UNGOVERNABLE CHAOTIC ENTITIES
During the ‘cold war,’ it was considered unquestionable that the civil conflicts and the domestic violence of the underdeveloped countries were stimulated and even created by the imperialist policies of the two rival super powers. Any domestic disorder was thus suspected of ideological impregnation. The regions of Asia, Africa and Latin America were seen as game-boards where the struggle for world power between capitalists and communism was being played out.
Today, the cold war has stopped but the armed battles and acts of terrorism in the underdeveloped world has not only continued but have multiplied. A wave of armed conflicts has spread all over the continents. Since the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, some twenty-three years ago; international conflicts have emerged and re-emerged involving over 50-armed groups. Such violent factions are active in Algeria, Senegal, Angola, Burundi, Congo Brazzaville, Liberia, Guinea Bissau, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Lebanon, Turkey, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Afghanistan, India, Sri Lanka, Burma, Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia, and East Timor, Bougainvillea, the former Yugoslavia, the Caucasus, Pakistan and many other countries.
However, none of these countriesۥ domestic armed conflicts is related to any world ideological struggle. Many of the new barbarian warriors of the underdeveloped world are predatory creatures set off by the demographic exploitation and by unemployment, plagued with social ethnic religions and cultural resentments. All of the above have been exacerbated by the worsening non-viability of their countries’ economics in the face of new global economy. Social exclusion brings out these social ethnic, religious or cultural resentments, causing battles to erupt that destroy what little there was of the state or nation.
This violence has produced 100,000 refugees in Latin America, 7.5 million in Africa, 6 million in Asia and about 4 million in Europe. By the end of the 20th century, more than 17 million men, women and children had been victims of the outbreak of the world wide predatory plague. By contrast, in the developed nations-states such as Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, Spain, the United Kingdom or the United States cultural ethnic and religious differences do not tear society apart, because material gratification helps to maintain these states’ cohesion.
The domestic armed conflicts in the quasi nation-states are veritable conflicts of national self-depredation wherein all respect, the most elementary principles of humanity is lost. This civil war is combined with massive criminality. Such predatory struggles neither liberate nor dignify any people. They only cause massive physical suffering, emotional damage and genocide. Some countries that have suffered conflicts of national self-predatory have needed humanitarian interventions from the United Nations or from regional organisations in order to reconstruct civilized life or to relieve human disasters that created thousands of refugees and displaced persons. Such were the cases for example, of Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Afghanistan, Cambodia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Congo, Bosnia, Albania, Kosovo and East Timor.
Other countries that have suffered or still suffering armed conflicts and terrorism, for example, are Algeria, Colombia, Egypt, India, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Tajikistan have managed to control the situation without international intervention. However, there is no guarantee that their national self-predation will totally disappear. In many of these countries, violence has become a characteristic national life in which the growing criminality, drug trafficking and terrorist armed violence combine into a sinister of reality.
In countries where violence has erupted, such as Angola, Algeria, Burundi, Cambodia, Colombia, Congo, Egypt, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Liberia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Peru, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Sri Lanka, the symptoms of economic non-viability worsened during the 1970 and 1980s. In their economies, based on slightly increased, unprofitably priced primary exports, the populations grew at explosive rate. Food production and the peri-capital consumption of energy and water lagged far behind population growth. In this manner, the imbalance between population and physical resources that are vital for social cohesion grew apace. Food insecurity increased. These countries increased their food imports and became dependent on food aid.
At the same time, the lack of energy security became critical. Some countries lost their self-sufficiency in petroleum, while others raised their imports of that strategic fuel. All this coincides with considerable reductions in the prices of their primary exports making real income growth per capita of these countries equal to zero as occurred in the 1960s. The incomes of a high percentage of their populations dropped and another large segment continue to be born into poverty.
All these viruses of non-viability caused prolonged periods of impoverishment which preceded the violence. For example, during the twenty-five years period to its civil war, El Salvador registered on average zero growth of per capita income, while the population increased at 2.5 per cent per year. Haiti and Somalia for thirty years, both registered an average decrease of 1 percent in per capita income with an annual population growth of 2 percent and 3 percent respectively. In the course of the twenty-four years preceding the great increase in the terrorist violence of Shinning Path and the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA), Peru had an average yearly income per capita growth rate of 0.1 percent with a yearly population of more than 2.3 percent. Nicaragua registered an average yearly decrease of 1.3 percent in per capita income during the twenty years prior to the outbreak of civil war, while the annual population growth rate was 3 percent.
In all the countries that suffer today some degree of armed violence, the average per capita income for the thirty-five years from 1960 to 1995 grew by less than 3 percent, which is the minimum growth needed in order to escape from poverty. In Algeria, over three decades the average growth rate of per capita income was 0.5 percent, in Angola 0.2 percent, in Sierra Leone 1 percent, in Sudan 0.1 percent, in Mexico 1.8 percent, in Colombia 2 percent and in Peru 0.2 percent. The same tiny income growth rates happened in Liberia, Rwanda, Burundi, India, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and many other countries. The violence was due not only to that low income per capita growth rates but to the combination of these with an explosive population growth which exceeded 2.5 percent per year and with a deficient distribution of the income.
The armed struggles caused by national self-depredation can settle into situations of intermediate violence, with repeated armed truces followed by new outbreaks of fighting in which the warlords divide up or share monopoly of violence that was formerly the exclusive province of the state which this occurs, the country has become an ungovernable chaotic entity (UCE). The UCE is characterized by a collapse of state control over the territory and the population. It is a violent entity where public order no longer prevails either in the cities or in the rural areas. The entire country rebels against central power. Regions, provinces, cities, all lack a representative government and are controlled alternatively by military chiefs, warlords, drug traffickers, even thieves or by an assortment of these. The political process evapourates, legality disappears, representative institutions are replaced by armed forces or armed rebel groups or drug trafficking mafias. The civilian population becomes citizens of international Red Cross, Caritas Mèdecines Sans frontières (MSF) hundreds of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and the intensive humanitarian care of the United Nations.
At this moment the ranks of the UCEs include Afghanistan, Albania, Boston, Burundi, Cambodia, Colombia, Congo DR, Haiti, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Pakistan. The proliferations of UCEs since the 1990’s global reality’s most definitive answer to the myth of development. At this moment in history, countries do not only newly industrialized, but disintegrated instead. If the current situation in much of Africa, Latin America and Asia remain unchanged and if the urban population explosive continues, the moment will come in many more states when the inability to satisfy the vital necessities will shred even more than their fragile social fabric and erode the relations between the society and the public authority. This will result in greater social ethnic and religious tension and will foster the outbreak of new forms of national self-depredation or its resurgence and the appearance of more UCEs.
The author is a professor of
Development studies at the
University of Zambia
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
HOW YOUTHS CERISH DOLLS
What seems to be just dolls…the truth behind dolls
A ‘soul mate’ to the lonely, a companion to children and a playmate to the bored is what a doll is to most children. Perhaps that is why adults collect dolls. Any way, children cherish them and unmarried women spend nights next to them. Even some bachelors seem to be in touch with them.
They simply occupy a special place in the hearts of many. Manufacturers are making millions of dollars from their sale. They have recently become viable money-spinners. Egyptians make them in big numbers out of flat pieces of wood, Japanese from folded paper, Germans with porcelain, while Eskimos from sealskin.
However, the question remains unanswered; why the recent great desire for dolls? Why do they seem to have greater importance than what they really are? The World Book Encyclopedia charges that most ancient doll-like features were magical if not religious objects. They were not just dolls. Historically, Egyptians painted patterned clothing onto small pieces of paddle-shaped wood and adorned them with strings of clay beads representing hair. They them placed them in tombs of the dead believing that the dolls would be their servants in the life after.
On the other strand, vengeful people in the West Indies stuck pins into some types of dolls. They hoped that such dolls would harm enemies to the dead. Many cultures equally associated dolls to fertility rites. For instance, in ancient Greece, girls who were about to get married left their dolls on an alter of the goddess of fertility known as Artemis. Some Ashanti tribe’s women of Ghana carry a doll in their waistbands hoping it will help them bear beautiful children. Some Syrian girls equally hang dolls in their windows to advertise that they have reached the marriage age.
So what if dolls are associated with such rituals in some quarters? Is there any hustle and bustle? The world book encyclopedia states that the concept of making dolls was aimed at coming up with someone to teach children. Dolls were meant to teach children about their tribal gods in most setups. The Pueblo Indians on the Southwest of the United States for example used kachina dolls for that role. Such dolls are carved from cactus roots or pine.
Since these tribes often hold special ceremonies, a member of the tribe dress and act like one of the gods during these ceremonies. Afterwards, parents gave a doll fashioned like that god to their children so that as they played with it, they would become familiar with the god. The encyclopedia further charges that dolls provide an outlet for a child’s hurt feelings, anger and other emotions. The encyclopedia cites a Japanese Children’s Day Festival as one event when dolls are used to impart some beliefs in children. During this festival, one doll is displayed showing a young man dressed in a full armor of a traditional warrior. This doll acts as a role model to young boys whom it encourages to be strong and respectable members of society in relation to local culture.
This entails that there is an emotional bond formed between children and their dolls in most instances. To this end, some counselors argue that because of the bond formation, parents have to take serious the unprecedented influence dolls may have on their children’s development. Some kids become so addicted to dolls that they cannot sleep without their dolls next to them. They spend whole day with dolls without feeling bored. Some would like to dress and look like their dolls. They thus pester their parents to buy them make up and other ingredients that meet the looks of their dolls. This entails that dolls are slowly taking over the role of parents of being role models.
Such dolls can corrupt young girls with superficial type of communication that promote style rather than substance. Most parents are unfortunately mostly unaware of the influence their children’s dolls on the children. All they see are strange habits on their children that they do not their root cause-ritual dolls could be the source. Some are not just mere dolls.
A ‘soul mate’ to the lonely, a companion to children and a playmate to the bored is what a doll is to most children. Perhaps that is why adults collect dolls. Any way, children cherish them and unmarried women spend nights next to them. Even some bachelors seem to be in touch with them.
They simply occupy a special place in the hearts of many. Manufacturers are making millions of dollars from their sale. They have recently become viable money-spinners. Egyptians make them in big numbers out of flat pieces of wood, Japanese from folded paper, Germans with porcelain, while Eskimos from sealskin.
However, the question remains unanswered; why the recent great desire for dolls? Why do they seem to have greater importance than what they really are? The World Book Encyclopedia charges that most ancient doll-like features were magical if not religious objects. They were not just dolls. Historically, Egyptians painted patterned clothing onto small pieces of paddle-shaped wood and adorned them with strings of clay beads representing hair. They them placed them in tombs of the dead believing that the dolls would be their servants in the life after.
On the other strand, vengeful people in the West Indies stuck pins into some types of dolls. They hoped that such dolls would harm enemies to the dead. Many cultures equally associated dolls to fertility rites. For instance, in ancient Greece, girls who were about to get married left their dolls on an alter of the goddess of fertility known as Artemis. Some Ashanti tribe’s women of Ghana carry a doll in their waistbands hoping it will help them bear beautiful children. Some Syrian girls equally hang dolls in their windows to advertise that they have reached the marriage age.
So what if dolls are associated with such rituals in some quarters? Is there any hustle and bustle? The world book encyclopedia states that the concept of making dolls was aimed at coming up with someone to teach children. Dolls were meant to teach children about their tribal gods in most setups. The Pueblo Indians on the Southwest of the United States for example used kachina dolls for that role. Such dolls are carved from cactus roots or pine.
Since these tribes often hold special ceremonies, a member of the tribe dress and act like one of the gods during these ceremonies. Afterwards, parents gave a doll fashioned like that god to their children so that as they played with it, they would become familiar with the god. The encyclopedia further charges that dolls provide an outlet for a child’s hurt feelings, anger and other emotions. The encyclopedia cites a Japanese Children’s Day Festival as one event when dolls are used to impart some beliefs in children. During this festival, one doll is displayed showing a young man dressed in a full armor of a traditional warrior. This doll acts as a role model to young boys whom it encourages to be strong and respectable members of society in relation to local culture.
This entails that there is an emotional bond formed between children and their dolls in most instances. To this end, some counselors argue that because of the bond formation, parents have to take serious the unprecedented influence dolls may have on their children’s development. Some kids become so addicted to dolls that they cannot sleep without their dolls next to them. They spend whole day with dolls without feeling bored. Some would like to dress and look like their dolls. They thus pester their parents to buy them make up and other ingredients that meet the looks of their dolls. This entails that dolls are slowly taking over the role of parents of being role models.
Such dolls can corrupt young girls with superficial type of communication that promote style rather than substance. Most parents are unfortunately mostly unaware of the influence their children’s dolls on the children. All they see are strange habits on their children that they do not their root cause-ritual dolls could be the source. Some are not just mere dolls.
POPULATIONJ AND YOUTHS
POPULATION STUDIES IN ZAMBIA
Population is the number of people living an area at a given point of time. The size of the population in a given area can be known through counting the people. This is called census. During the census a lot of information is gathered which includes employment status, age, sex, housing, education, agriculture and marital status.
Major census in Zambia has been conducted in the following years; 1993, 1969, 1980, 1990 and 2000 and the results are as shown in the below:
Year
Population in millions
1963
3.5 POPULATION STUDIES IN ZAMBIA
Population is the number of people living an area at a given point of time. The size of the population in a given area can be known through counting the people. This is called census. During the census a lot of information is gathered which includes employment status, age, sex, housing, education, agriculture and marital status.
Major census in Zambia has been conducted in the following years; 1993, 1969, 1980, 1990 and 2000 and the results are as shown in the below:
Year
Population in millions
1963
3.5
1969
4.1
1980
5.7
1990
7.8
2000
10.3
Table:-Zambia census results
SIZE AND THE GROWTH OF THE ZAMBIAN POPULATION
From the table, it is clear that the population of Zambia has been increasing. The growth rate has been constantly high during the 1963-1990 periods the growth rate on average was at 3.0% per annum, while the figure stood at 3.1% between years 1969-1990 and 3.2% between 1990 and 2000 respectively.
This growth rate is said to be one of the highest in the world and it implies that Zambia’s population will double in 23 years. Zambia’s population is influenced by fertility, mortality (natural increase) and migration.
Causes of population increase
There are a number of causes of population increase. Among these are:
(a) Fertility: - This is closely linked to birth rate. Studies done in various years on fertility shows that the birth rate per 1000 population in Zambia has been high as shown in table 2 below:-
YEAR
BIRTH RATE (%)
1969
47.7
1980
50
Table 2: Birth rate in Zambia for 1969 and 1980
(b) Mortality:- The mortality rate in Zambia has been on the decline over years as shown in table 3 below:
YEAR
DEATH RATE
1969
19.7
1998
14.8
Table 3: Death rate in Zambia for 1969 and 1980
(c) Migration: -
Causes of migration
Zambia has enjoyed peace since independence. This has attracted a lot of people to come and settle. Some of the migrants to Zambia include refugee seekers from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe etc.
Other factors that have contributed to population growth are:
(a) Improved health facilities which enable people to seek health services and be cured from number diseases which used to kill people in the past.
(b) Improved nutrition due to improved agriculture. This has in turn improved the immune systems of the body and its ability to fight and defeat main ailments.
(c) Cultural practices such as polygamy which increases the fertility of men.
(d) Religious beliefs
(e) Sexual preferences of children
However, the population growth in Zambia started declining in the year 2000. This is due to the decline in the fertility rate and high mortality rate.
CAUSES OF REDUCTION IN FERTILITY RATE
(1) Increased number of individuals or couples who uses family planning.
(2) Increase in the number of girls enrolled in schools
(3) Reductions in the number of polygamous marriages particularly in towns
HIGH MORTALITY RATE
The cause of high mortality rate has been attributed to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Implications of HIV/AIDS pandemic
Ø Changes of the population structure since the majority people who die are those in the reproductive age group (i.e. 15-49 years)
Ø Increased death rate particularly for the people aged 15-49 years
Ø Increased child mortality rate particularly for children born with the virus
Ø Loss of trained manpower due to deaths resulting from HIV
Ø Increase in medical expenses
Ø Resulted into child headed homes due to the death of both parents from HIV/AIDS
Ø Creating a burden of looking after grand children by grand parents due to the deaths
Ø Reduced life expectancy from 51.6 for males and 53.1 for females in 1980 to 36.0 for male and 38.0 for female in 2000.
Ø Reduced production due abscondment from work by the HIV/AIDS workers
POPULATION DISTRIBUTION IN ZAMBIA
This is how people are distributed over an area. On average, Zambia is a very sparsely populated country. This means there are few people living in a given area. However, there are some densely populated areas with more people. Population density is the number of people found per square kilometre in a given area. The average density of population for the whole country was set at 13.7 persons per square kilometre by the 2000 census.
The actual density varied greatly from one area to another as tabulated in table 4 below
Province
Area (km²)
Percent distribution of population
: Population density by province
Provincial densities for the year 2000 varies from 4.9 in North-Western to 65.4 for Lusaka provinces while district densities varies from 1.1 in Mufumbwe in Northern-Western province to 2728.8 for Lusaka urban per square kilometres as shown by the map below
FACTORS INFLUENCING POPULATION DISTRIBUTION
A number of factors make people live in an area and not the other. These include the following
(i) Relief features
Very few people live in hilly areas and rift valley because these places are mostly composed of stony soils which are not suitable for farming. Most people live on flat land for instance areas along the old line of rail (from Livingstone to Kabwe) and Mkushi, while swampy regions only attract temporary fishing population.
(ii) Climate
Most people in Zambia have settled in areas where the climate is favourable. This includes those areas which receive adequate rainfall and moderate temperatures where people are able to grow a variety of crops for example Tonga plateau, Mkushi, Eastern plateau (region extending from Petauke to Lundazi). Most lowlands receive low rainfall and high temperatures and hence very few people live there. Additionally, such areas are infested with tsetse flies.
(iii) Availability of water
People tend to settle where water is available for example near dambos, rivers, valleys, marshes, and lake shores. These attract settlement because of plenty of water and high potential for economic activities.
(iv) Soils
Fertile soils attract people due to farming. Some places with such soils include those around Zimba to Mkushi and parts of Eastern province. In these areas both small scale and large scale farming take place. The other areas with fertile soils include those along the Kafue and Zambezi rivers though farming here is hampered by seasonal floods.
(v) Social economic factors
Some areas tend to attract a number of people due to economic activities that take place in those areas. People go there in for search employment for example;-along the line of rail where there is a concentration of manufacturing industries and commercial farms. Secondly, mining and other industries on the Copperbelt
(vi) Political factors
Settlement patterns are determined by the government for areas are reserved for different purpose. For instance game reserves, forest areas, industrial development, road construction, among others are often located in terms of political affiliation.
NATIONAL POPULATION STRUCTURE AND ITS IMPLICATIONS
Population is made up of people of different ages and sex. It comprises of males and females, babies, men, women, boys and girls. The composition is called population structure. The age-sex structure is the composition of a population determined by the number of males or females in each age group and this information can be presented in an age sex pyramid.
Trend of the Zambian population pyramid
The fertility and mortality have led to a population that is young with a medium age of 15.2 and 16.8 years in 1980 and 1990 respectively. A young population is one with a relatively high proportion of children, adolescent and young adults with a low median age. This type of population has a high potential growth rate known as in-built population momentum. The median age is the age which divides a population into two equal groups where half the people are younger than this age and half are older.
