Production, environmental degradation and conservation in Iramba district, 1930-1960

This study investigates the history of production, environmental degradation and conservation practices in Iramba district in the period from 1930 to 1960. It aims to identify and analyse the dynamics of environmental degradation and conservation practices in the district. The study attempts to achieve its objectives by integrating information from oral and written sources. The evidence gathered during the study supports two main conclusions. The first is that environmental degradation in Iramba district in the period from 1930 to the 1960 was to a larger extent an outcome of the intensification of production of export commodities, which was introduced by the British colonial authorities. British colonial production policies affected rural people’s ability to manage natural resources in a sustainable way, leading to negative and irreversible environmental changes. Secondly, the study found that the colonial environmental conservation campaigns were intended to force local people adopt environmental management practices that were unsuitable to the local economic imperatives and culture. For this reason many of the western-based environmental management ideas were not accepted by local people. As a result most of the British colonial conservation campaigns in Iramba district were not successful.