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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.
© SARDC