In 1990, nearly half of the Zambia’s population (45.2%) was under 15 years of age. The problem of such a population structure is that it has created a high dependency ratio. This creates a lot to pressure over the little resources that the government gathers from the few working in an effort to provide social services. This is also an indicator that the population of the country is still growing since the young generation is the ones involved in reproduction.
IMPLICATIONS OF RAPID POPULATION GROWTH
(a) Demographic implications
The population of Zambia is likely to continue to increasing in the next 15-20 years since the largest proportion of the people are near or are entering the reproduction age than the number of those graduating from reproduction. On the other hand, the HIV/AIDS is likely to affect the age structure of the population since most of the affected people are those in the child bearing age and are economically active. This implies that the country will be deprived of the human resource as mostly the aged people and young will remain. It also means there will be more orphans hence the social implications. Due high population growth rate and economic provision of social services such as health, education and housing has declined.
(b) Health
The expenditure on health care has declined over year resulting in reduced expenditure on primary health care. This has in turn resulted in high infant, child, maternal mortality rates, increase in malnutrition, a break down in health infrastructure and inadequate supply of medicines. The situation has been worsened by the advent of the HIV/AIDS.
(c) Education
Although the government of Zambia recognises education as a basic human right, per capita expenditure on education has declined over years. The government is facing problems in providing adequate education facilities due to high population growth.
(d) Housing
Housing is seen as a basic human need as its availability and adequacy is determination of human development. However, in Zambia the provision of adequate housing has declined. For instance, more than half of the urban population lives in shanty compounds. Such a population has little or no access to basic infrastructure and services such as good roads, piped water and sanitary facilities. The situation is worse in rural areas.
ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS
- Due to the decline in the economic growth of Zambia since the 1970s, per capita income and economic opportunities have declined at all levels in the country. This has resulted in high incidences of poverty thereby lowering the standards of living of the majority Zambians.
- Lack of employment: - this is due to the high rate of labour force growth rate of about 4% per year. This is higher than the annual jobs created.
NATURAL RESOURCES IMPLICATIONS
The increase in population has resulted into environmental degradation and depletion of natural resources. There is great pressure for firewood and charcoal and great pressure for land for settlement and farming. There is great pressure on water for drinking (domestic), industrial and agricultural purposes.
Measures to address population problems
The following are some of the measures put in place to address population related problems:
- Formulation of the national population policy
- Provision of family planning and health services in order to reduce fertility levels and improve the health status of the people
- Implementation of programmes addressing population issues such as HIV/AIDS and Reproductive Health, family life education for both the in-school and out-school youths
- Promotion of sensitization of the public on population related issues such as inter-relationship between population, environment and economic resources
- Provision of adequate social-services though this has been hampered by the fast population growth
- Improving agricultural production to promote food security
NATIONAL POPULATION POLICY
This policy was formed in 1989. The purpose of the policy is to provide a guiding frame work for addressing population issues and concerns.
Goals and objectives of the National Population Policy
The overall goal of the national Population Policy is to improve the standard of living and quality of the life of the Zambian people. To achieve the National Population Policy goals, the following objectives were formulated to:-
- Ensure that population and other related emerging concerns are continually integrated in the planning and implementation processes at all levels so as to decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children
- Reduce maternal, infant and child mortality rates
- Reduce the incidence and infection rates of HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases and other major killer diseases such as tuberculosis (TB) and malaria
- Advocate for and promote sustainable exploitation of resources, infrastructure and social services in order to create employment opportunities and improve living standards particularly in rural areas
- Promote greater participation in decision-making among leaders and general public regarding population issues as they relate to gender, environment and other development issues at all levels
- Advocate for increased enrollment and retention of school going pupils especially girls at all levels
Strategies to achieve the above objectives
The following are the strategies adopted:
- Establishing and strengthening the institutional capabilities for integrated population and development planning and programming at national provincial and district levels.
- Strengthening and expanding the integration of existing programmes of population and family life education for in and out of school adolescents and youths
- Promoting awareness and understanding of population and development issues including reproductive health, gender, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV/AIDS among opinion leaders and the general public
- Establishing and developing mechanisms for coordination, collection, processing, analysis, dissemination and utilization of the demographic information
- Training or retraining and retention of appropriate human resources so as to ensure effective implementation of population and development programmes
- Sensitizing parents and communities on the value of education especially for girls in relation to population and development
- Promote research on the inter-relationship between population and various aspects of development
INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK
The figure below shows the institutional framework and responsibilities of each organisation;
National Population Council
-Advice government on population related issues
Inter-agency Technical Committee on Population and Development
- Give technical advise to the national population council
- Development, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of population policy implementation
Parliament
-enact legislation
-parliamentary committee on population
Ministry of Finance (economic development)
-co-ordinates national development programmes
-implements population policy projects and programmes
Private and non-governmental organisations
-implement development programmes
-participate in population activities
Co-operating partners
-provide support for implementation of developmental programmes
SETTLEMENT AND URBANIZATION IN THE WORLD
Definition: - Settlement is a group of buildings, units or organized group of men, women and children making a living out of their surrounding environment. These units vary in size, complexity and stages of development.
Types of settlement
(1) Dispersed or isolated settlement- These are one family or a few family residues scattered about in isolated places. They are separated from one another by geographical barrier, for instance river/mountain. Figure 1 below illustrates this;
Figure 1 shows a dispersed pattern
(2) Nucleated (clustered) settlement: - This is a type of settlement where there are groupings of several family residences. The houses under such as a settlement are clustered around something for instance a road function or source of water, shop houses, market, places of worship and the like. A nucleus is the focus of the settlement, that is, the main feature around which the settlement has been built.
(3) Linear or ribbon settlement: - This is a type of settlement where buildings are built in a line along a road, river or stream and buildings appear in line form. This type is usually planned. Figure 3 below illustrates linear or ribbon type of settlement;
FACTORS INFLUENCING SETTLEMENT PATTERNS
The following are the factors:
(a) Fertile alluvial pattern: - the basic requisites of human existence are food and water. A fertile alluvial plain transverse by rivers is the best for raising food crops and maintaining a secure water supply. A level plain also facilitate the movement of people and goods. For example: Alur setar on the fertile Kedah plain drained by the Sungai Keblah, Nanying on the Noch Chang-Jiang of central China.
(b) Coastal lowlands: - This is where narrow coastal plains are bounded on the land ward side by mountain; agriculture; transport and settlement have all to be concentrated on the lower land. Examples include Trondheim on the fertile lowland of the trondheim fiord and Durban on the coastal plain at the Drankensberg.
(c) Sheltered indentations on the coastline: - An indented coastline has calm waters and sheltered from the waves of the open sea. This is well suited for a seaport where an off-shore island offer an added protection, for instance Singapore, Melbourne, Tokyo, among others.
(d) Natural focus of routes: - These are the nodal towns by virtue of their geographical location in relation to the relocation. Many towns assume prominence as centres of road, rail or water communication. People congregate to provide commercial and social services that passing travelers can make use of. Examples of such towns include Bidor and Chicago.
(e) Sites for generating hydro-electric power: - examples of these are water falls. The availability of cheap power attracts industrial concerns. In these industries, there is need for labour. These make a settlement very likely to grow taking advantage of cheap power. For instance, Buffalo South of Niagara falls, Trollhattan due to hydro-electricity power at Trollhattan.
(f) By the side of the lakes: -Lakes provide fish, water and means of inland transport. Some of the best known tourist centres are located on or near lakes because of their scenic beauty and recreational facilities. For example Como located close to Lake Como in Italy, Entebbe on the lakeside of Lake Victoria, Salt Lake City near the Great Salt Lake of Ulah.
(g) Mineral wealth: - Some towns have growth to considerable size purely because of the presence of minerals. For instance Johannesburg, the Gold City in the Witwatersrand plate, Kirina-founded on the rich magnetite in Sweden.
(h) Good site for defense: - This was the deciding factor in ancient times when defensive strategy executed at the right moment could save the whole community. Examples of such towns include Beijing in China, Edinburg-in Scotland, Rome and many more.
(i) River-borne sites: - This includes vast numbers of sites carved out by rivers on its course from source to mouth.
Examples:
(i) Where a river passes through a gap: - This is the lowest part of the region and it naturally carves many roads and rail route for instance Lincoln on the river Witham
(ii) Where the river bends or meanders: - A town may take advantage of a change in the river’s course, for example Teluk intan on Sungai Perak
(iii) Where two rivers meet (conference town)
FUNCTIONS OF SETTLEMENTS
Towns are involved in a number of activities and they include the following:
1. Market town: - These towns act as centres of exchange. They are collection and distribution centres for local products.
2. Industrial towns: - These are towns that are primarily concerned with the processing of raw materials into finished goods. They normally have certain advantages as industrial sites such as proximity to power, minerals, raw materials, labour, market and good road network.
3. Commercial towns: -These are centres of commerce and finance where trade is the primary concern. There are established facilities for banking, insurance and other commercial interests.
4. Mining towns: - A mining town can be located in the very usual places provided there are sufficient mineral resources. For example New Castle in UK (coal), Sudbury in Canada for nickel, Magnitogorsk in USSR for iron.
5. Administrative towns: - These are the headquarters of the government and they are capital cities or centres of local administration. They deal with the organisation and administration of the nation or of a division within the country. Some capitals are Geneva, Washington DC, Canberra, Brasilia and Islamabad.
6. Cultural and educational towns: - These are towns in which are found world renowned universities, for instance Oxford, Cambridge and London in UK.
7. Ecclesiastical towns: - The towns under this category are very special. They are historical and religious centres. They are historical and religious centres as they frequented by pilgrims from all parts of the globe. Examples include Jerusalem (Judaism, Christianity), Mecca (Islam), Varanasi (Hinduism) and Canterbury (UK).
8. Royal towns: - Royal towns are the traditional residences of monarchs, kings and queens, sultans and their consorts. They are beautiful palaces and are visited by foreign dignitaries like Copenhagen (Denmark), Luang Prabang (Laos) and Kuala Kangsar.
9. Holiday resorts, hill resorts and health resorts: - Various kinds of resorts are located in favourable geographical surroundings. They include coastal resorts for bathing and yachting such as Brighton (UK), Miami (USA), hill resorts for mountain climbing and for the cool mountains air like Grindelwald.
10. Port: - These are berthing places for steamers and river craft and usually have deep waters, ware houses and international transport arrangements including customs offices and banking and insurance services.
TOWN GROWTH
Settlements grow in size and complexity with the passage of time. All present day large cities were once villages or small towns and their growth to urban status is due to a combination of factors. These include natural increase or rural-urban migration (lure of town).
Urbanization growth and its problems
Unemployment: - Unless urban growth can keep pace with the commercial and industrial development, many people will not be gainfully employed in the cities.
Housing: - In a congested city, housing can be acute problem. Scarcity of living accommodation can push up rental rates to exorbitant heights. This has over-congested living quarters and this can be a source health hazard especially in slums and quarter areas. The scarcity of land and the exorbitant land prices have necessitated or contributed the building of multi-storey flats and sky-scrapper office blocks.
Advantages of flats:
- they accommodate a large number of people within a limited space
- they accommodate estate, company or corporation employees in blocks without constructing many individuals houses
- the construction of upstairs residential flats was much cheaper
- There is maximum utilization of space and land- horizontally and vertically.
Disadvantages of flats
- those in upper storey have no room for holding funerals, weddings and other cerebrations
- children have no place for playing
- aged residents, the expecting, the sick and the disabled find it difficult to climb stairs
- there is no space for flower and vegetable growing
- regular conflicts between neighbours due to noisy music and bad conduct by some occupants
- there are a lot of difficulties in maintaining, repairing and repainting housing blocks
- water supply to upper floors is often inadequate
- immoral conduct easily result among occupants especially the youths
- prone to accidents and suicide cases increase
- lack of packing space for motor vehicles for those in the upper storey
- lack of dumping space for garbage
Traffic congestions: - Large cities with their millions of inhabitants who have to live, work and move about, invariably suffer from congestion on roads. All kinds of conveyances: - cars, buses, trucks, trains, railways, motorcycles and bicycles form the transport network and slow down movement. This is particularly serious during the rush hours in the morning, lunch breaks and after office hours as well as in the evenings where there are again many people on the streets going to restaurants and cinemas.
Solutions to traffic congestion:
v construction of by-pass (ring roads) for through traffic like south of Kafue roundabout in Lusaka
v crating double lane routes to accommodate more vehicles per direction
v creating broadways and one way roads to reduce accidents
v fixing traffic lights on very busy routes
v using traffic police officers to direct vehicles at peak hours
v decentralizing the bus/taxi stations to different parts of the town
v police impound road unworthy vehicles which may be slow
v dispersing construction of townships and provision of most of the services away from the central business district.
Environmental deterioration; - Overcrowding always leads to a drop in living standards. A large population in a small area puts a tremendous pressure on a number of matters, such as disposal of sewerage and garbage and the provision of water supply, electricity, social and recreational amenities. Smoke from kitchens, factories and car pollutes the air and increase health hazards. Noise from the traffic and the industrial sites is often excessive and makes town life unpleasant.
SETTLEMENT STUDIES IN ZAMBIA
Settlement can be classified into rural and urban and they differ from one place to another. For example, the type of settlement found in rural areas is different from that of urban areas and the layout of the settlement usually gives a particular pattern which includes dispersed or isolated, nucleated or clustered and linear (ribbon) settlement.
Factors influencing settlement patterns
These factors could be categorized under the following:
(a) Physical factors: - which includes relief, climate, water and soils.
(b) Social-cultural factors: - these include security, traditional/ethnicity and transport
(i) Security: Tribal and colonial wars had to a large extent influenced the location and pattern of settlements. Some settlements were located near hills or mountains for defensive purposes others like Fort Jameson (Chipata) and Fort Rosebery (Mansa) were located on top of the mountain so that the enemy could easily be seen from a distance.
(ii) Traditional/Ethnicity: some people who have strong social traditions tend to live together. A chief’s palace is a good example of a clustered settlement where there is a meeting place where village affairs are discussed.
(iii) Transport: most settlements tend to develop along the lines of communication such as roads, railways and rivers like Livingstone to Copperbelt because it is easy for people to travel from the place to another and also transport goods for marketing.
(c) Economic development: - People tend to settle in places which are economically developed such as urban area. These areas provide opportunities for employment and other social services. Mining activities have attracted a lot of people
URBAN SETTLEMENT
A town may differ from a village because of population size. A town is usually defined by a minimum population size which may range from 5, 000 to 30, 000 people. A city however has more people.
Causes of town growth
- Availability of natural resources such as minerals.
- Availability of agricultural products or other raw materials.
- Location of the settlement in relation to transport and communication.
- Functions of settlement and other economic activities
Functions of a town
Many towns have developed as centres for the following functions:
- Administration: - Most of the towns and cities are administrative centres. They govern areas around them for example Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia. Lusaka is the main government centre for the whole country. There are also provincial capital/headquarters which offer government services through ministries and councils.
- Mining: - Most towns on the Copperbelt are mining centres due to availability of minerals for example in Kitwe and Chingola.
- Agriculture: - Zambia is largely an agricultural country as most towns are centres for surrounding agricultural communities for example areas around the maize belt (line of rail from Livingstone to Copperbelt, Mkushi and parts of Eastern province) industries which use agricultural raw materials are often located in such towns. For example Choma Milling Company in Choma, Gwembe Cotton Ginnery in Gwembe and sugar growing and processing at Nakambala sugar estates private limited company in Mazabuka.
- Manufacturing industries: - Manufacturing of different goods takes place in most towns and cities. Lusaka, Livingstone, Kitwe, Kabwe and Ndola are examples of manufacturing towns.
- Communication: - Towns grows where transport and communication are well developed for example along the line of rail and great roads. Kapirimposhi is an example of a town that has growth due to the development of road and rail transport. It is the centre for the railways from Southern and Eastern Africa, which is Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA), Railways Systems of Zambia.
- Trade: - All towns are trading centres. A number of products are sold like vegetables, fruits, clothes, tools and other agricultural products. Other towns are border centres. Examples border trading centres are Nakonde, Livingstone, Sinazongwe and Chirundu.
- Tourism: - Some towns developed due to the tourism attractions found in such areas, for instance Livingstone.
Internal structure of a town
A town is made up of different areas of zones where different activities take place. For instance there are places where people shop or conduct business, areas where industries are located and where people live.
DETERMINANTS OF LAND USE
The use of land in any area may be determined by a number of social and economic factors, such as ability to pay for rentals. This has created competition for the resources. The control of resources usually determine where people live, work and spend their leisure time.
Organization of towns
The functions of the town are organized into specific areas due to several factors such as roads, railways or rivers.
The arrangement of activities into functional zones is known as morphology (or shape) of the town.
Models of towns
Models have been developed to help us understand the shape of town and its land use. Examples of models of towns are concentric and sector models.
(1)Concentric model: This model is common in most towns or cities. It has rings for specific functions. The inner most ring is called the Central Business District (CBD).
4
3
2
1
The other rings are industrial areas, residential and agricultural areas. The centre of the town is known as the Central Business District. This is where a number of business activities are found.
Centres and offices:- because of its central location, the rentals are high. Tall buildings are common features as they take up less ground space and bring in more rent.
The core ring is surrounded by other rings and here there is a distance from the centre. The CBD for Lusaka is the area between Cairo Road and Lumumba Road.
(i) Industrial area: This is the area where most industries and factories are located. These are usually located close to a good road and railway system for easy transportation of raw materials and finished goods. The industries are usually located away from the CBD and residential areas.
(ii) Residential areas: The residential areas are usually classified as high, medium and low density depending on the type of the houses and number of people who live there.
(a) A high density area is one where houses are close together and there are many people as the cases in Kalingalinga and Kanyama compounds.
(b) Low density areas are spacious houses and garden with a small population like Woodlands and Kabulonga.
(c) Medium density: This is found between the low density and high density areas. Examples are Kabwata, Chelenge and Kamwala.
(iii) Agricultural areas: This is found in the outskirts of a town. The most common type of agriculture found is gardening. Here a variety of crops such as vegetables and fruits are grown all year round and sold in town. Places where market gardening is done are along Kafue road and Chilanga.
(2) Sector Model: This pattern depicts land use in sector from the central business district. Examples include a well developed route running to the central of the city leading to high land ventures. Some industries are located along these routes for easy accessibility.
Some residential areas may also be found along the developed routes as shown in the model below:
4 3
6 5
2
1
Keys:
Central Business District
Light industrial area
High density residential area
Medium density residential area
Low density residential area
Heavy industrial area
Due to differences in land use, values, land use patterns have cut across the rings around the city.
URBANIZATION
Urbanization is an increase in the percentage of a country’s population living in towns or urban areas.
Causes of urbanization
- rural-urban drift
- natural increase in population
Factors influencing urbanization
These factors can be grouped into two:
(a) Push out factors: People leave areas due to various reasons such as;
- lack of enough land
- lack of enough food
- lack of jobs, especially gainful and formal employment
- natural disasters like floods or droughts
- dislike of traditional way of life
- civil wars or foreign war
(b) Pull in factors: People move to urban areas for various reasons such as ;
- Hope of improving their social status or standard of living
- Search for employment, educational opportunities and better medical care.
