The influence of anthropogenic phenomena and contingency in tree resource distribution in Mufurudzi resettlement area, Zimbabwe

SummaryIn the ‘pristine’ environment the spatial distribution of tree resources is normally influenced by site characteristics, including physical and environmental factors such as availability of soil nutrients, light and water, as well as other natural conditions. When applied in conjunction with the Point Centre-Quarter Method (PCQM), however, transect analysis in Mufurudzi resettlement scheme projects a tree resource distribution that is akin to both spatial and historical contingency and demonstrates that tree resource distribution has been influenced by both past and present anthropogenic forces. This paper demonstrates that the deviation of the tree spacing at any location along the surveyed transect from the perfect triangular/hexagonal lattice connoted by tree density values for the whole transect provides a useful mechanism for unravelling historical and spatial contingency in tree resource distribution. This approach presents an alternative way of unveiling the anthropogenic processes that are responsible for shaping tree resource distribution at the micro-level, thus providing information about the micro-level dynamics of tree resource distribution and use patterns which policy makers and resource planners could consider when making decisions about community-based forest and woodland resource conservation. The paper concludes that though tree resource distribution in resettlement areas is partly the result of current patterns of tree resource utilisation, and a function of both the physical and social distance between the location of these resources and the ‘nuclei’ where these resources are used, that is, the resettlement villages, it is also a product of past land use patterns.