronic drought conditions that have, over centuries, characterised theirregion and occasionally by flooding of the Zambezi; prior to 1958 and of Lake Karibaafter 1958. The Valley Tonga are the inhabitants of the Gwembe Valley, a troughsandwiched by unbroken range of escarpments on the south and north of the Zambeziriver. The valley located in the middle Zambezi River basin in Southern Province ofZambia. Since long time ago, this region has been subject to hunger and famine largelybecause of its semi – arid nature. The article explores the various mechanisms the ValleyTonga have applied and exploited to survive their unfriendly environment. The article suggests that the Tonga’s resilience has largely depended on their ability toforecast good and bad weather patterns ahead. This ability to interpret climatic changes oftheir environment has enabled them to prepare ahead of an expected negativeeventualities. The Valley Tonga, the article explains, have remained in the valley despitechronic environmental setbacks, often leading to food crises, for several reasons. Thebush has been a granary as it has provided them with food in bad and even good times.They have also managed to live in the environment, outsiders have perceived asnotorious, because they have cultivated economic and social networks based on the moraleconomy paradigm. The valley Tonga have exploited even seemingly negativeoccurrences such as disastrous floods to their advantage; receding flood regime createdan opportunity for winter or dry crop cultivation. The introduction of colonial regime atthe turn of the twentieth century, added yet another dimension to the Tonga’s survivalstrategies. Labour migration, colonial intervention through famine relief and introductionof commercial and fishing upon the formation of Lake Kariba became a source of theirresilience to ecological shocks | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://dspace.unza.zm/handle/123456789/109 | |
| dc.publisher | Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN) | en_US |
| dc.relation.ispartofseries | Working paper on social ecological Resilience Series Number, 2009-001; | |
| dc.subject | Resilience | en_US |
| dc.subject | Vulnerability | en_US |
| dc.subject | Semi-aridity | en_US |
| dc.subject | famine survival networks | en_US |
| dc.title | An Historical Analysis of Vulnerability and Resiliencein a Semi-Arid Region of Zambia | en_US |
| dc.type | Working Paper | en_US |