- Urban blight which tend to attract people especially those who come from rural areas that are not electrified
- Looking for modern way of life
Effects of rural-urban drift on rural areas
There are several effects of urban-rural migration on rural areas and some of these are:
- Land is cultivated by the old, the ill, women and children because the young able bodied ones have left for town
- Only few educated people are left in the village
- Farming becomes even less efficient hence low yields
- Families break up
- Perpetual abject poverty in the population
- Inefficient utilization of resources due to small population
- General insecurity in many human activities
Effects of rural-urban drift on urban areas
The following are some of the effects of this movement:
- Housing problems: - the housing problems worsen as available houses cannot accommodate every one. Some people end up roaming the streets due to lack of accommodation
- Over crowding: - This is due to shortages of housing, forcing people to end up living together in large numbers
- Development of shanty compounds: - This is as a result of people failing to find somewhere to stay which forces to build shelters to live in. These shelters are built anywhere and anyhow without permission from the country and town planners. Such buildings make up shanty compounds which are illegal and mostly these lack proper social facilities/services such as water and electricity supply, sanitation facilities, schools and hospitals.
- Increase in unemployment: There are too many people looking for jobs against a few factories and industries which already have enough workers. Most of these people end up doing non-profitable jobs such as clearing shoes, selling groundnuts and mending watches. Unemployment situations usually lead to increase in poverty.
- Increase in crime: - Some people in towns who cannot find jobs become criminals. They steal while others get involved in vices such as selling drugs and prostitution.
- Pressure on education and health facilities: - This is as a result of these services being to higher than the available services. This has resulted in over crowding in schools in order to cater for the growing school population. This results in the lowing of the standard of provision of quality education because there are too many people to share few resources like books, classrooms and desks.
There is always pressure on medical facilities due to many people living in urban areas. In most cases, nurses, doctors, clinics and hospitals are not adequate to cater for ever growing large population.
Other problems associated with urbanization are traffic congestion especially during rush hours. Noise pollution from traffic and industries is the other problem. Others are drop in standard of living and environmental deterioration.
TOURISM IN ZAMBIA
This is an industry that depends on a person who travels for leisure or business. The industry takes care of local and foreign tourists.
Factors contributing to the thriving of the tourism in Zambia
There are a number of them and they include the following:
(a) Curiosity- People wants to see places of interest such as those with scenic beauty, plateaus, mountains, waterfalls and beaches. This type of tourism is eco-tourism. The other group of tourists wants to see places of historical interest, museums and traditional ceremonies. These are called cultural tourists.
(b) Advertising- It makes people aware of the range of holidays and recreation activities available to them.
(c) Pressure of modern life impact on people’s lives and consequent health problems. People travel to see places so as to get away from it all.
(d) Increased education- This has made people more knowledgeable about the rest of the world than before. This encourages people to travel.
(e) Air transport- This has greatly improved tourist travel and enables tourists plan flexible holidays to distance places of the world.
(f) Package holidays- This makes traveling to tourist resorts easier and cheaper.
Origins of tourists that visit Zambia
The table below shows the origins of the tourists that visit Zambia
Region
Total number of tourist
The Southern Africa
89, 095
Rest of Africa
27, 157
America
5, 263
Asia
5, 679
Europe
23, 683
Oceania
6, 248
Total
157, 125
Table 1.1 sources of tourists to Zambia (CS) 1993
It is clear from the table that the majority of the tourists to Zambia come from the sub-region.
ZAMBIA NATIONAL TOURIST BOARD (ZNTB)
Tourist attractions
Zambia has various tourist attractions. They include:
v Plateaus such as Nyika and Tonga plateaus
v Mountain ranges like Muchinga mountains, Mayingi and Makulu mountains
v Waterfalls which include the Victoria falls, Kalambo, Chishimba and Mambilima falls
v Game parks such as North and South Luangwa , Kafue, Liuwa National park, Lower Zambezi, West Lunga, Sioma Ngwezi, Blue Lagoons and Musi-O- Tunya
v Lake beaches provided by Lake Kariba, Bangweulu, Mweru and Tanganyika
v Traditional ceremonies such as Kuomboka, Umutomboko, Likumbi lyamize, Nchwala etc
v Historical sites such as Ingo’mbe ilede
v Museums like Livingstone Museum, Railways Museum, Lusaka Museum, etc
v Warm sunny tropical climate characterized with abundant sunshine
v Friendly people of Zambia
Tourist attractions in Livingstone
Livingstone has many tourist attractions with the following being the most prominent:
- Cultural village such as a Malamba Cultural Village and Mukuni Village
- Game viewing in Musi-O- Tunya National Park
- Museum for example Livingstone Museum and Railway Museum
- Son down cruises on the Zambezi river aboard Makumbi Boat
- Bungi jumping and white water rafting. Bungi jumping is done at the bridge while rafting takes place along the rapids in Batoka George
- Curios at Mukuni Park- curio centre
- Good modern hotels for like Sun-International Hotel
- Has a lot of lodges such as Wasawange, MC- guest House, Eastern and Western mansions
Why national parks important tourist attractions
Ø They have large and varied wildlife and birds like lions, elephants, leopards, hyenas, antelopes, buffalos, etc
Ø The parks have large game and un spoilt scenery untainted by the effects of mass tourism
Ø Large rivers flow along all the three parks provides water for animals. The river gives good scenery to the parks, attract migratory birds and promote water sport. Some parks are accessible by road and air like South Luangwa-can be reached by road from Chipata and by air from Mfuwe
Ø Most parks like South Luangwa, Musi-O-Tunya national parks have facilities such as roads, lodges and air strips
Limitations of traditional ceremonies in their ability to generate tourist traffic
Most of them take place in remote areas, where facilities like transport, decent accommodation and sanitation are lacking
They take place once in a year and are ordinarily a one day event
None of the ceremonies are conducted in English or any other international language
Importance of tourism in Zambia
- It provides employment for a number of Zambians like tour guide
- Lead to development of infrastructure like hotels, lodges, roads, air strip, etc
- Supports the development of other industries such as hotel industry, curio industry
- Provides market for local products such as hand craft, for example mats, baskets, curios
- Preservation of cultures like traditional ceremonies, dress, dances and historical sites
- Contributes to Zambia’s gross domestic product
- It encourages the conservation of the environment and wildlife
- Promotes international understanding and inter-cultural exchanges between people
General negative effects of tourist
v Hotels, airports and roads spoil the natural beauty of the land and create noise and air pollution and litter
v Employment in hotels and tourist related activities is high during peak tourist seasons, but there is wide spread of unemployment during off-season.
v Tourists rely on imported goods such as exotic foods, wines and perfumes. This depletes the foreign exchange industry which is supposed to boost
v Borrowed money to build infrastructure like roads, hotels and lodges increase the national debt
v A large portion of the profit from tourism is transferred to foreign countries where the capital invested in the tourism industry came from. It is estimated that the host country retains an income of only between 10 to 20%
v Tourism may promote vices such as prostitution, drug peddling, drunkenness and crime
v It can also cause/promote disrespect for local customs, dress and language
v Prostitution may lead to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases like HIV/AIDS which cause high mortality rates
Problems and prospects
The problems brought about by wildlife depletion and deforestation impact negatively on the success of the tourism industry
- Some animal species such as the rhino have almost disappeared due to poaching
- ZNTB is insufficiently funded and roads to tourism areas are poorly maintained
- The tax regime is also too high
- The foreign debt impacts negatively on tourism as the country is not able to develop the infrastructure needed for tourism development
- Long distances between tourism attractions are other problems. Tourists are unable to visit several tourist attractions in one visit
- Source region for tourists in Zambia are distance. The country is unable to attract many tourists
- Stiff competition for tourists within the region. Zambia offers the same attractions as her neighbours, in some cases even share these like the Victoria falls with Zimbabwe
- Lack of national airline makes the industry to depend on foreign carriers whose schedules may not be the best for the industry
Solutions to some problems stated above:
ü Debt cancellation by donors
ü Introduction of package tours to easy the problem of long distances
ü Efficiency and cost-effectiveness in delivering the holiday packages can solve the problem of competition
ü A national airline needed to boost tourism
Prospects
Ø The future of tourism in the country is bright. The country has immerse resources in the scenery, warm sunny climate, game and her people
Ø There is political will to develop tourism
Ø The government’s policy of turning certain areas tax free zones will enhance tourism development
Ø Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) is expected to spear head the promotion, protection and development of game areas in the country
Ø The formation of regional organizations like SADC and COMESA will ensure increased growth of tourism as these facilitates the development of infrastructure and the movement of capital and people
Ø Weak currencies like the Kwacha facilitates tourism as it makes Zambia a popular destination for tourists due to lower rates
Ø The success and acceptance of policies such as conservation of the environment and that of wildlife will ensure tourism development
Ø Community participation is expected to bring a sense of ownership to local communities and consequently better protection for animals
TOURISM IN THE SUB-REGION
Tourism in Kenya
Kenya is reported to have the most visited country in the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This makes tourism to be the second most important economic activity from agriculture in Kenya.
Tourist attractions in Kenya:
These include national parks and reserves which includes Tsavo (West and East), Amboseli, Nakaru, Aberdares, Sumburu, Marshabit, Meru
The political stability that Kenya have been enjoying since independence
There is great variety of scenery to see in the country such as highlands (Mt Kenya), Volcanic mountains and the rift valley
The abundant wildlife available in the country such as elephants, buffalo, wild beasts etc attracts a number of tourists
The coast is another attraction because Kenya has 300km of coastline. This has a sandy un spoilt beaches which has marine features
The coconut palms and historical site like Fort Jesus which acts as added attractions.
The Kenyan government’s active promotion of tourism since 1955. This is done through the Kenyan Tourist Development Corporation (KTDC)
The country advertises its tourist potential abroad and arrange package holiday tours and charter flights
Well developed infrastructure such as hotels, roads of high standards and good airport
Good climate which attracts tourists especially those from cold regions
Map of Kenya
Sources of tourists for Kenya
Kenya has traditionally targeted Europe for its tourist traffic and Europeans constitute 63% of all the visitors coming to Kenya. The United Kingdom, Germany, France and Switzerland supply the majority of the tourists because of the following reasons:
Kenya is one of the major East-West air routes to Europe and the country is nearer to Europe than Zambia. This makes the airline fares to Kenya from Europe competitive
Nairobi is well served by international airlines. A total of 30 airlines land at Jomo Kenyata international airport per week. Additionally, there are regular daily flights to London and other European destinations by Kenyan airway
Intensive advertising programmes through television, magazines and newspapers target the European market
Most publicity offices have been set up mainly in Europe.
Tourism in Malawi
Tourism is an important sector of the economy. Most of the tourists come from America especially North America, Asia, Europe, Oceania and within Africa. These include those from South Africa, Zambia and Tanzania.
Tourist attractions in Malawi (map of Malawi)
There are several tourist attractions in the country and they include the following:
v The fine Lake Malawi beaches and a number of beaches such as Salima, Chintechi, Nkata Bay, Cape Maclear and Monkey Bay
Characteristics of Lake Malawi
- It is the third largest fresh water lake in Africa
- Occupies a quarter of the country area
- Has lonely golden beaches in Chintechi, Salima and Monkey Bays
- It has clear fresh water free from bilharzias and therefore promotes water
sports such as sailing and swimming
- Has a cool lake breeze which soothes swimmers and sun bathers
- Has abundant fish which promotes angling and fishing competition
v Mountains like Zomba and Malanje. Zomba has plenty of birds and plants
Government efforts to boost tourism in Malawi
· Government work hand in hand with the Tourism Development and Investment Company of Malawi Limited (TDIC) to improve hotel standards. TDIC operates most of the hotels in Malawi.
· Malawi has joined Southern Africa Regional Tourism Council (SARTOC) which promotes and co-ordinates the tourism industries in member countries
· TDIC operates and owns Soche Tours and Travel which is the country’s leading tour operators
Transport used by tour operators
Tourists visiting Malawi use the road, water transport (along Lake Malawi) and air transport. The international airport such as international airport at Lilongwe and Chileka (Blantyre) serve various carriers including British Airways, South Africa Airways, Air Tanzania, Air Zimbabwe, Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airways.
Air Malawi operates direct flights to South Africa and United Kingdom, and operates domestic routes. Hickling Transcom Limited and Malawi Lake Services Ltd operate lake services on Lake Malawi. They provide boat services from Monkey Bay to Karonga in the North.
Potential of the Malawian Tourism Industry
The industry has excellent potential for growth. This is due to the country’s:
Ø Peace and political stability
Ø Warm sunny climate which is pleasant all year round
Ø Un spoilt beauty that a country is blessed with in mountains, plateaus and rift valleys which give the country unparallel scenic beauty
Ø Friendliness and hospitality of its people
Ø Efficient hotels of high standards
Tourism in South Africa
Tourism is doing well in South Africa. It contributes 3.6% to the gross national product. One job in every 25 is linked to tourism. Domestic tourism is worth US$2, 400 million annually. In foreign exchange, it contributes US$2, 200 million (in 1997). In 1996, total arrivals of tourists were 5, 186,000.
South Africa is a member of both the World Tourists Organization (WTO) and the Regional Tourism Organization of South Africa (RETOSA).
Sources of tourists
Region
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
Africa
2,328
2,698
3,126
3,452
3,793
Europe
393
439
463
722
798
America
75
92
116
160
178
Asia
68
87
114
158
167
Australia
20
25
29
48
50
Total
2,892
3,354
3,897
4,684
5,186
Tourist attractions
The fastest growing segment of tourism in South Africa is eco-tourism. This includes the following:
Beaches: - These are centred around Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth. Other attractions include
Favourable sub-tropical climate around Durban which enables tourists to visit the towns all year round
Dry sunny Mediterranean summers which are a great attraction around Cape Town in summer
The Table Bay Mountain with its majestic view which is a big attraction around Cape Town.
The extensive sandy beaches around Durban and Cape Town (Cape Town alone boast s of over 100 beaches within an hour’s drive from the city centre)
Large ports with their various features for example the sugar and oil terminals, fishing fleets and dry docks
The Cable car ride to the top of the Table Bay Mountain
Presence of historical sites such as the Robin Island
Wildlife: - South Africa has 17 national parks. The largest of these is Kruger National Park which is blessed with a number of animals such as elephant, rhino, lion, leopard and buffalo. The country has 22 species of mammals, 45 species of fish and 100 of reptiles. Other national parks include, Kalahari, Gemsbok, Bonebok Karoo, Addof and Golden gate highlands.
Government efforts on tourism
The government has put up the Department of Tourism, which has the following mandates:
Promote tourism within the country for example by co-coordinating and advising on the improvement of facilities offered by various authorities such as South African Railways (SAR) and South African Tourism Corporation (Satour)
Promote other facilities, organization or means which serve the development of tourism, for example it conducts surveys on the nature, standard, extent and development of hotels, lodges and other tourist amenities.
Maintain all national tourist bureaus throughout the country where the visitors may obtain tourist information and publications
The establishment of hotel board whose task is to foster the development of accommodation, expansion and management of a hotel
Reasons why the tourism in South Africa is doing better than in Zambia and Kenya
This is because of the following:
- large capital has been invested in the sector from both the government and private sources to build lodges, hotels, airports, roads, cableways and communications
- the heavy capital on the road network, railway network and airports. Communication is as good as in many countries in Europe
- the immense and diverse tourist attractions have added to the massive development of tourism in the country (extensive un spoilt beaches, national parks, mountain attractions and historical sites)
- there is aggressive publicity mountain in Europe, America, Asia and Oceania. The advertisement entice many would be visitors to actually visit the country
- high standard and efficient services in hotels, lodges, airports and car hire firms have helped to boost tourism
- abundant, cheap and comfortable accommodation offered by hotels, lodges, guest houses and rest camps also help to boost the industry
Problems/prospects
Ø there is high risk of infection of diseases such as malaria, bilharzias and AIDS
Ø high crime rate especially in towns like Johannesburg and Durban scare away many would be tourists
Ø mass tourism endangers the environment especially the national parks and game reserves
Ø it dilutes local culture
Ø competition for land for settlements and farming poses dangers to the national parks and game reserves
Possibilities of reducing these dangers
- publicity on the dangers of these diseases could reduce the risks
- reduction of racial tensions and unemployment could ease the crime rate
- monitoring of tourist traffic could reduce the dangers
FISHING IN THE REGION WITH SPECIFIC REFERENCE TO MALAWI, NAMIBIA, ZAMBIA AND SOUTH AFRICA
Importance of fishing: -
v provides the most needed proteins
v provide employment to government officials, fishermen and traders
v it has broadened the economic base
v governments and companies earn foreign exchange from fish exports and crocodile skin
v promotes the development of fish related industries for example boat making, fishing nets production and fertilizer manufacturing from fish bones
Fishing areas
Fishing takes place in rivers, lakes, seas, coastal lagoons, pans, oceans, ponds and swamps.
1969
4.1
1980
5.7
1990
7.8
2000
10.3
Table:-Zambia census results
SIZE AND THE GROWTH OF THE ZAMBIAN POPULATION
From the table, it is clear that the population of Zambia has been increasing. The growth rate has been constantly high during the 1963-1990 periods the growth rate on average was at 3.0% per annum, while the figure stood at 3.1% between years 1969-1990 and 3.2% between 1990 and 2000 respectively.
This growth rate is said to be one of the highest in the world and it implies that Zambia’s population will double in 23 years. Zambia’s population is influenced by fertility, mortality (natural increase) and migration.
Causes of population increase
There are a number of causes of population increase. Among these are:
(a) Fertility: - This is closely linked to birth rate. Studies done in various years on fertility shows that the birth rate per 1000 population in Zambia has been high as shown in table 2 below:-
YEAR
BIRTH RATE (%)
1969
47.7
1980
50
Table 2: Birth rate in Zambia for 1969 and 1980
(b) Mortality:- The mortality rate in Zambia has been on the decline over years as shown in table 3 below:
YEAR
DEATH RATE
1969
19.7
1998
14.8
Table 3: Death rate in Zambia for 1969 and 1980
(c) Migration: -
Causes of migration
Zambia has enjoyed peace since independence. This has attracted a lot of people to come and settle. Some of the migrants to Zambia include refugee seekers from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe etc.
Other factors that have contributed to population growth are:
(a) Improved health facilities which enable people to seek health services and be cured from number diseases which used to kill people in the past.
(b) Improved nutrition due to improved agriculture. This has in turn improved the immune systems of the body and its ability to fight and defeat main ailments.
(c) Cultural practices such as polygamy which increases the fertility of men.
(d) Religious beliefs
(e) Sexual preferences of children
However, the population growth in Zambia started declining in the year 2000. This is due to the decline in the fertility rate and high mortality rate.
CAUSES OF REDUCTION IN FERTILITY RATE
(1) Increased number of individuals or couples who uses family planning.
(2) Increase in the number of girls enrolled in schools
(3) Reductions in the number of polygamous marriages particularly in towns
HIGH MORTALITY RATE
The cause of high mortality rate has been attributed to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Implications of HIV/AIDS pandemic
Ø Changes of the population structure since the majority people who die are those in the reproductive age group (i.e. 15-49 years)
Ø Increased death rate particularly for the people aged 15-49 years
Ø Increased child mortality rate particularly for children born with the virus
Ø Loss of trained manpower due to deaths resulting from HIV
Ø Increase in medical expenses
Ø Resulted into child headed homes due to the death of both parents from HIV/AIDS
Ø Creating a burden of looking after grand children by grand parents due to the deaths
Ø Reduced life expectancy from 51.6 for males and 53.1 for females in 1980 to 36.0 for male and 38.0 for female in 2000.
