Summary

The contribution of forests and woodlands to human livelihoods is well documented especially during drought periods. Climate change is set to increase human reliance on forests for timber and non-timber forest products (NTFPs) especially in Africa where more drought occasions are going to be experienced. On the other hand, population growth is expected to double by 2050, will increase the pressure on forests as more people turn to forests for livelihoods. In many cases, the exploitation of natural forest resources by rural communities is poorly controlled and usually unsustainable. Hyphaene petersiana is known for its contribution to the livelihoods of people in the south east lowveld of Zimbabwe through wine tapping and craft. However, there is fear of overexploitation of the resource through unsustainable utilization. For example, commercialisation of the basketry industry is affecting populations of H. petersiana. Mean size of leaves and regeneration rates are negatively affected by continuous harvesting. In addition to that, wine tapping affects palm trees as they are not given a chance to propagate sexually leading to possible genetic bottlenecks through inbreeding.

The recent land redistribution exercise together with the ever-increasing human population is expected to raise pressure on the remaining forest resources. It is possible that the current destructive uses of mature palms will increase to unsustainable levels affecting the population of the species due to low recruitment levels because of seed dormancy. Concern is thus expressed in this study regarding the long-term viability of H. petersiana populations in the southeast lowveld of Zimbabwe. It is therefore necessary to study the population dynamics of H. petersiana in order to understand threats to its long-term survival as well as coming up with sustainable utilisation regimes.