Zambezi River Basin

© SARDC

People and Cultures There are some 30 ethnic groups and related cultures in the Zambezi River Basin. The basin’s population also includes a number of smaller clans and extended families, as well as foreign settlers and residents. More than one-third of the main groups are found in Zambia, some living along national boundaries sharing cultural traits and languages with groups in a neighbouring country but speaking with different dialects (Chenje 2000). The colonial boundaries demarcating countries were arbitrary and often split people and families across borders. The cultures in the Zambezi basin include the Lunda, Luchaze and Quioca in Angola; the Tswana in Chobe, Botswana; the Chewa, Tumbuka, Yao, Ngoni, Nyanja and Sena cultures in Malawi; the Sena in Mozambique; the Bemba, Tonga, Lozi, Luyana, Lunda, Bunda and Chewa/ Nyanja in Zambia; and Shona, Ndebele and Tonga cultures in Zimbabwe, as well as Nambya in Zimbabwe and Namibia. People of many different ethnic groups live in urban centres as well as rural areas, and many reside in a different country from their country of origin, often marrying across borders. There are traditional conservation activities related to the rural livelihoods of fishing, hunting, beekeeping, basket-making from reeds

in wetlands and making clay pots from the soil, as well as cultivation of cassava, peanuts, sorghum and maize (Chenje 2000). The chiteme, a form of shifting cultivation, is one such example of traditional practices. Many plants are used traditionally as medicine or to improve general health by boosting the immune system and strengthening the body’s resistance to illnesses and infections. These plants include moringa, which many medical practitioners accept is an immune booster, and the African potato, a dark, bulbous and fibrous root of the hypoxis plant. Some medicinal plants, such as the moringa bush and African potato are now grown and sold commercially, thus reducing the impact from harvesting in the natural habitat. Although these plants are commonly used for their potential health benefits, experts caution that medicinal plants can be toxic if used improperly (SADC and SARDC 2008). Among the Zambezi basin’s traditional cultures and indigenous knowledge systems, there are many activities that act as resilience strategies in adapting to changes in water flow or rainfall, and strategies that contribute to the conservation of the basin resources. The following are some stories and snapshots of indigenous conservation and resilience strategies.

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