Ø Reduced production due abscondment from work by the HIV/AIDS workers
POPULATION DISTRIBUTION IN ZAMBIA
This is how people are distributed over an area. On average, Zambia is a very sparsely populated country. This means there are few people living in a given area. However, there are some densely populated areas with more people. Population density is the number of people found per square kilometre in a given area. The average density of population for the whole country was set at 13.7 persons per square kilometre by the 2000 census.
The actual density varied greatly from one area to another as tabulated in table 4 below
Province
Area (km²)
Percent distribution of population
Population density
1980
1990
2000
1980
1990
2000
Central
94,394
9.0
9.9
9.8
5.4
7.6
10.7
Copperbelt
31,328
22.1
18.8
16.1
39.9
45.6
52.9
Eastern
69,106
11.5
12.9
12.6
9.4
13.9
18.8
Luapula
50,567
7.4
7.3
7.6
8.3
10.4
15.5
Lusaka
21,896
12.2
12.8
13.9
31.6
45.1
65.4
Northern
147,826
11.9
11.9
13.7
4.6
5.8
9.5
North-Western
125,826
5.4
5.6
5.9
2.4
3.1
4.9
Southern
85,283
11.9
12.4
12.7
7.9
10.6
15.3
Western
126,386
8.6
8.2
7.6
3.9
4.8
6.2
Total
752,612
100.00
100.00
100.00
7.5
9.8
13.7
Table 4: Population density by province
Provincial densities for the year 2000 varies from 4.9 in North-Western to 65.4 for Lusaka provinces while district densities varies from 1.1 in Mufumbwe in Northern-Western province to 2728.8 for Lusaka urban per square kilometres as shown by the map below
FACTORS INFLUENCING POPULATION DISTRIBUTION
A number of factors make people live in an area and not the other. These include the following
(i) Relief features
Very few people live in hilly areas and rift valley because these places are mostly composed of stony soils which are not suitable for farming. Most people live on flat land for instance areas along the old line of rail (from Livingstone to Kabwe) and Mkushi, while swampy regions only attract temporary fishing population.
(ii) Climate
Most people in Zambia have settled in areas where the climate is favourable. This includes those areas which receive adequate rainfall and moderate temperatures where people are able to grow a variety of crops for example Tonga plateau, Mkushi, Eastern plateau (region extending from Petauke to Lundazi). Most lowlands receive low rainfall and high temperatures and hence very few people live there. Additionally, such areas are infested with tsetse flies.
(iii) Availability of water
People tend to settle where water is available for example near dambos, rivers, valleys, marshes, and lake shores. These attract settlement because of plenty of water and high potential for economic activities.
(iv) Soils
Fertile soils attract people due to farming. Some places with such soils include those around Zimba to Mkushi and parts of Eastern province. In these areas both small scale and large scale farming take place. The other areas with fertile soils include those along the Kafue and Zambezi rivers though farming here is hampered by seasonal floods.
(v) Social economic factors
Some areas tend to attract a number of people due to economic activities that take place in those areas. People go there in for search employment for example;-along the line of rail where there is a concentration of manufacturing industries and commercial farms. Secondly, mining and other industries on the Copperbelt
(vi) Political factors
Settlement patterns are determined by the government for areas are reserved for different purpose. For instance game reserves, forest areas, industrial development, road construction, among others are often located in terms of political affiliation.
NATIONAL POPULATION STRUCTURE AND ITS IMPLICATIONS
Population is made up of people of different ages and sex. It comprises of males and females, babies, men, women, boys and girls. The composition is called population structure. The age-sex structure is the composition of a population determined by the number of males or females in each age group and this information can be presented in an age sex pyramid.
Trend of the Zambian population pyramid
The fertility and mortality have led to a population that is young with a medium age of 15.2 and 16.8 years in 1980 and 1990 respectively. A young population is one with a relatively high proportion of children, adolescent and young adults with a low median age. This type of population has a high potential growth rate known as in-built population momentum. The median age is the age which divides a population into two equal groups where half the people are younger than this age and half are older.
In 1990, nearly half of the Zambia’s population (45.2%) was under 15 years of age. The problem of such a population structure is that it has created a high dependency ratio. This creates a lot to pressure over the little resources that the government gathers from the few working in an effort to provide social services. This is also an indicator that the population of the country is still growing since the young generation is the ones involved in reproduction.
IMPLICATIONS OF RAPID POPULATION GROWTH
(a) Demographic implications
The population of Zambia is likely to continue to increasing in the next 15-20 years since the largest proportion of the people are near or are entering the reproduction age than the number of those graduating from reproduction. On the other hand, the HIV/AIDS is likely to affect the age structure of the population since most of the affected people are those in the child bearing age and are economically active. This implies that the country will be deprived of the human resource as mostly the aged people and young will remain. It also means there will be more orphans hence the social implications. Due high population growth rate and economic provision of social services such as health, education and housing has declined.
(b) Health
The expenditure on health care has declined over year resulting in reduced expenditure on primary health care. This has in turn resulted in high infant, child, maternal mortality rates, increase in malnutrition, a break down in health infrastructure and inadequate supply of medicines. The situation has been worsened by the advent of the HIV/AIDS.
(c) Education
Although the government of Zambia recognises education as a basic human right, per capita expenditure on education has declined over years. The government is facing problems in providing adequate education facilities due to high population growth.
(d) Housing
Housing is seen as a basic human need as its availability and adequacy is determination of human development. However, in Zambia the provision of adequate housing has declined. For instance, more than half of the urban population lives in shanty compounds. Such a population has little or no access to basic infrastructure and services such as good roads, piped water and sanitary facilities. The situation is worse in rural areas.
ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS
- Due to the decline in the economic growth of Zambia since the 1970s, per capita income and economic opportunities have declined at all levels in the country. This has resulted in high incidences of poverty thereby lowering the standards of living of the majority Zambians.
- Lack of employment: - this is due to the high rate of labour force growth rate of about 4% per year. This is higher than the annual jobs created.
NATURAL RESOURCES IMPLICATIONS
The increase in population has resulted into environmental degradation and depletion of natural resources. There is great pressure for firewood and charcoal and great pressure for land for settlement and farming. There is great pressure on water for drinking (domestic), industrial and agricultural purposes.
Measures to address population problems
The following are some of the measures put in place to address population related problems:
- Formulation of the national population policy
- Provision of family planning and health services in order to reduce fertility levels and improve the health status of the people
- Implementation of programmes addressing population issues such as HIV/AIDS and Reproductive Health, family life education for both the in-school and out-school youths
- Promotion of sensitization of the public on population related issues such as inter-relationship between population, environment and economic resources
- Provision of adequate social-services though this has been hampered by the fast population growth
- Improving agricultural production to promote food security
NATIONAL POPULATION POLICY
This policy was formed in 1989. The purpose of the policy is to provide a guiding frame work for addressing population issues and concerns.
Goals and objectives of the National Population Policy
The overall goal of the national Population Policy is to improve the standard of living and quality of the life of the Zambian people. To achieve the National Population Policy goals, the following objectives were formulated to:-
- Ensure that population and other related emerging concerns are continually integrated in the planning and implementation processes at all levels so as to decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children
- Reduce maternal, infant and child mortality rates
- Reduce the incidence and infection rates of HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases and other major killer diseases such as tuberculosis (TB) and malaria
- Advocate for and promote sustainable exploitation of resources, infrastructure and social services in order to create employment opportunities and improve living standards particularly in rural areas
- Promote greater participation in decision-making among leaders and general public regarding population issues as they relate to gender, environment and other development issues at all levels
- Advocate for increased enrollment and retention of school going pupils especially girls at all levels
Strategies to achieve the above objectives
The following are the strategies adopted:
- Establishing and strengthening the institutional capabilities for integrated population and development planning and programming at national provincial and district levels.
- Strengthening and expanding the integration of existing programmes of population and family life education for in and out of school adolescents and youths
- Promoting awareness and understanding of population and development issues including reproductive health, gender, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV/AIDS among opinion leaders and the general public
- Establishing and developing mechanisms for coordination, collection, processing, analysis, dissemination and utilization of the demographic information
- Training or retraining and retention of appropriate human resources so as to ensure effective implementation of population and development programmes
- Sensitizing parents and communities on the value of education especially for girls in relation to population and development
- Promote research on the inter-relationship between population and various aspects of development
INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK
The figure below shows the institutional framework and responsibilities of each organisation;
National Population Council
-Advice government on population related issues
Inter-agency Technical Committee on Population and Development
- Give technical advise to the national population council
- Development, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of population policy implementation
Parliament
-enact legislation
-parliamentary committee on population
Ministry of Finance (economic development)
-co-ordinates national development programmes
-implements population policy projects and programmes
Private and non-governmental organisations
-implement development programmes
-participate in population activities
Co-operating partners
-provide support for implementation of developmental programmes
SETTLEMENT AND URBANIZATION IN THE WORLD
Definition: - Settlement is a group of buildings, units or organized group of men, women and children making a living out of their surrounding environment. These units vary in size, complexity and stages of development.
Types of settlement
(1) Dispersed or isolated settlement- These are one family or a few family residues scattered about in isolated places. They are separated from one another by geographical barrier, for instance river/mountain. Figure 1 below illustrates this;
Figure 1 shows a dispersed pattern
(2) Nucleated (clustered) settlement: - This is a type of settlement where there are groupings of several family residences. The houses under such as a settlement are clustered around something for instance a road function or source of water, shop houses, market, places of worship and the like. A nucleus is the focus of the settlement, that is, the main feature around which the settlement has been built.
(3) Linear or ribbon settlement: - This is a type of settlement where buildings are built in a line along a road, river or stream and buildings appear in line form. This type is usually planned. Figure 3 below illustrates linear or ribbon type of settlement;
FACTORS INFLUENCING SETTLEMENT PATTERNS
The following are the factors:
(a) Fertile alluvial pattern: - the basic requisites of human existence are food and water. A fertile alluvial plain transverse by rivers is the best for raising food crops and maintaining a secure water supply. A level plain also facilitate the movement of people and goods. For example: Alur setar on the fertile Kedah plain drained by the Sungai Keblah, Nanying on the Noch Chang-Jiang of central China.
(b) Coastal lowlands: - This is where narrow coastal plains are bounded on the land ward side by mountain; agriculture; transport and settlement have all to be concentrated on the lower land. Examples include Trondheim on the fertile lowland of the trondheim fiord and Durban on the coastal plain at the Drankensberg.
(c) Sheltered indentations on the coastline: - An indented coastline has calm waters and sheltered from the waves of the open sea. This is well suited for a seaport where an off-shore island offer an added protection, for instance Singapore, Melbourne, Tokyo, among others.
(d) Natural focus of routes: - These are the nodal towns by virtue of their geographical location in relation to the relocation. Many towns assume prominence as centres of road, rail or water communication. People congregate to provide commercial and social services that passing travelers can make use of. Examples of such towns include Bidor and Chicago.
(e) Sites for generating hydro-electric power: - examples of these are water falls. The availability of cheap power attracts industrial concerns. In these industries, there is need for labour. These make a settlement very likely to grow taking advantage of cheap power. For instance, Buffalo South of Niagara falls, Trollhattan due to hydro-electricity power at Trollhattan.
(f) By the side of the lakes: -Lakes provide fish, water and means of inland transport. Some of the best known tourist centres are located on or near lakes because of their scenic beauty and recreational facilities. For example Como located close to Lake Como in Italy, Entebbe on the lakeside of Lake Victoria, Salt Lake City near the Great Salt Lake of Ulah.
(g) Mineral wealth: - Some towns have growth to considerable size purely because of the presence of minerals. For instance Johannesburg, the Gold City in the Witwatersrand plate, Kirina-founded on the rich magnetite in Sweden.
(h) Good site for defense: - This was the deciding factor in ancient times when defensive strategy executed at the right moment could save the whole community. Examples of such towns include Beijing in China, Edinburg-in Scotland, Rome and many more.
(i) River-borne sites: - This includes vast numbers of sites carved out by rivers on its course from source to mouth.
Examples:
(i) Where a river passes through a gap: - This is the lowest part of the region and it naturally carves many roads and rail route for instance Lincoln on the river Witham
(ii) Where the river bends or meanders: - A town may take advantage of a change in the river’s course, for example Teluk intan on Sungai Perak
(iii) Where two rivers meet (conference town)
FUNCTIONS OF SETTLEMENTS
Towns are involved in a number of activities and they include the following:
1. Market town: - These towns act as centres of exchange. They are collection and distribution centres for local products.
2. Industrial towns: - These are towns that are primarily concerned with the processing of raw materials into finished goods. They normally have certain advantages as industrial sites such as proximity to power, minerals, raw materials, labour, market and good road network.
3. Commercial towns: -These are centres of commerce and finance where trade is the primary concern. There are established facilities for banking, insurance and other commercial interests.
4. Mining towns: - A mining town can be located in the very usual places provided there are sufficient mineral resources. For example New Castle in UK (coal), Sudbury in Canada for nickel, Magnitogorsk in USSR for iron.
5. Administrative towns: - These are the headquarters of the government and they are capital cities or centres of local administration. They deal with the organisation and administration of the nation or of a division within the country. Some capitals are Geneva, Washington DC, Canberra, Brasilia and Islamabad.
6. Cultural and educational towns: - These are towns in which are found world renowned universities, for instance Oxford, Cambridge and London in UK.
7. Ecclesiastical towns: - The towns under this category are very special. They are historical and religious centres. They are historical and religious centres as they frequented by pilgrims from all parts of the globe. Examples include Jerusalem (Judaism, Christianity), Mecca (Islam), Varanasi (Hinduism) and Canterbury (UK).
8. Royal towns: - Royal towns are the traditional residences of monarchs, kings and queens, sultans and their consorts. They are beautiful palaces and are visited by foreign dignitaries like Copenhagen (Denmark), Luang Prabang (Laos) and Kuala Kangsar.
9. Holiday resorts, hill resorts and health resorts: - Various kinds of resorts are located in favourable geographical surroundings. They include coastal resorts for bathing and yachting such as Brighton (UK), Miami (USA), hill resorts for mountain climbing and for the cool mountains air like Grindelwald.
10. Port: - These are berthing places for steamers and river craft and usually have deep waters, ware houses and international transport arrangements including customs offices and banking and insurance services.
TOWN GROWTH
Settlements grow in size and complexity with the passage of time. All present day large cities were once villages or small towns and their growth to urban status is due to a combination of factors. These include natural increase or rural-urban migration (lure of town).
Urbanization growth and its problems
Unemployment: - Unless urban growth can keep pace with the commercial and industrial development, many people will not be gainfully employed in the cities.
Housing: - In a congested city, housing can be acute problem. Scarcity of living accommodation can push up rental rates to exorbitant heights. This has over-congested living quarters and this can be a source health hazard especially in slums and quarter areas. The scarcity of land and the exorbitant land prices have necessitated or contributed the building of multi-storey flats and sky-scrapper office blocks.
Advantages of flats:
- they accommodate a large number of people within a limited space
- they accommodate estate, company or corporation employees in blocks without constructing many individuals houses
- the construction of upstairs residential flats was much cheaper
- There is maximum utilization of space and land- horizontally and vertically.
Disadvantages of flats
- those in upper storey have no room for holding funerals, weddings and other cerebrations
- children have no place for playing
- aged residents, the expecting, the sick and the disabled find it difficult to climb stairs
- there is no space for flower and vegetable growing
- regular conflicts between neighbours due to noisy music and bad conduct by some occupants
- there are a lot of difficulties in maintaining, repairing and repainting housing blocks
- water supply to upper floors is often inadequate
- immoral conduct easily result among occupants especially the youths
- prone to accidents and suicide cases increase
- lack of packing space for motor vehicles for those in the upper storey
- lack of dumping space for garbage
Traffic congestions: - Large cities with their millions of inhabitants who have to live, work and move about, invariably suffer from congestion on roads. All kinds of conveyances: - cars, buses, trucks, trains, railways, motorcycles and bicycles form the transport network and slow down movement. This is particularly serious during the rush hours in the morning, lunch breaks and after office hours as well as in the evenings where there are again many people on the streets going to restaurants and cinemas.
Solutions to traffic congestion:
v construction of by-pass (ring roads) for through traffic like south of Kafue roundabout in Lusaka
v crating double lane routes to accommodate more vehicles per direction
v creating broadways and one way roads to reduce accidents
v fixing traffic lights on very busy routes
v using traffic police officers to direct vehicles at peak hours
v decentralizing the bus/taxi stations to different parts of the town
v police impound road unworthy vehicles which may be slow
v dispersing construction of townships and provision of most of the services away from the central business district.
Environmental deterioration; - Overcrowding always leads to a drop in living standards. A large population in a small area puts a tremendous pressure on a number of matters, such as disposal of sewerage and garbage and the provision of water supply, electricity, social and recreational amenities. Smoke from kitchens, factories and car pollutes the air and increase health hazards. Noise from the traffic and the industrial sites is often excessive and makes town life unpleasant.
SETTLEMENT STUDIES IN ZAMBIA
Settlement can be classified into rural and urban and they differ from one place to another. For example, the type of settlement found in rural areas is different from that of urban areas and the layout of the settlement usually gives a particular pattern which includes dispersed or isolated, nucleated or clustered and linear (ribbon) settlement.
Factors influencing settlement patterns
These factors could be categorized under the following:
(a) Physical factors: - which includes relief, climate, water and soils.
(b) Social-cultural factors: - these include security, traditional/ethnicity and transport
(i) Security: Tribal and colonial wars had to a large extent influenced the location and pattern of settlements. Some settlements were located near hills or mountains for defensive purposes others like Fort Jameson (Chipata) and Fort Rosebery (Mansa) were located on top of the mountain so that the enemy could easily be seen from a distance.
(ii) Traditional/Ethnicity: some people who have strong social traditions tend to live together. A chief’s palace is a good example of a clustered settlement where there is a meeting place where village affairs are discussed.
(iii) Transport: most settlements tend to develop along the lines of communication such as roads, railways and rivers like Livingstone to Copperbelt because it is easy for people to travel from the place to another and also transport goods for marketing.
(c) Economic development: - People tend to settle in places which are economically developed such as urban area. These areas provide opportunities for employment and other social services. Mining activities have attracted a lot of people
URBAN SETTLEMENT
A town may differ from a village because of population size. A town is usually defined by a minimum population size which may range from 5, 000 to 30, 000 people. A city however has more people.
Causes of town growth
- Availability of natural resources such as minerals.
- Availability of agricultural products or other raw materials.
- Location of the settlement in relation to transport and communication.
- Functions of settlement and other economic activities
Functions of a town
Many towns have developed as centres for the following functions:
- Administration: - Most of the towns and cities are administrative centres. They govern areas around them for example Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia. Lusaka is the main government centre for the whole country. There are also provincial capital/headquarters which offer government services through ministries and councils.
- Mining: - Most towns on the Copperbelt are mining centres due to availability of minerals for example in Kitwe and Chingola.
- Agriculture: - Zambia is largely an agricultural country as most towns are centres for surrounding agricultural communities for example areas around the maize belt (line of rail from Livingstone to Copperbelt, Mkushi and parts of Eastern province) industries which use agricultural raw materials are often located in such towns. For example Choma Milling Company in Choma, Gwembe Cotton Ginnery in Gwembe and sugar growing and processing at Nakambala sugar estates private limited company in Mazabuka.
- Manufacturing industries: - Manufacturing of different goods takes place in most towns and cities. Lusaka, Livingstone, Kitwe, Kabwe and Ndola are examples of manufacturing towns.
