Assessing Trends in Tree Cover, Wildfire and Population Growth in Zimbabwe since 2000

Emma C. Underwood (), Allan D. Hollander and Beth A. Hahn
Additional contact information
Emma C. Underwood: Institute of the Environment, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
Allan D. Hollander: Institute of the Environment, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
Beth A. Hahn: USDA Forest Service International Programs, 1 Thomas Circle, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20250, USA

Land, 2024, vol. 13, issue 2, 1-13

Abstract: Zimbabwe’s woodland and forests have experienced substantial change over the last two decades. In this study, our objective was to assess national-scale spatio-temporal changes in tree loss, wildfire, and population growth since 2000 using global data. Our results showed rates of tree loss were highest in the urbanized Harare and Bulawayo provinces between 2000–2004, followed by Masvingo and Manicaland provinces. We found agricultural versus non-agricultural land type classes had higher tree loss, with the highest rates in small resettlement farms (‘A1’ farms, averaging 5 ha in size) between 2000–2008. The findings from our analysis of wildfire showed burning peaked in 2010, impacting 12% of the country. In the peak fire years of 2008–2012, 30% of A2 self-contained resettlement farms (‘A2’ farms, averaging 318 ha in size) burned, along with 19% of A1 resettlement farms. Analysis of global population data showed increases across all provinces, particularly in large-scale commercial farming areas, with gradual increases seen in A1 and A2 farms. Understanding the trends over two decades and the patterns in three key pressures—tree loss, population change, and fire—provides an important contribution to help guide regional assistance efforts in Zimbabwe.

Keywords: conservation; ecosystem services; protected areas; natural resource management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/2/160/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/2/160/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:13:y:2024:i:2:p:160-:d:1329591

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().