Publication: Managing Natural Resources Along the Mozambican Shoreline : The Role of Myths and Rites
Date
2002-07
ISSN
Published
2002-07
Author(s)
Dava, Fernando
Ahmed, Zuber
Easton, Peter
Abstract
Depletion of natural resources is a
national issue, as well as a local one in Mozambique, where
numerous communities depend for their survival, on the
judicious exploitation of their physical environment. It is
particularly felt along the country's extensive
coastline, where harvesting sea resources - fish, mussels,
and other forms of marine life - is both a source of
protein, and of revenue. The note looks at how indigenous
forms of management function, and how - if at all - can they
be adapted to master new challenges to the natural resource
base: population pressure and pollution. It describes the
mussel farmers of Zimilene, a small village on the Indian
Ocean, and its harvest-catch system, on how it ensures a
source for resolving conflicts, and allotting usage rights,
that are accepted right down to individual community
members. The "rule of law", or the authority of
the chiefs, regulate the mussel harvest, anchored in the
firm belief that the "spirits" of the ancestors
watch over the shoals. Such local system of myths, beliefs,
and rites preserved the mussel shoals for generations,
though under the pressures afoot in the country - poverty
and population density - have pushed them to exploit mussel
beds, inconsistently with their traditional management. The
challenge is how to blend traditional systems of regulation,
myth, and ritual, with an armature to build communal
sharing, and a new culture of natural resource management.
Citation
“Dava, Fernando; Ahmed, Zuber; Easton, Peter. 2002. Managing Natural Resources Along the Mozambican Shoreline : The Role of Myths and Rites. Indigenous Knowledge (IK) Notes; No. 46. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/8b29b86e-6b3d-5cc5-87ea-e19d7f39e44a License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”