- Communication: - Towns grows where transport and communication are well developed for example along the line of rail and great roads. Kapirimposhi is an example of a town that has growth due to the development of road and rail transport. It is the centre for the railways from Southern and Eastern Africa, which is Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA), Railways Systems of Zambia.
- Trade: - All towns are trading centres. A number of products are sold like vegetables, fruits, clothes, tools and other agricultural products. Other towns are border centres. Examples border trading centres are Nakonde, Livingstone, Sinazongwe and Chirundu.
- Tourism: - Some towns developed due to the tourism attractions found in such areas, for instance Livingstone.
Internal structure of a town
A town is made up of different areas of zones where different activities take place. For instance there are places where people shop or conduct business, areas where industries are located and where people live.
DETERMINANTS OF LAND USE
The use of land in any area may be determined by a number of social and economic factors, such as ability to pay for rentals. This has created competition for the resources. The control of resources usually determine where people live, work and spend their leisure time.
Organization of towns
The functions of the town are organized into specific areas due to several factors such as roads, railways or rivers.
The arrangement of activities into functional zones is known as morphology (or shape) of the town.
Models of towns
Models have been developed to help us understand the shape of town and its land use. Examples of models of towns are concentric and sector models.
(1)Concentric model: This model is common in most towns or cities. It has rings for specific functions. The inner most ring is called the Central Business District (CBD).
The other rings are industrial areas, residential and agricultural areas. The centre of the town is known as the Central Business District. This is where a number of business activities are found.
Centres and offices:- because of its central location, the rentals are high. Tall buildings are common features as they take up less ground space and bring in more rent.
The core ring is surrounded by other rings and here there is a distance from the centre. The CBD for Lusaka is the area between Cairo Road and Lumumba Road.
(i) Industrial area: This is the area where most industries and factories are located. These are usually located close to a good road and railway system for easy transportation of raw materials and finished goods. The industries are usually located away from the CBD and residential areas.
(ii) Residential areas: The residential areas are usually classified as high, medium and low density depending on the type of the houses and number of people who live there.
(a) A high density area is one where houses are close together and there are many people as the cases in Kalingalinga and Kanyama compounds.
(b) Low density areas are spacious houses and garden with a small population like Woodlands and Kabulonga.
(c) Medium density: This is found between the low density and high density areas. Examples are Kabwata, Chelenge and Kamwala.
(iii) Agricultural areas: This is found in the outskirts of a town. The most common type of agriculture found is gardening. Here a variety of crops such as vegetables and fruits are grown all year round and sold in town. Places where market gardening is done are along Kafue road and Chilanga.
(2) Sector Model: This pattern depicts land use in sector from the central business district. Examples include a well developed route running to the central of the city leading to high land ventures. Some industries are located along these routes for easy accessibility.
Some residential areas may also be found along the developed routes as shown in the model below:
Due to differences in land use, values, land use patterns have cut across the rings around the city.
URBANIZATION
Urbanization is an increase in the percentage of a country’s population living in towns or urban areas.
Causes of urbanization
- rural-urban drift
- natural increase in population
Factors influencing urbanization
These factors can be grouped into two:
(a) Push out factors: People leave areas due to various reasons such as;
- lack of enough land
- lack of enough food
- lack of jobs, especially gainful and formal employment
- natural disasters like floods or droughts
- dislike of traditional way of life
- civil wars or foreign war
(b) Pull in factors: People move to urban areas for various reasons such as ;
- Hope of improving their social status or standard of living
- Search for employment, educational opportunities and better medical care.
- Urban blight which tend to attract people especially those who come from rural areas that are not electrified
- Looking for modern way of life
Effects of rural-urban drift on rural areas
There are several effects of urban-rural migration on rural areas and some of these are:
- Land is cultivated by the old, the ill, women and children because the young able bodied ones have left for town
- Only few educated people are left in the village
- Farming becomes even less efficient hence low yields
- Families break up
- Perpetual abject poverty in the population
- Inefficient utilization of resources due to small population
- General insecurity in many human activities
Effects of rural-urban drift on urban areas
The following are some of the effects of this movement:
- Housing problems: - the housing problems worsen as available houses cannot accommodate every one. Some people end up roaming the streets due to lack of accommodation
- Over crowding: - This is due to shortages of housing, forcing people to end up living together in large numbers
- Development of shanty compounds: - This is as a result of people failing to find somewhere to stay which forces to build shelters to live in. These shelters are built anywhere and anyhow without permission from the country and town planners. Such buildings make up shanty compounds which are illegal and mostly these lack proper social facilities/services such as water and electricity supply, sanitation facilities, schools and hospitals.
- Increase in unemployment: There are too many people looking for jobs against a few factories and industries which already have enough workers. Most of these people end up doing non-profitable jobs such as clearing shoes, selling groundnuts and mending watches. Unemployment situations usually lead to increase in poverty.
- Increase in crime: - Some people in towns who cannot find jobs become criminals. They steal while others get involved in vices such as selling drugs and prostitution.
- Pressure on education and health facilities: - This is as a result of these services being to higher than the available services. This has resulted in over crowding in schools in order to cater for the growing school population. This results in the lowing of the standard of provision of quality education because there are too many people to share few resources like books, classrooms and desks.
There is always pressure on medical facilities due to many people living in urban areas. In most cases, nurses, doctors, clinics and hospitals are not adequate to cater for ever growing large population.
Other problems associated with urbanization are traffic congestion especially during rush hours. Noise pollution from traffic and industries is the other problem. Others are drop in standard of living and environmental deterioration.
TOURISM IN ZAMBIA
This is an industry that depends on a person who travels for leisure or business. The industry takes care of local and foreign tourists.
Factors contributing to the thriving of the tourism in Zambia
There are a number of them and they include the following:
(a) Curiosity- People wants to see places of interest such as those with scenic beauty, plateaus, mountains, waterfalls and beaches. This type of tourism is eco-tourism. The other group of tourists wants to see places of historical interest, museums and traditional ceremonies. These are called cultural tourists.
(b) Advertising- It makes people aware of the range of holidays and recreation activities available to them.
(c) Pressure of modern life impact on people’s lives and consequent health problems. People travel to see places so as to get away from it all.
(d) Increased education- This has made people more knowledgeable about the rest of the world than before. This encourages people to travel.
(e) Air transport- This has greatly improved tourist travel and enables tourists plan flexible holidays to distance places of the world.
(f) Package holidays- This makes traveling to tourist resorts easier and cheaper.
Origins of tourists that visit Zambia
The table below shows the origins of the tourists that visit Zambia
Region
Total number of tourist
The Southern Africa
89, 095
Rest of Africa
27, 157
America
5, 263
Asia
5, 679
Europe
23, 683
Oceania
6, 248
Total
157, 125
Table 1.1 sources of tourists to Zambia (CS) 1993
It is clear from the table that the majority of the tourists to Zambia come from the sub-region.
ZAMBIA NATIONAL TOURIST BOARD (ZNTB)
Tourist attractions
Zambia has various tourist attractions. They include:
v Plateaus such as Nyika and Tonga plateaus
v Mountain ranges like Muchinga mountains, Mayingi and Makulu mountains
v Waterfalls which include the Victoria falls, Kalambo, Chishimba and Mambilima falls
v Game parks such as North and South Luangwa , Kafue, Liuwa National park, Lower Zambezi, West Lunga, Sioma Ngwezi, Blue Lagoons and Musi-O- Tunya
v Lake beaches provided by Lake Kariba, Bangweulu, Mweru and Tanganyika
v Traditional ceremonies such as Kuomboka, Umutomboko, Likumbi lyamize, Nchwala etc
v Historical sites such as Ingo’mbe ilede
v Museums like Livingstone Museum, Railways Museum, Lusaka Museum, etc
v Warm sunny tropical climate characterized with abundant sunshine
v Friendly people of Zambia
Tourist attractions in Livingstone
Livingstone has many tourist attractions with the following being the most prominent:
- Cultural village such as a Malamba Cultural Village and Mukuni Village
- Game viewing in Musi-O- Tunya National Park
- Museum for example Livingstone Museum and Railway Museum
- Son down cruises on the Zambezi river aboard Makumbi Boat
- Bungi jumping and white water rafting. Bungi jumping is done at the bridge while rafting takes place along the rapids in Batoka George
- Curios at Mukuni Park- curio centre
- Good modern hotels for like Sun-International Hotel
- Has a lot of lodges such as Wasawange, MC- guest House, Eastern and Western mansions
Why national parks important tourist attractions
Ø They have large and varied wildlife and birds like lions, elephants, leopards, hyenas, antelopes, buffalos, etc
Ø The parks have large game and un spoilt scenery untainted by the effects of mass tourism
Ø Large rivers flow along all the three parks provides water for animals. The river gives good scenery to the parks, attract migratory birds and promote water sport. Some parks are accessible by road and air like South Luangwa-can be reached by road from Chipata and by air from Mfuwe
Ø Most parks like South Luangwa, Musi-O-Tunya national parks have facilities such as roads, lodges and air strips
Limitations of traditional ceremonies in their ability to generate tourist traffic
Most of them take place in remote areas, where facilities like transport, decent accommodation and sanitation are lacking
They take place once in a year and are ordinarily a one day event
None of the ceremonies are conducted in English or any other international language
Importance of tourism in Zambia
- It provides employment for a number of Zambians like tour guide
- Lead to development of infrastructure like hotels, lodges, roads, air strip, etc
- Supports the development of other industries such as hotel industry, curio industry
- Provides market for local products such as hand craft, for example mats, baskets, curios
- Preservation of cultures like traditional ceremonies, dress, dances and historical sites
- Contributes to Zambia’s gross domestic product
- It encourages the conservation of the environment and wildlife
- Promotes international understanding and inter-cultural exchanges between people
General negative effects of tourist
v Hotels, airports and roads spoil the natural beauty of the land and create noise and air pollution and litter
v Employment in hotels and tourist related activities is high during peak tourist seasons, but there is wide spread of unemployment during off-season.
v Tourists rely on imported goods such as exotic foods, wines and perfumes. This depletes the foreign exchange industry which is supposed to boost
v Borrowed money to build infrastructure like roads, hotels and lodges increase the national debt
v A large portion of the profit from tourism is transferred to foreign countries where the capital invested in the tourism industry came from. It is estimated that the host country retains an income of only between 10 to 20%
v Tourism may promote vices such as prostitution, drug peddling, drunkenness and crime
v It can also cause/promote disrespect for local customs, dress and language
v Prostitution may lead to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases like HIV/AIDS which cause high mortality rates
Problems and prospects
The problems brought about by wildlife depletion and deforestation impact negatively on the success of the tourism industry
- Some animal species such as the rhino have almost disappeared due to poaching
- ZNTB is insufficiently funded and roads to tourism areas are poorly maintained
- The tax regime is also too high
- The foreign debt impacts negatively on tourism as the country is not able to develop the infrastructure needed for tourism development
- Long distances between tourism attractions are other problems. Tourists are unable to visit several tourist attractions in one visit
- Source region for tourists in Zambia are distance. The country is unable to attract many tourists
- Stiff competition for tourists within the region. Zambia offers the same attractions as her neighbours, in some cases even share these like the Victoria falls with Zimbabwe
- Lack of national airline makes the industry to depend on foreign carriers whose schedules may not be the best for the industry
Solutions to some problems stated above:
ü Debt cancellation by donors
ü Introduction of package tours to easy the problem of long distances
ü Efficiency and cost-effectiveness in delivering the holiday packages can solve the problem of competition
ü A national airline needed to boost tourism
Prospects
Ø The future of tourism in the country is bright. The country has immerse resources in the scenery, warm sunny climate, game and her people
Ø There is political will to develop tourism
Ø The government’s policy of turning certain areas tax free zones will enhance tourism development
Ø Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) is expected to spear head the promotion, protection and development of game areas in the country
Ø The formation of regional organizations like SADC and COMESA will ensure increased growth of tourism as these facilitates the development of infrastructure and the movement of capital and people
Ø Weak currencies like the Kwacha facilitates tourism as it makes Zambia a popular destination for tourists due to lower rates
Ø The success and acceptance of policies such as conservation of the environment and that of wildlife will ensure tourism development
Ø Community participation is expected to bring a sense of ownership to local communities and consequently better protection for animals
TOURISM IN THE SUB-REGION
Tourism in Kenya
Kenya is reported to have the most visited country in the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This makes tourism to be the second most important economic activity from agriculture in Kenya.
Tourist attractions in Kenya:
These include national parks and reserves which includes Tsavo (West and East), Amboseli, Nakaru, Aberdares, Sumburu, Marshabit, Meru
The political stability that Kenya have been enjoying since independence
There is great variety of scenery to see in the country such as highlands (Mt Kenya), Volcanic mountains and the rift valley
The abundant wildlife available in the country such as elephants, buffalo, wild beasts etc attracts a number of tourists
The coast is another attraction because Kenya has 300km of coastline. This has a sandy un spoilt beaches which has marine features
The coconut palms and historical site like Fort Jesus which acts as added attractions.
The Kenyan government’s active promotion of tourism since 1955. This is done through the Kenyan Tourist Development Corporation (KTDC)
The country advertises its tourist potential abroad and arrange package holiday tours and charter flights
Well developed infrastructure such as hotels, roads of high standards and good airport
Good climate which attracts tourists especially those from cold regions
Sources of tourists for Kenya
Kenya has traditionally targeted Europe for its tourist traffic and Europeans constitute 63% of all the visitors coming to Kenya. The United Kingdom, Germany, France and Switzerland supply the majority of the tourists because of the following reasons:
Kenya is one of the major East-West air routes to Europe and the country is nearer to Europe than Zambia. This makes the airline fares to Kenya from Europe competitive
Nairobi is well served by international airlines. A total of 30 airlines land at Jomo Kenyata international airport per week. Additionally, there are regular daily flights to London and other European destinations by Kenyan airway
Intensive advertising programmes through television, magazines and newspapers target the European market
Most publicity offices have been set up mainly in Europe.
Tourism in Malawi
Tourism is an important sector of the economy. Most of the tourists come from America especially North America, Asia, Europe, Oceania and within Africa. These include those from South Africa, Zambia and Tanzania.
Tourist attractions in Malawi (map of Malawi)
There are several tourist attractions in the country and they include the following:
v The fine Lake Malawi beaches and a number of beaches such as Salima, Chintechi, Nkata Bay, Cape Maclear and Monkey Bay
Characteristics of Lake Malawi
- It is the third largest fresh water lake in Africa
- Occupies a quarter of the country area
- Has lonely golden beaches in Chintechi, Salima and Monkey Bays
- It has clear fresh water free from bilharzias and therefore promotes water
sports such as sailing and swimming
- Has a cool lake breeze which soothes swimmers and sun bathers
- Has abundant fish which promotes angling and fishing competition
v Mountains like Zomba and Malanje. Zomba has plenty of birds and plants
Government efforts to boost tourism in Malawi
· Government work hand in hand with the Tourism Development and Investment Company of Malawi Limited (TDIC) to improve hotel standards. TDIC operates most of the hotels in Malawi.
· Malawi has joined Southern Africa Regional Tourism Council (SARTOC) which promotes and co-ordinates the tourism industries in member countries
· TDIC operates and owns Soche Tours and Travel which is the country’s leading tour operators
Transport used by tour operators
Tourists visiting Malawi use the road, water transport (along Lake Malawi) and air transport. The international airport such as international airport at Lilongwe and Chileka (Blantyre) serve various carriers including British Airways, South Africa Airways, Air Tanzania, Air Zimbabwe, Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airways.
Air Malawi operates direct flights to South Africa and United Kingdom, and operates domestic routes. Hickling Transcom Limited and Malawi Lake Services Ltd operate lake services on Lake Malawi. They provide boat services from Monkey Bay to Karonga in the North.
Potential of the Malawian Tourism Industry
The industry has excellent potential for growth. This is due to the country’s:
Ø Peace and political stability
Ø Warm sunny climate which is pleasant all year round
Ø Un spoilt beauty that a country is blessed with in mountains, plateaus and rift valleys which give the country unparallel scenic beauty
Ø Friendliness and hospitality of its people
Ø Efficient hotels of high standards
Tourism in South Africa
Tourism is doing well in South Africa. It contributes 3.6% to the gross national product. One job in every 25 is linked to tourism. Domestic tourism is worth US$2, 400 million annually. In foreign exchange, it contributes US$2, 200 million (in 1997). In 1996, total arrivals of tourists were 5, 186,000.
South Africa is a member of both the World Tourists Organization (WTO) and the Regional Tourism Organization of South Africa (RETOSA).
Tourist attractions
The fastest growing segment of tourism in South Africa is eco-tourism. This includes the following:
Beaches: - These are centred around Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth. Other attractions include
Favourable sub-tropical climate around Durban which enables tourists to visit the towns all year round
Dry sunny Mediterranean summers which are a great attraction around Cape Town in summer
The Table Bay Mountain with its majestic view which is a big attraction around Cape Town.
The extensive sandy beaches around Durban and Cape Town (Cape Town alone boast s of over 100 beaches within an hour’s drive from the city centre)
Large ports with their various features for example the sugar and oil terminals, fishing fleets and dry docks
The Cable car ride to the top of the Table Bay Mountain
Presence of historical sites such as the Robin Island
Wildlife: - South Africa has 17 national parks. The largest of these is Kruger National Park which is blessed with a number of animals such as elephant, rhino, lion, leopard and buffalo. The country has 22 species of mammals, 45 species of fish and 100 of reptiles. Other national parks include, Kalahari, Gemsbok, Bonebok Karoo, Addof and Golden gate highlands.
Government efforts on tourism
The government has put up the Department of Tourism, which has the following mandates:
Promote tourism within the country for example by co-coordinating and advising on the improvement of facilities offered by various authorities such as South African Railways (SAR) and South African Tourism Corporation (Satour)
Promote other facilities, organization or means which serve the development of tourism, for example it conducts surveys on the nature, standard, extent and development of hotels, lodges and other tourist amenities.
Maintain all national tourist bureaus throughout the country where the visitors may obtain tourist information and publications
The establishment of hotel board whose task is to foster the development of accommodation, expansion and management of a hotel
Reasons why the tourism in South Africa is doing better than in Zambia and Kenya
This is because of the following:
- large capital has been invested in the sector from both the government and private sources to build lodges, hotels, airports, roads, cableways and communications
- the heavy capital on the road network, railway network and airports. Communication is as good as in many countries in Europe
- the immense and diverse tourist attractions have added to the massive development of tourism in the country (extensive un spoilt beaches, national parks, mountain attractions and historical sites)
- there is aggressive publicity mountain in Europe, America, Asia and Oceania. The advertisement entice many would be visitors to actually visit the country
- high standard and efficient services in hotels, lodges, airports and car hire firms have helped to boost tourism
- abundant, cheap and comfortable accommodation offered by hotels, lodges, guest houses and rest camps also help to boost the industry
Problems/prospects
Ø there is high risk of infection of diseases such as malaria, bilharzias and AIDS
Ø high crime rate especially in towns like Johannesburg and Durban scare away many would be tourists
Ø mass tourism endangers the environment especially the national parks and game reserves
Ø it dilutes local culture
Ø competition for land for settlements and farming poses dangers to the national parks and game reserves
Possibilities of reducing these dangers
- publicity on the dangers of these diseases could reduce the risks
- reduction of racial tensions and unemployment could ease the crime rate
- monitoring of tourist traffic could reduce the dangers
FISHING IN THE REGION WITH SPECIFIC REFERENCE TO MALAWI, NAMIBIA, ZAMBIA AND SOUTH AFRICA
Importance of fishing: -
v provides the most needed proteins
v provide employment to government officials, fishermen and traders
v it has broadened the economic base
v governments and companies earn foreign exchange from fish exports and crocodile skin
v promotes the development of fish related industries for example boat making, fishing nets production and fertilizer manufacturing from fish bones
Fishing areas
Fishing takes place in rivers, lakes, seas, coastal lagoons, pans, oceans, ponds and swamps.
Population is the number of people living an area at a given point of time. The size of the population in a given area can be known through counting the people. This is called census. During the census a lot of information is gathered which includes employment status, age, sex, housing, education, agriculture and marital status.
Major census in Zambia has been conducted in the following years; 1993, 1969, 1980, 1990 and 2000 and the results are as shown in the below:
Year
Population in millions
1963
3.5 POPULATION STUDIES IN ZAMBIA
Population is the number of people living an area at a given point of time. The size of the population in a given area can be known through counting the people. This is called census. During the census a lot of information is gathered which includes employment status, age, sex, housing, education, agriculture and marital status.
Major census in Zambia has been conducted in the following years; 1993, 1969, 1980, 1990 and 2000 and the results are as shown in the below:
Year
Population in millions
1963
3.5
1969
4.1
1980
5.7
1990
7.8
2000
10.3
Table:-Zambia census results
SIZE AND THE GROWTH OF THE ZAMBIAN POPULATION
From the table, it is clear that the population of Zambia has been increasing. The growth rate has been constantly high during the 1963-1990 periods the growth rate on average was at 3.0% per annum, while the figure stood at 3.1% between years 1969-1990 and 3.2% between 1990 and 2000 respectively.
This growth rate is said to be one of the highest in the world and it implies that Zambia’s population will double in 23 years. Zambia’s population is influenced by fertility, mortality (natural increase) and migration.
Causes of population increase
There are a number of causes of population increase. Among these are:
(a) Fertility: - This is closely linked to birth rate. Studies done in various years on fertility shows that the birth rate per 1000 population in Zambia has been high as shown in table 2 below:-
YEAR
BIRTH RATE (%)
1969
47.7
1980
50
Table 2: Birth rate in Zambia for 1969 and 1980
(b) Mortality:- The mortality rate in Zambia has been on the decline over years as shown in table 3 below:
YEAR
DEATH RATE
1969
19.7
1998
14.8
Table 3: Death rate in Zambia for 1969 and 1980
(c) Migration: -
Causes of migration
Zambia has enjoyed peace since independence. This has attracted a lot of people to come and settle. Some of the migrants to Zambia include refugee seekers from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe etc.
Other factors that have contributed to population growth are:
(a) Improved health facilities which enable people to seek health services and be cured from number diseases which used to kill people in the past.
(b) Improved nutrition due to improved agriculture. This has in turn improved the immune systems of the body and its ability to fight and defeat main ailments.
(c) Cultural practices such as polygamy which increases the fertility of men.
(d) Religious beliefs
(e) Sexual preferences of children
However, the population growth in Zambia started declining in the year 2000. This is due to the decline in the fertility rate and high mortality rate.
CAUSES OF REDUCTION IN FERTILITY RATE
(1) Increased number of individuals or couples who uses family planning.
(2) Increase in the number of girls enrolled in schools
(3) Reductions in the number of polygamous marriages particularly in towns
HIGH MORTALITY RATE
The cause of high mortality rate has been attributed to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Implications of HIV/AIDS pandemic
Ø Changes of the population structure since the majority people who die are those in the reproductive age group (i.e. 15-49 years)
Ø Increased death rate particularly for the people aged 15-49 years
Ø Increased child mortality rate particularly for children born with the virus
Ø Loss of trained manpower due to deaths resulting from HIV
Ø Increase in medical expenses
Ø Resulted into child headed homes due to the death of both parents from HIV/AIDS
Ø Creating a burden of looking after grand children by grand parents due to the deaths
Ø Reduced life expectancy from 51.6 for males and 53.1 for females in 1980 to 36.0 for male and 38.0 for female in 2000.
Ø Reduced production due abscondment from work by the HIV/AIDS workers
POPULATION DISTRIBUTION IN ZAMBIA
This is how people are distributed over an area. On average, Zambia is a very sparsely populated country. This means there are few people living in a given area. However, there are some densely populated areas with more people. Population density is the number of people found per square kilometre in a given area. The average density of population for the whole country was set at 13.7 persons per square kilometre by the 2000 census.
The actual density varied greatly from one area to another as tabulated in table 4 below
Province
Area (km²)
Percent distribution of population
: Population density by province
Provincial densities for the year 2000 varies from 4.9 in North-Western to 65.4 for Lusaka provinces while district densities varies from 1.1 in Mufumbwe in Northern-Western province to 2728.8 for Lusaka urban per square kilometres as shown by the map below
FACTORS INFLUENCING POPULATION DISTRIBUTION
A number of factors make people live in an area and not the other. These include the following
(i) Relief features
Very few people live in hilly areas and rift valley because these places are mostly composed of stony soils which are not suitable for farming. Most people live on flat land for instance areas along the old line of rail (from Livingstone to Kabwe) and Mkushi, while swampy regions only attract temporary fishing population.
(ii) Climate
Most people in Zambia have settled in areas where the climate is favourable. This includes those areas which receive adequate rainfall and moderate temperatures where people are able to grow a variety of crops for example Tonga plateau, Mkushi, Eastern plateau (region extending from Petauke to Lundazi). Most lowlands receive low rainfall and high temperatures and hence very few people live there. Additionally, such areas are infested with tsetse flies.
(iii) Availability of water
People tend to settle where water is available for example near dambos, rivers, valleys, marshes, and lake shores. These attract settlement because of plenty of water and high potential for economic activities.
(iv) Soils
Fertile soils attract people due to farming. Some places with such soils include those around Zimba to Mkushi and parts of Eastern province. In these areas both small scale and large scale farming take place. The other areas with fertile soils include those along the Kafue and Zambezi rivers though farming here is hampered by seasonal floods.
(v) Social economic factors
Some areas tend to attract a number of people due to economic activities that take place in those areas. People go there in for search employment for example;-along the line of rail where there is a concentration of manufacturing industries and commercial farms. Secondly, mining and other industries on the Copperbelt
(vi) Political factors
Settlement patterns are determined by the government for areas are reserved for different purpose. For instance game reserves, forest areas, industrial development, road construction, among others are often located in terms of political affiliation.
NATIONAL POPULATION STRUCTURE AND ITS IMPLICATIONS
Population is made up of people of different ages and sex. It comprises of males and females, babies, men, women, boys and girls. The composition is called population structure. The age-sex structure is the composition of a population determined by the number of males or females in each age group and this information can be presented in an age sex pyramid.
Trend of the Zambian population pyramid
The fertility and mortality have led to a population that is young with a medium age of 15.2 and 16.8 years in 1980 and 1990 respectively. A young population is one with a relatively high proportion of children, adolescent and young adults with a low median age. This type of population has a high potential growth rate known as in-built population momentum. The median age is the age which divides a population into two equal groups where half the people are younger than this age and half are older.
In 1990, nearly half of the Zambia’s population (45.2%) was under 15 years of age. The problem of such a population structure is that it has created a high dependency ratio. This creates a lot to pressure over the little resources that the government gathers from the few working in an effort to provide social services. This is also an indicator that the population of the country is still growing since the young generation is the ones involved in reproduction.
IMPLICATIONS OF RAPID POPULATION GROWTH
(a) Demographic implications
The population of Zambia is likely to continue to increasing in the next 15-20 years since the largest proportion of the people are near or are entering the reproduction age than the number of those graduating from reproduction. On the other hand, the HIV/AIDS is likely to affect the age structure of the population since most of the affected people are those in the child bearing age and are economically active. This implies that the country will be deprived of the human resource as mostly the aged people and young will remain. It also means there will be more orphans hence the social implications. Due high population growth rate and economic provision of social services such as health, education and housing has declined.
(b) Health
The expenditure on health care has declined over year resulting in reduced expenditure on primary health care. This has in turn resulted in high infant, child, maternal mortality rates, increase in malnutrition, a break down in health infrastructure and inadequate supply of medicines. The situation has been worsened by the advent of the HIV/AIDS.
(c) Education
Although the government of Zambia recognises education as a basic human right, per capita expenditure on education has declined over years. The government is facing problems in providing adequate education facilities due to high population growth.
(d) Housing
Housing is seen as a basic human need as its availability and adequacy is determination of human development. However, in Zambia the provision of adequate housing has declined. For instance, more than half of the urban population lives in shanty compounds. Such a population has little or no access to basic infrastructure and services such as good roads, piped water and sanitary facilities. The situation is worse in rural areas.
ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS
- Due to the decline in the economic growth of Zambia since the 1970s, per capita income and economic opportunities have declined at all levels in the country. This has resulted in high incidences of poverty thereby lowering the standards of living of the majority Zambians.
- Lack of employment: - this is due to the high rate of labour force growth rate of about 4% per year. This is higher than the annual jobs created.
NATURAL RESOURCES IMPLICATIONS
The increase in population has resulted into environmental degradation and depletion of natural resources. There is great pressure for firewood and charcoal and great pressure for land for settlement and farming. There is great pressure on water for drinking (domestic), industrial and agricultural purposes.
Measures to address population problems
The following are some of the measures put in place to address population related problems:
- Formulation of the national population policy
- Provision of family planning and health services in order to reduce fertility levels and improve the health status of the people
- Implementation of programmes addressing population issues such as HIV/AIDS and Reproductive Health, family life education for both the in-school and out-school youths
- Promotion of sensitization of the public on population related issues such as inter-relationship between population, environment and economic resources
- Provision of adequate social-services though this has been hampered by the fast population growth
- Improving agricultural production to promote food security
NATIONAL POPULATION POLICY
This policy was formed in 1989. The purpose of the policy is to provide a guiding frame work for addressing population issues and concerns.
Goals and objectives of the National Population Policy
The overall goal of the national Population Policy is to improve the standard of living and quality of the life of the Zambian people. To achieve the National Population Policy goals, the following objectives were formulated to:-
- Ensure that population and other related emerging concerns are continually integrated in the planning and implementation processes at all levels so as to decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children
- Reduce maternal, infant and child mortality rates
- Reduce the incidence and infection rates of HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases and other major killer diseases such as tuberculosis (TB) and malaria
- Advocate for and promote sustainable exploitation of resources, infrastructure and social services in order to create employment opportunities and improve living standards particularly in rural areas
- Promote greater participation in decision-making among leaders and general public regarding population issues as they relate to gender, environment and other development issues at all levels
- Advocate for increased enrollment and retention of school going pupils especially girls at all levels
Strategies to achieve the above objectives
The following are the strategies adopted:
- Establishing and strengthening the institutional capabilities for integrated population and development planning and programming at national provincial and district levels.
- Strengthening and expanding the integration of existing programmes of population and family life education for in and out of school adolescents and youths
- Promoting awareness and understanding of population and development issues including reproductive health, gender, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV/AIDS among opinion leaders and the general public
- Establishing and developing mechanisms for coordination, collection, processing, analysis, dissemination and utilization of the demographic information
- Training or retraining and retention of appropriate human resources so as to ensure effective implementation of population and development programmes
- Sensitizing parents and communities on the value of education especially for girls in relation to population and development
- Promote research on the inter-relationship between population and various aspects of development
INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK
The figure below shows the institutional framework and responsibilities of each organisation;
National Population Council
-Advice government on population related issues
Inter-agency Technical Committee on Population and Development
- Give technical advise to the national population council
- Development, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of population policy implementation
Parliament
-enact legislation
-parliamentary committee on population
Ministry of Finance (economic development)
-co-ordinates national development programmes
-implements population policy projects and programmes
Private and non-governmental organisations
-implement development programmes
-participate in population activities
Co-operating partners
-provide support for implementation of developmental programmes
SETTLEMENT AND URBANIZATION IN THE WORLD
Definition: - Settlement is a group of buildings, units or organized group of men, women and children making a living out of their surrounding environment. These units vary in size, complexity and stages of development.
Types of settlement
(1) Dispersed or isolated settlement- These are one family or a few family residues scattered about in isolated places. They are separated from one another by geographical barrier, for instance river/mountain. Figure 1 below illustrates this;
Figure 1 shows a dispersed pattern
(2) Nucleated (clustered) settlement: - This is a type of settlement where there are groupings of several family residences. The houses under such as a settlement are clustered around something for instance a road function or source of water, shop houses, market, places of worship and the like. A nucleus is the focus of the settlement, that is, the main feature around which the settlement has been built.
(3) Linear or ribbon settlement: - This is a type of settlement where buildings are built in a line along a road, river or stream and buildings appear in line form. This type is usually planned. Figure 3 below illustrates linear or ribbon type of settlement;
FACTORS INFLUENCING SETTLEMENT PATTERNS
The following are the factors:
(a) Fertile alluvial pattern: - the basic requisites of human existence are food and water. A fertile alluvial plain transverse by rivers is the best for raising food crops and maintaining a secure water supply. A level plain also facilitate the movement of people and goods. For example: Alur setar on the fertile Kedah plain drained by the Sungai Keblah, Nanying on the Noch Chang-Jiang of central China.
(b) Coastal lowlands: - This is where narrow coastal plains are bounded on the land ward side by mountain; agriculture; transport and settlement have all to be concentrated on the lower land. Examples include Trondheim on the fertile lowland of the trondheim fiord and Durban on the coastal plain at the Drankensberg.
(c) Sheltered indentations on the coastline: - An indented coastline has calm waters and sheltered from the waves of the open sea. This is well suited for a seaport where an off-shore island offer an added protection, for instance Singapore, Melbourne, Tokyo, among others.
(d) Natural focus of routes: - These are the nodal towns by virtue of their geographical location in relation to the relocation. Many towns assume prominence as centres of road, rail or water communication. People congregate to provide commercial and social services that passing travelers can make use of. Examples of such towns include Bidor and Chicago.
(e) Sites for generating hydro-electric power: - examples of these are water falls. The availability of cheap power attracts industrial concerns. In these industries, there is need for labour. These make a settlement very likely to grow taking advantage of cheap power. For instance, Buffalo South of Niagara falls, Trollhattan due to hydro-electricity power at Trollhattan.
(f) By the side of the lakes: -Lakes provide fish, water and means of inland transport. Some of the best known tourist centres are located on or near lakes because of their scenic beauty and recreational facilities. For example Como located close to Lake Como in Italy, Entebbe on the lakeside of Lake Victoria, Salt Lake City near the Great Salt Lake of Ulah.
(g) Mineral wealth: - Some towns have growth to considerable size purely because of the presence of minerals. For instance Johannesburg, the Gold City in the Witwatersrand plate, Kirina-founded on the rich magnetite in Sweden.
(h) Good site for defense: - This was the deciding factor in ancient times when defensive strategy executed at the right moment could save the whole community. Examples of such towns include Beijing in China, Edinburg-in Scotland, Rome and many more.
(i) River-borne sites: - This includes vast numbers of sites carved out by rivers on its course from source to mouth.
Examples:
(i) Where a river passes through a gap: - This is the lowest part of the region and it naturally carves many roads and rail route for instance Lincoln on the river Witham
(ii) Where the river bends or meanders: - A town may take advantage of a change in the river’s course, for example Teluk intan on Sungai Perak
(iii) Where two rivers meet (conference town)
FUNCTIONS OF SETTLEMENTS
Towns are involved in a number of activities and they include the following:
1. Market town: - These towns act as centres of exchange. They are collection and distribution centres for local products.
2. Industrial towns: - These are towns that are primarily concerned with the processing of raw materials into finished goods. They normally have certain advantages as industrial sites such as proximity to power, minerals, raw materials, labour, market and good road network.
3. Commercial towns: -These are centres of commerce and finance where trade is the primary concern. There are established facilities for banking, insurance and other commercial interests.
4. Mining towns: - A mining town can be located in the very usual places provided there are sufficient mineral resources. For example New Castle in UK (coal), Sudbury in Canada for nickel, Magnitogorsk in USSR for iron.
5. Administrative towns: - These are the headquarters of the government and they are capital cities or centres of local administration. They deal with the organisation and administration of the nation or of a division within the country. Some capitals are Geneva, Washington DC, Canberra, Brasilia and Islamabad.
6. Cultural and educational towns: - These are towns in which are found world renowned universities, for instance Oxford, Cambridge and London in UK.
7. Ecclesiastical towns: - The towns under this category are very special. They are historical and religious centres. They are historical and religious centres as they frequented by pilgrims from all parts of the globe. Examples include Jerusalem (Judaism, Christianity), Mecca (Islam), Varanasi (Hinduism) and Canterbury (UK).
8. Royal towns: - Royal towns are the traditional residences of monarchs, kings and queens, sultans and their consorts. They are beautiful palaces and are visited by foreign dignitaries like Copenhagen (Denmark), Luang Prabang (Laos) and Kuala Kangsar.
9. Holiday resorts, hill resorts and health resorts: - Various kinds of resorts are located in favourable geographical surroundings. They include coastal resorts for bathing and yachting such as Brighton (UK), Miami (USA), hill resorts for mountain climbing and for the cool mountains air like Grindelwald.
10. Port: - These are berthing places for steamers and river craft and usually have deep waters, ware houses and international transport arrangements including customs offices and banking and insurance services.
TOWN GROWTH
Settlements grow in size and complexity with the passage of time. All present day large cities were once villages or small towns and their growth to urban status is due to a combination of factors. These include natural increase or rural-urban migration (lure of town).
Urbanization growth and its problems
Unemployment: - Unless urban growth can keep pace with the commercial and industrial development, many people will not be gainfully employed in the cities.
Housing: - In a congested city, housing can be acute problem. Scarcity of living accommodation can push up rental rates to exorbitant heights. This has over-congested living quarters and this can be a source health hazard especially in slums and quarter areas. The scarcity of land and the exorbitant land prices have necessitated or contributed the building of multi-storey flats and sky-scrapper office blocks.
Advantages of flats:
- they accommodate a large number of people within a limited space
- they accommodate estate, company or corporation employees in blocks without constructing many individuals houses
- the construction of upstairs residential flats was much cheaper
- There is maximum utilization of space and land- horizontally and vertically.
Disadvantages of flats
- those in upper storey have no room for holding funerals, weddings and other cerebrations
- children have no place for playing
- aged residents, the expecting, the sick and the disabled find it difficult to climb stairs
- there is no space for flower and vegetable growing
- regular conflicts between neighbours due to noisy music and bad conduct by some occupants
- there are a lot of difficulties in maintaining, repairing and repainting housing blocks
- water supply to upper floors is often inadequate
- immoral conduct easily result among occupants especially the youths
- prone to accidents and suicide cases increase
- lack of packing space for motor vehicles for those in the upper storey
- lack of dumping space for garbage
Traffic congestions: - Large cities with their millions of inhabitants who have to live, work and move about, invariably suffer from congestion on roads. All kinds of conveyances: - cars, buses, trucks, trains, railways, motorcycles and bicycles form the transport network and slow down movement. This is particularly serious during the rush hours in the morning, lunch breaks and after office hours as well as in the evenings where there are again many people on the streets going to restaurants and cinemas.
Solutions to traffic congestion:
v construction of by-pass (ring roads) for through traffic like south of Kafue roundabout in Lusaka
v crating double lane routes to accommodate more vehicles per direction
v creating broadways and one way roads to reduce accidents
v fixing traffic lights on very busy routes
v using traffic police officers to direct vehicles at peak hours
v decentralizing the bus/taxi stations to different parts of the town
v police impound road unworthy vehicles which may be slow
v dispersing construction of townships and provision of most of the services away from the central business district.
Environmental deterioration; - Overcrowding always leads to a drop in living standards. A large population in a small area puts a tremendous pressure on a number of matters, such as disposal of sewerage and garbage and the provision of water supply, electricity, social and recreational amenities. Smoke from kitchens, factories and car pollutes the air and increase health hazards. Noise from the traffic and the industrial sites is often excessive and makes town life unpleasant.
SETTLEMENT STUDIES IN ZAMBIA
Settlement can be classified into rural and urban and they differ from one place to another. For example, the type of settlement found in rural areas is different from that of urban areas and the layout of the settlement usually gives a particular pattern which includes dispersed or isolated, nucleated or clustered and linear (ribbon) settlement.
Factors influencing settlement patterns
These factors could be categorized under the following:
(a) Physical factors: - which includes relief, climate, water and soils.
(b) Social-cultural factors: - these include security, traditional/ethnicity and transport
(i) Security: Tribal and colonial wars had to a large extent influenced the location and pattern of settlements. Some settlements were located near hills or mountains for defensive purposes others like Fort Jameson (Chipata) and Fort Rosebery (Mansa) were located on top of the mountain so that the enemy could easily be seen from a distance.
(ii) Traditional/Ethnicity: some people who have strong social traditions tend to live together. A chief’s palace is a good example of a clustered settlement where there is a meeting place where village affairs are discussed.
(iii) Transport: most settlements tend to develop along the lines of communication such as roads, railways and rivers like Livingstone to Copperbelt because it is easy for people to travel from the place to another and also transport goods for marketing.
(c) Economic development: - People tend to settle in places which are economically developed such as urban area. These areas provide opportunities for employment and other social services. Mining activities have attracted a lot of people
URBAN SETTLEMENT
A town may differ from a village because of population size. A town is usually defined by a minimum population size which may range from 5, 000 to 30, 000 people. A city however has more people.
Causes of town growth
- Availability of natural resources such as minerals.
- Availability of agricultural products or other raw materials.
- Location of the settlement in relation to transport and communication.
- Functions of settlement and other economic activities
Functions of a town
Many towns have developed as centres for the following functions:
- Administration: - Most of the towns and cities are administrative centres. They govern areas around them for example Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia. Lusaka is the main government centre for the whole country. There are also provincial capital/headquarters which offer government services through ministries and councils.
- Mining: - Most towns on the Copperbelt are mining centres due to availability of minerals for example in Kitwe and Chingola.
- Agriculture: - Zambia is largely an agricultural country as most towns are centres for surrounding agricultural communities for example areas around the maize belt (line of rail from Livingstone to Copperbelt, Mkushi and parts of Eastern province) industries which use agricultural raw materials are often located in such towns. For example Choma Milling Company in Choma, Gwembe Cotton Ginnery in Gwembe and sugar growing and processing at Nakambala sugar estates private limited company in Mazabuka.
- Manufacturing industries: - Manufacturing of different goods takes place in most towns and cities. Lusaka, Livingstone, Kitwe, Kabwe and Ndola are examples of manufacturing towns.
- Communication: - Towns grows where transport and communication are well developed for example along the line of rail and great roads. Kapirimposhi is an example of a town that has growth due to the development of road and rail transport. It is the centre for the railways from Southern and Eastern Africa, which is Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA), Railways Systems of Zambia.
- Trade: - All towns are trading centres. A number of products are sold like vegetables, fruits, clothes, tools and other agricultural products. Other towns are border centres. Examples border trading centres are Nakonde, Livingstone, Sinazongwe and Chirundu.
- Tourism: - Some towns developed due to the tourism attractions found in such areas, for instance Livingstone.
Internal structure of a town
A town is made up of different areas of zones where different activities take place. For instance there are places where people shop or conduct business, areas where industries are located and where people live.
DETERMINANTS OF LAND USE
The use of land in any area may be determined by a number of social and economic factors, such as ability to pay for rentals. This has created competition for the resources. The control of resources usually determine where people live, work and spend their leisure time.
Organization of towns
The functions of the town are organized into specific areas due to several factors such as roads, railways or rivers.
The arrangement of activities into functional zones is known as morphology (or shape) of the town.
Models of towns
Models have been developed to help us understand the shape of town and its land use. Examples of models of towns are concentric and sector models.
(1)Concentric model: This model is common in most towns or cities. It has rings for specific functions. The inner most ring is called the Central Business District (CBD).
4
3
2
1
The other rings are industrial areas, residential and agricultural areas. The centre of the town is known as the Central Business District. This is where a number of business activities are found.
Centres and offices:- because of its central location, the rentals are high. Tall buildings are common features as they take up less ground space and bring in more rent.
The core ring is surrounded by other rings and here there is a distance from the centre. The CBD for Lusaka is the area between Cairo Road and Lumumba Road.
(i) Industrial area: This is the area where most industries and factories are located. These are usually located close to a good road and railway system for easy transportation of raw materials and finished goods. The industries are usually located away from the CBD and residential areas.
(ii) Residential areas: The residential areas are usually classified as high, medium and low density depending on the type of the houses and number of people who live there.
(a) A high density area is one where houses are close together and there are many people as the cases in Kalingalinga and Kanyama compounds.
(b) Low density areas are spacious houses and garden with a small population like Woodlands and Kabulonga.
(c) Medium density: This is found between the low density and high density areas. Examples are Kabwata, Chelenge and Kamwala.
(iii) Agricultural areas: This is found in the outskirts of a town. The most common type of agriculture found is gardening. Here a variety of crops such as vegetables and fruits are grown all year round and sold in town. Places where market gardening is done are along Kafue road and Chilanga.
(2) Sector Model: This pattern depicts land use in sector from the central business district. Examples include a well developed route running to the central of the city leading to high land ventures. Some industries are located along these routes for easy accessibility.
Some residential areas may also be found along the developed routes as shown in the model below:
4 3
6 5
2
1
Keys:
Central Business District
Light industrial area
High density residential area
Medium density residential area
Low density residential area
Heavy industrial area
Due to differences in land use, values, land use patterns have cut across the rings around the city.
URBANIZATION
Urbanization is an increase in the percentage of a country’s population living in towns or urban areas.
Causes of urbanization
- rural-urban drift
- natural increase in population
Factors influencing urbanization
These factors can be grouped into two:
(a) Push out factors: People leave areas due to various reasons such as;
- lack of enough land
- lack of enough food
- lack of jobs, especially gainful and formal employment
- natural disasters like floods or droughts
- dislike of traditional way of life
- civil wars or foreign war
(b) Pull in factors: People move to urban areas for various reasons such as ;
- Hope of improving their social status or standard of living
- Search for employment, educational opportunities and better medical care.
- Urban blight which tend to attract people especially those who come from rural areas that are not electrified
- Looking for modern way of life
Effects of rural-urban drift on rural areas
There are several effects of urban-rural migration on rural areas and some of these are:
- Land is cultivated by the old, the ill, women and children because the young able bodied ones have left for town
- Only few educated people are left in the village
- Farming becomes even less efficient hence low yields
- Families break up
- Perpetual abject poverty in the population
- Inefficient utilization of resources due to small population
- General insecurity in many human activities
Effects of rural-urban drift on urban areas
The following are some of the effects of this movement:
- Housing problems: - the housing problems worsen as available houses cannot accommodate every one. Some people end up roaming the streets due to lack of accommodation
- Over crowding: - This is due to shortages of housing, forcing people to end up living together in large numbers
- Development of shanty compounds: - This is as a result of people failing to find somewhere to stay which forces to build shelters to live in. These shelters are built anywhere and anyhow without permission from the country and town planners. Such buildings make up shanty compounds which are illegal and mostly these lack proper social facilities/services such as water and electricity supply, sanitation facilities, schools and hospitals.
- Increase in unemployment: There are too many people looking for jobs against a few factories and industries which already have enough workers. Most of these people end up doing non-profitable jobs such as clearing shoes, selling groundnuts and mending watches. Unemployment situations usually lead to increase in poverty.
- Increase in crime: - Some people in towns who cannot find jobs become criminals. They steal while others get involved in vices such as selling drugs and prostitution.
- Pressure on education and health facilities: - This is as a result of these services being to higher than the available services. This has resulted in over crowding in schools in order to cater for the growing school population. This results in the lowing of the standard of provision of quality education because there are too many people to share few resources like books, classrooms and desks.
There is always pressure on medical facilities due to many people living in urban areas. In most cases, nurses, doctors, clinics and hospitals are not adequate to cater for ever growing large population.
Other problems associated with urbanization are traffic congestion especially during rush hours. Noise pollution from traffic and industries is the other problem. Others are drop in standard of living and environmental deterioration.
TOURISM IN ZAMBIA
This is an industry that depends on a person who travels for leisure or business. The industry takes care of local and foreign tourists.
Factors contributing to the thriving of the tourism in Zambia
There are a number of them and they include the following:
(a) Curiosity- People wants to see places of interest such as those with scenic beauty, plateaus, mountains, waterfalls and beaches. This type of tourism is eco-tourism. The other group of tourists wants to see places of historical interest, museums and traditional ceremonies. These are called cultural tourists.
(b) Advertising- It makes people aware of the range of holidays and recreation activities available to them.
(c) Pressure of modern life impact on people’s lives and consequent health problems. People travel to see places so as to get away from it all.
(d) Increased education- This has made people more knowledgeable about the rest of the world than before. This encourages people to travel.
(e) Air transport- This has greatly improved tourist travel and enables tourists plan flexible holidays to distance places of the world.
(f) Package holidays- This makes traveling to tourist resorts easier and cheaper.
Origins of tourists that visit Zambia
The table below shows the origins of the tourists that visit Zambia
Region
Total number of tourist
The Southern Africa
89, 095
Rest of Africa
27, 157
America
5, 263
Asia
5, 679
Europe
23, 683
Oceania
6, 248
Total
157, 125
Table 1.1 sources of tourists to Zambia (CS) 1993
It is clear from the table that the majority of the tourists to Zambia come from the sub-region.
ZAMBIA NATIONAL TOURIST BOARD (ZNTB)
Tourist attractions
Zambia has various tourist attractions. They include:
v Plateaus such as Nyika and Tonga plateaus
v Mountain ranges like Muchinga mountains, Mayingi and Makulu mountains
v Waterfalls which include the Victoria falls, Kalambo, Chishimba and Mambilima falls
v Game parks such as North and South Luangwa , Kafue, Liuwa National park, Lower Zambezi, West Lunga, Sioma Ngwezi, Blue Lagoons and Musi-O- Tunya
v Lake beaches provided by Lake Kariba, Bangweulu, Mweru and Tanganyika
v Traditional ceremonies such as Kuomboka, Umutomboko, Likumbi lyamize, Nchwala etc
v Historical sites such as Ingo’mbe ilede
v Museums like Livingstone Museum, Railways Museum, Lusaka Museum, etc
v Warm sunny tropical climate characterized with abundant sunshine
v Friendly people of Zambia
Tourist attractions in Livingstone
Livingstone has many tourist attractions with the following being the most prominent:
- Cultural village such as a Malamba Cultural Village and Mukuni Village
- Game viewing in Musi-O- Tunya National Park
- Museum for example Livingstone Museum and Railway Museum
- Son down cruises on the Zambezi river aboard Makumbi Boat
- Bungi jumping and white water rafting. Bungi jumping is done at the bridge while rafting takes place along the rapids in Batoka George
- Curios at Mukuni Park- curio centre
- Good modern hotels for like Sun-International Hotel
- Has a lot of lodges such as Wasawange, MC- guest House, Eastern and Western mansions
Why national parks important tourist attractions
Ø They have large and varied wildlife and birds like lions, elephants, leopards, hyenas, antelopes, buffalos, etc
Ø The parks have large game and un spoilt scenery untainted by the effects of mass tourism
Ø Large rivers flow along all the three parks provides water for animals. The river gives good scenery to the parks, attract migratory birds and promote water sport. Some parks are accessible by road and air like South Luangwa-can be reached by road from Chipata and by air from Mfuwe
Ø Most parks like South Luangwa, Musi-O-Tunya national parks have facilities such as roads, lodges and air strips
Limitations of traditional ceremonies in their ability to generate tourist traffic
Most of them take place in remote areas, where facilities like transport, decent accommodation and sanitation are lacking
They take place once in a year and are ordinarily a one day event
None of the ceremonies are conducted in English or any other international language
Importance of tourism in Zambia
- It provides employment for a number of Zambians like tour guide
- Lead to development of infrastructure like hotels, lodges, roads, air strip, etc
- Supports the development of other industries such as hotel industry, curio industry
- Provides market for local products such as hand craft, for example mats, baskets, curios
- Preservation of cultures like traditional ceremonies, dress, dances and historical sites
- Contributes to Zambia’s gross domestic product
- It encourages the conservation of the environment and wildlife
- Promotes international understanding and inter-cultural exchanges between people
General negative effects of tourist
v Hotels, airports and roads spoil the natural beauty of the land and create noise and air pollution and litter
v Employment in hotels and tourist related activities is high during peak tourist seasons, but there is wide spread of unemployment during off-season.
v Tourists rely on imported goods such as exotic foods, wines and perfumes. This depletes the foreign exchange industry which is supposed to boost
v Borrowed money to build infrastructure like roads, hotels and lodges increase the national debt
v A large portion of the profit from tourism is transferred to foreign countries where the capital invested in the tourism industry came from. It is estimated that the host country retains an income of only between 10 to 20%
v Tourism may promote vices such as prostitution, drug peddling, drunkenness and crime
v It can also cause/promote disrespect for local customs, dress and language
v Prostitution may lead to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases like HIV/AIDS which cause high mortality rates
Problems and prospects
The problems brought about by wildlife depletion and deforestation impact negatively on the success of the tourism industry
- Some animal species such as the rhino have almost disappeared due to poaching
- ZNTB is insufficiently funded and roads to tourism areas are poorly maintained
- The tax regime is also too high
- The foreign debt impacts negatively on tourism as the country is not able to develop the infrastructure needed for tourism development
- Long distances between tourism attractions are other problems. Tourists are unable to visit several tourist attractions in one visit
- Source region for tourists in Zambia are distance. The country is unable to attract many tourists
- Stiff competition for tourists within the region. Zambia offers the same attractions as her neighbours, in some cases even share these like the Victoria falls with Zimbabwe
- Lack of national airline makes the industry to depend on foreign carriers whose schedules may not be the best for the industry
Solutions to some problems stated above:
ü Debt cancellation by donors
ü Introduction of package tours to easy the problem of long distances
ü Efficiency and cost-effectiveness in delivering the holiday packages can solve the problem of competition
ü A national airline needed to boost tourism
Prospects
Ø The future of tourism in the country is bright. The country has immerse resources in the scenery, warm sunny climate, game and her people
Ø There is political will to develop tourism
Ø The government’s policy of turning certain areas tax free zones will enhance tourism development
Ø Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) is expected to spear head the promotion, protection and development of game areas in the country
Ø The formation of regional organizations like SADC and COMESA will ensure increased growth of tourism as these facilitates the development of infrastructure and the movement of capital and people
Ø Weak currencies like the Kwacha facilitates tourism as it makes Zambia a popular destination for tourists due to lower rates
Ø The success and acceptance of policies such as conservation of the environment and that of wildlife will ensure tourism development
Ø Community participation is expected to bring a sense of ownership to local communities and consequently better protection for animals
TOURISM IN THE SUB-REGION
Tourism in Kenya
Kenya is reported to have the most visited country in the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This makes tourism to be the second most important economic activity from agriculture in Kenya.
Tourist attractions in Kenya:
These include national parks and reserves which includes Tsavo (West and East), Amboseli, Nakaru, Aberdares, Sumburu, Marshabit, Meru
The political stability that Kenya have been enjoying since independence
There is great variety of scenery to see in the country such as highlands (Mt Kenya), Volcanic mountains and the rift valley
The abundant wildlife available in the country such as elephants, buffalo, wild beasts etc attracts a number of tourists
The coast is another attraction because Kenya has 300km of coastline. This has a sandy un spoilt beaches which has marine features
The coconut palms and historical site like Fort Jesus which acts as added attractions.
The Kenyan government’s active promotion of tourism since 1955. This is done through the Kenyan Tourist Development Corporation (KTDC)
The country advertises its tourist potential abroad and arrange package holiday tours and charter flights
Well developed infrastructure such as hotels, roads of high standards and good airport
Good climate which attracts tourists especially those from cold regions
Map of Kenya
Sources of tourists for Kenya
Kenya has traditionally targeted Europe for its tourist traffic and Europeans constitute 63% of all the visitors coming to Kenya. The United Kingdom, Germany, France and Switzerland supply the majority of the tourists because of the following reasons:
Kenya is one of the major East-West air routes to Europe and the country is nearer to Europe than Zambia. This makes the airline fares to Kenya from Europe competitive
Nairobi is well served by international airlines. A total of 30 airlines land at Jomo Kenyata international airport per week. Additionally, there are regular daily flights to London and other European destinations by Kenyan airway
Intensive advertising programmes through television, magazines and newspapers target the European market
Most publicity offices have been set up mainly in Europe.
Tourism in Malawi
Tourism is an important sector of the economy. Most of the tourists come from America especially North America, Asia, Europe, Oceania and within Africa. These include those from South Africa, Zambia and Tanzania.
Tourist attractions in Malawi (map of Malawi)
There are several tourist attractions in the country and they include the following:
v The fine Lake Malawi beaches and a number of beaches such as Salima, Chintechi, Nkata Bay, Cape Maclear and Monkey Bay
Characteristics of Lake Malawi
- It is the third largest fresh water lake in Africa
- Occupies a quarter of the country area
- Has lonely golden beaches in Chintechi, Salima and Monkey Bays
- It has clear fresh water free from bilharzias and therefore promotes water
sports such as sailing and swimming
- Has a cool lake breeze which soothes swimmers and sun bathers
- Has abundant fish which promotes angling and fishing competition
v Mountains like Zomba and Malanje. Zomba has plenty of birds and plants
Government efforts to boost tourism in Malawi
· Government work hand in hand with the Tourism Development and Investment Company of Malawi Limited (TDIC) to improve hotel standards. TDIC operates most of the hotels in Malawi.
· Malawi has joined Southern Africa Regional Tourism Council (SARTOC) which promotes and co-ordinates the tourism industries in member countries
· TDIC operates and owns Soche Tours and Travel which is the country’s leading tour operators
Transport used by tour operators
Tourists visiting Malawi use the road, water transport (along Lake Malawi) and air transport. The international airport such as international airport at Lilongwe and Chileka (Blantyre) serve various carriers including British Airways, South Africa Airways, Air Tanzania, Air Zimbabwe, Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airways.
Air Malawi operates direct flights to South Africa and United Kingdom, and operates domestic routes. Hickling Transcom Limited and Malawi Lake Services Ltd operate lake services on Lake Malawi. They provide boat services from Monkey Bay to Karonga in the North.
Potential of the Malawian Tourism Industry
The industry has excellent potential for growth. This is due to the country’s:
Ø Peace and political stability
Ø Warm sunny climate which is pleasant all year round
Ø Un spoilt beauty that a country is blessed with in mountains, plateaus and rift valleys which give the country unparallel scenic beauty
Ø Friendliness and hospitality of its people
Ø Efficient hotels of high standards
Tourism in South Africa
Tourism is doing well in South Africa. It contributes 3.6% to the gross national product. One job in every 25 is linked to tourism. Domestic tourism is worth US$2, 400 million annually. In foreign exchange, it contributes US$2, 200 million (in 1997). In 1996, total arrivals of tourists were 5, 186,000.
South Africa is a member of both the World Tourists Organization (WTO) and the Regional Tourism Organization of South Africa (RETOSA).
Sources of tourists
Region
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
Africa
2,328
2,698
3,126
3,452
3,793
Europe
393
439
463
722
798
America
75
92
116
160
178
Asia
68
87
114
158
167
Australia
20
25
29
48
50
Total
2,892
3,354
3,897
4,684
5,186
Tourist attractions
The fastest growing segment of tourism in South Africa is eco-tourism. This includes the following:
Beaches: - These are centred around Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth. Other attractions include
Favourable sub-tropical climate around Durban which enables tourists to visit the towns all year round
Dry sunny Mediterranean summers which are a great attraction around Cape Town in summer
The Table Bay Mountain with its majestic view which is a big attraction around Cape Town.
The extensive sandy beaches around Durban and Cape Town (Cape Town alone boast s of over 100 beaches within an hour’s drive from the city centre)
Large ports with their various features for example the sugar and oil terminals, fishing fleets and dry docks
The Cable car ride to the top of the Table Bay Mountain
Presence of historical sites such as the Robin Island
Wildlife: - South Africa has 17 national parks. The largest of these is Kruger National Park which is blessed with a number of animals such as elephant, rhino, lion, leopard and buffalo. The country has 22 species of mammals, 45 species of fish and 100 of reptiles. Other national parks include, Kalahari, Gemsbok, Bonebok Karoo, Addof and Golden gate highlands.
Government efforts on tourism
The government has put up the Department of Tourism, which has the following mandates:
Promote tourism within the country for example by co-coordinating and advising on the improvement of facilities offered by various authorities such as South African Railways (SAR) and South African Tourism Corporation (Satour)
Promote other facilities, organization or means which serve the development of tourism, for example it conducts surveys on the nature, standard, extent and development of hotels, lodges and other tourist amenities.
Maintain all national tourist bureaus throughout the country where the visitors may obtain tourist information and publications
The establishment of hotel board whose task is to foster the development of accommodation, expansion and management of a hotel
Reasons why the tourism in South Africa is doing better than in Zambia and Kenya
This is because of the following:
- large capital has been invested in the sector from both the government and private sources to build lodges, hotels, airports, roads, cableways and communications
- the heavy capital on the road network, railway network and airports. Communication is as good as in many countries in Europe
- the immense and diverse tourist attractions have added to the massive development of tourism in the country (extensive un spoilt beaches, national parks, mountain attractions and historical sites)
- there is aggressive publicity mountain in Europe, America, Asia and Oceania. The advertisement entice many would be visitors to actually visit the country
- high standard and efficient services in hotels, lodges, airports and car hire firms have helped to boost tourism
- abundant, cheap and comfortable accommodation offered by hotels, lodges, guest houses and rest camps also help to boost the industry
Problems/prospects
Ø there is high risk of infection of diseases such as malaria, bilharzias and AIDS
Ø high crime rate especially in towns like Johannesburg and Durban scare away many would be tourists
Ø mass tourism endangers the environment especially the national parks and game reserves
Ø it dilutes local culture
Ø competition for land for settlements and farming poses dangers to the national parks and game reserves
Possibilities of reducing these dangers
- publicity on the dangers of these diseases could reduce the risks
- reduction of racial tensions and unemployment could ease the crime rate
- monitoring of tourist traffic could reduce the dangers
FISHING IN THE REGION WITH SPECIFIC REFERENCE TO MALAWI, NAMIBIA, ZAMBIA AND SOUTH AFRICA
Importance of fishing: -
v provides the most needed proteins
v provide employment to government officials, fishermen and traders
v it has broadened the economic base
v governments and companies earn foreign exchange from fish exports and crocodile skin
v promotes the development of fish related industries for example boat making, fishing nets production and fertilizer manufacturing from fish bones
Fishing areas
Fishing takes place in rivers, lakes, seas, coastal lagoons, pans, oceans, ponds and swamps.
1969
4.1
1980
5.7
1990
7.8
2000
10.3
Table:-Zambia census results
SIZE AND THE GROWTH OF THE ZAMBIAN POPULATION
From the table, it is clear that the population of Zambia has been increasing. The growth rate has been constantly high during the 1963-1990 periods the growth rate on average was at 3.0% per annum, while the figure stood at 3.1% between years 1969-1990 and 3.2% between 1990 and 2000 respectively.
This growth rate is said to be one of the highest in the world and it implies that Zambia’s population will double in 23 years. Zambia’s population is influenced by fertility, mortality (natural increase) and migration.
Causes of population increase
There are a number of causes of population increase. Among these are:
(a) Fertility: - This is closely linked to birth rate. Studies done in various years on fertility shows that the birth rate per 1000 population in Zambia has been high as shown in table 2 below:-
YEAR
BIRTH RATE (%)
1969
47.7
1980
50
Table 2: Birth rate in Zambia for 1969 and 1980
(b) Mortality:- The mortality rate in Zambia has been on the decline over years as shown in table 3 below:
YEAR
DEATH RATE
1969
19.7
1998
14.8
Table 3: Death rate in Zambia for 1969 and 1980
(c) Migration: -
Causes of migration
Zambia has enjoyed peace since independence. This has attracted a lot of people to come and settle. Some of the migrants to Zambia include refugee seekers from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe etc.
Other factors that have contributed to population growth are:
(a) Improved health facilities which enable people to seek health services and be cured from number diseases which used to kill people in the past.
(b) Improved nutrition due to improved agriculture. This has in turn improved the immune systems of the body and its ability to fight and defeat main ailments.
(c) Cultural practices such as polygamy which increases the fertility of men.
(d) Religious beliefs
(e) Sexual preferences of children
However, the population growth in Zambia started declining in the year 2000. This is due to the decline in the fertility rate and high mortality rate.
CAUSES OF REDUCTION IN FERTILITY RATE
(1) Increased number of individuals or couples who uses family planning.
(2) Increase in the number of girls enrolled in schools
(3) Reductions in the number of polygamous marriages particularly in towns
HIGH MORTALITY RATE
The cause of high mortality rate has been attributed to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Implications of HIV/AIDS pandemic
Ø Changes of the population structure since the majority people who die are those in the reproductive age group (i.e. 15-49 years)
Ø Increased death rate particularly for the people aged 15-49 years
Ø Increased child mortality rate particularly for children born with the virus
Ø Loss of trained manpower due to deaths resulting from HIV
Ø Increase in medical expenses
Ø Resulted into child headed homes due to the death of both parents from HIV/AIDS
Ø Creating a burden of looking after grand children by grand parents due to the deaths
Ø Reduced life expectancy from 51.6 for males and 53.1 for females in 1980 to 36.0 for male and 38.0 for female in 2000.
Ø Reduced production due abscondment from work by the HIV/AIDS workers
POPULATION DISTRIBUTION IN ZAMBIA
This is how people are distributed over an area. On average, Zambia is a very sparsely populated country. This means there are few people living in a given area. However, there are some densely populated areas with more people. Population density is the number of people found per square kilometre in a given area. The average density of population for the whole country was set at 13.7 persons per square kilometre by the 2000 census.
The actual density varied greatly from one area to another as tabulated in table 4 below
Province
Area (km²)
Percent distribution of population
Population density
1980
1990
2000
1980
1990
2000
Central
94,394
9.0
9.9
9.8
5.4
7.6
10.7
Copperbelt
31,328
22.1
18.8
16.1
39.9
45.6
52.9
Eastern
69,106
11.5
12.9
12.6
9.4
13.9
18.8
Luapula
50,567
7.4
7.3
7.6
8.3
10.4
15.5
Lusaka
21,896
12.2
12.8
13.9
31.6
45.1
65.4
Northern
147,826
11.9
11.9
13.7
4.6
5.8
9.5
North-Western
125,826
5.4
5.6
5.9
2.4
3.1
4.9
Southern
85,283
11.9
12.4
12.7
7.9
10.6
15.3
Western
126,386
8.6
8.2
7.6
3.9
4.8
6.2
Total
752,612
100.00
100.00
100.00
7.5
9.8
13.7
Table 4: Population density by province
Provincial densities for the year 2000 varies from 4.9 in North-Western to 65.4 for Lusaka provinces while district densities varies from 1.1 in Mufumbwe in Northern-Western province to 2728.8 for Lusaka urban per square kilometres as shown by the map below
FACTORS INFLUENCING POPULATION DISTRIBUTION
A number of factors make people live in an area and not the other. These include the following
(i) Relief features
Very few people live in hilly areas and rift valley because these places are mostly composed of stony soils which are not suitable for farming. Most people live on flat land for instance areas along the old line of rail (from Livingstone to Kabwe) and Mkushi, while swampy regions only attract temporary fishing population.
(ii) Climate
Most people in Zambia have settled in areas where the climate is favourable. This includes those areas which receive adequate rainfall and moderate temperatures where people are able to grow a variety of crops for example Tonga plateau, Mkushi, Eastern plateau (region extending from Petauke to Lundazi). Most lowlands receive low rainfall and high temperatures and hence very few people live there. Additionally, such areas are infested with tsetse flies.
(iii) Availability of water
People tend to settle where water is available for example near dambos, rivers, valleys, marshes, and lake shores. These attract settlement because of plenty of water and high potential for economic activities.
(iv) Soils
Fertile soils attract people due to farming. Some places with such soils include those around Zimba to Mkushi and parts of Eastern province. In these areas both small scale and large scale farming take place. The other areas with fertile soils include those along the Kafue and Zambezi rivers though farming here is hampered by seasonal floods.
(v) Social economic factors
Some areas tend to attract a number of people due to economic activities that take place in those areas. People go there in for search employment for example;-along the line of rail where there is a concentration of manufacturing industries and commercial farms. Secondly, mining and other industries on the Copperbelt
(vi) Political factors
Settlement patterns are determined by the government for areas are reserved for different purpose. For instance game reserves, forest areas, industrial development, road construction, among others are often located in terms of political affiliation.
NATIONAL POPULATION STRUCTURE AND ITS IMPLICATIONS
Population is made up of people of different ages and sex. It comprises of males and females, babies, men, women, boys and girls. The composition is called population structure. The age-sex structure is the composition of a population determined by the number of males or females in each age group and this information can be presented in an age sex pyramid.
Trend of the Zambian population pyramid
The fertility and mortality have led to a population that is young with a medium age of 15.2 and 16.8 years in 1980 and 1990 respectively. A young population is one with a relatively high proportion of children, adolescent and young adults with a low median age. This type of population has a high potential growth rate known as in-built population momentum. The median age is the age which divides a population into two equal groups where half the people are younger than this age and half are older.
In 1990, nearly half of the Zambia’s population (45.2%) was under 15 years of age. The problem of such a population structure is that it has created a high dependency ratio. This creates a lot to pressure over the little resources that the government gathers from the few working in an effort to provide social services. This is also an indicator that the population of the country is still growing since the young generation is the ones involved in reproduction.
IMPLICATIONS OF RAPID POPULATION GROWTH
(a) Demographic implications
The population of Zambia is likely to continue to increasing in the next 15-20 years since the largest proportion of the people are near or are entering the reproduction age than the number of those graduating from reproduction. On the other hand, the HIV/AIDS is likely to affect the age structure of the population since most of the affected people are those in the child bearing age and are economically active. This implies that the country will be deprived of the human resource as mostly the aged people and young will remain. It also means there will be more orphans hence the social implications. Due high population growth rate and economic provision of social services such as health, education and housing has declined.
(b) Health
The expenditure on health care has declined over year resulting in reduced expenditure on primary health care. This has in turn resulted in high infant, child, maternal mortality rates, increase in malnutrition, a break down in health infrastructure and inadequate supply of medicines. The situation has been worsened by the advent of the HIV/AIDS.
(c) Education
Although the government of Zambia recognises education as a basic human right, per capita expenditure on education has declined over years. The government is facing problems in providing adequate education facilities due to high population growth.
(d) Housing
Housing is seen as a basic human need as its availability and adequacy is determination of human development. However, in Zambia the provision of adequate housing has declined. For instance, more than half of the urban population lives in shanty compounds. Such a population has little or no access to basic infrastructure and services such as good roads, piped water and sanitary facilities. The situation is worse in rural areas.
ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS
- Due to the decline in the economic growth of Zambia since the 1970s, per capita income and economic opportunities have declined at all levels in the country. This has resulted in high incidences of poverty thereby lowering the standards of living of the majority Zambians.
- Lack of employment: - this is due to the high rate of labour force growth rate of about 4% per year. This is higher than the annual jobs created.
NATURAL RESOURCES IMPLICATIONS
The increase in population has resulted into environmental degradation and depletion of natural resources. There is great pressure for firewood and charcoal and great pressure for land for settlement and farming. There is great pressure on water for drinking (domestic), industrial and agricultural purposes.
Measures to address population problems
The following are some of the measures put in place to address population related problems:
- Formulation of the national population policy
- Provision of family planning and health services in order to reduce fertility levels and improve the health status of the people
- Implementation of programmes addressing population issues such as HIV/AIDS and Reproductive Health, family life education for both the in-school and out-school youths
- Promotion of sensitization of the public on population related issues such as inter-relationship between population, environment and economic resources
- Provision of adequate social-services though this has been hampered by the fast population growth
- Improving agricultural production to promote food security
NATIONAL POPULATION POLICY
This policy was formed in 1989. The purpose of the policy is to provide a guiding frame work for addressing population issues and concerns.
Goals and objectives of the National Population Policy
The overall goal of the national Population Policy is to improve the standard of living and quality of the life of the Zambian people. To achieve the National Population Policy goals, the following objectives were formulated to:-
- Ensure that population and other related emerging concerns are continually integrated in the planning and implementation processes at all levels so as to decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children
- Reduce maternal, infant and child mortality rates
- Reduce the incidence and infection rates of HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases and other major killer diseases such as tuberculosis (TB) and malaria
- Advocate for and promote sustainable exploitation of resources, infrastructure and social services in order to create employment opportunities and improve living standards particularly in rural areas
- Promote greater participation in decision-making among leaders and general public regarding population issues as they relate to gender, environment and other development issues at all levels
- Advocate for increased enrollment and retention of school going pupils especially girls at all levels
Strategies to achieve the above objectives
The following are the strategies adopted:
- Establishing and strengthening the institutional capabilities for integrated population and development planning and programming at national provincial and district levels.
- Strengthening and expanding the integration of existing programmes of population and family life education for in and out of school adolescents and youths
- Promoting awareness and understanding of population and development issues including reproductive health, gender, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV/AIDS among opinion leaders and the general public
- Establishing and developing mechanisms for coordination, collection, processing, analysis, dissemination and utilization of the demographic information
- Training or retraining and retention of appropriate human resources so as to ensure effective implementation of population and development programmes
- Sensitizing parents and communities on the value of education especially for girls in relation to population and development
- Promote research on the inter-relationship between population and various aspects of development
INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK
The figure below shows the institutional framework and responsibilities of each organisation;
National Population Council
-Advice government on population related issues
Inter-agency Technical Committee on Population and Development
- Give technical advise to the national population council
- Development, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of population policy implementation
Parliament
-enact legislation
-parliamentary committee on population
Ministry of Finance (economic development)
-co-ordinates national development programmes
-implements population policy projects and programmes
Private and non-governmental organisations
-implement development programmes
-participate in population activities
Co-operating partners
-provide support for implementation of developmental programmes
SETTLEMENT AND URBANIZATION IN THE WORLD
Definition: - Settlement is a group of buildings, units or organized group of men, women and children making a living out of their surrounding environment. These units vary in size, complexity and stages of development.
Types of settlement
(1) Dispersed or isolated settlement- These are one family or a few family residues scattered about in isolated places. They are separated from one another by geographical barrier, for instance river/mountain. Figure 1 below illustrates this;
Figure 1 shows a dispersed pattern
(2) Nucleated (clustered) settlement: - This is a type of settlement where there are groupings of several family residences. The houses under such as a settlement are clustered around something for instance a road function or source of water, shop houses, market, places of worship and the like. A nucleus is the focus of the settlement, that is, the main feature around which the settlement has been built.
(3) Linear or ribbon settlement: - This is a type of settlement where buildings are built in a line along a road, river or stream and buildings appear in line form. This type is usually planned. Figure 3 below illustrates linear or ribbon type of settlement;
FACTORS INFLUENCING SETTLEMENT PATTERNS
The following are the factors:
(a) Fertile alluvial pattern: - the basic requisites of human existence are food and water. A fertile alluvial plain transverse by rivers is the best for raising food crops and maintaining a secure water supply. A level plain also facilitate the movement of people and goods. For example: Alur setar on the fertile Kedah plain drained by the Sungai Keblah, Nanying on the Noch Chang-Jiang of central China.
(b) Coastal lowlands: - This is where narrow coastal plains are bounded on the land ward side by mountain; agriculture; transport and settlement have all to be concentrated on the lower land. Examples include Trondheim on the fertile lowland of the trondheim fiord and Durban on the coastal plain at the Drankensberg.
(c) Sheltered indentations on the coastline: - An indented coastline has calm waters and sheltered from the waves of the open sea. This is well suited for a seaport where an off-shore island offer an added protection, for instance Singapore, Melbourne, Tokyo, among others.
(d) Natural focus of routes: - These are the nodal towns by virtue of their geographical location in relation to the relocation. Many towns assume prominence as centres of road, rail or water communication. People congregate to provide commercial and social services that passing travelers can make use of. Examples of such towns include Bidor and Chicago.
(e) Sites for generating hydro-electric power: - examples of these are water falls. The availability of cheap power attracts industrial concerns. In these industries, there is need for labour. These make a settlement very likely to grow taking advantage of cheap power. For instance, Buffalo South of Niagara falls, Trollhattan due to hydro-electricity power at Trollhattan.
(f) By the side of the lakes: -Lakes provide fish, water and means of inland transport. Some of the best known tourist centres are located on or near lakes because of their scenic beauty and recreational facilities. For example Como located close to Lake Como in Italy, Entebbe on the lakeside of Lake Victoria, Salt Lake City near the Great Salt Lake of Ulah.
(g) Mineral wealth: - Some towns have growth to considerable size purely because of the presence of minerals. For instance Johannesburg, the Gold City in the Witwatersrand plate, Kirina-founded on the rich magnetite in Sweden.
(h) Good site for defense: - This was the deciding factor in ancient times when defensive strategy executed at the right moment could save the whole community. Examples of such towns include Beijing in China, Edinburg-in Scotland, Rome and many more.
(i) River-borne sites: - This includes vast numbers of sites carved out by rivers on its course from source to mouth.
Examples:
(i) Where a river passes through a gap: - This is the lowest part of the region and it naturally carves many roads and rail route for instance Lincoln on the river Witham
(ii) Where the river bends or meanders: - A town may take advantage of a change in the river’s course, for example Teluk intan on Sungai Perak
(iii) Where two rivers meet (conference town)
FUNCTIONS OF SETTLEMENTS
Towns are involved in a number of activities and they include the following:
1. Market town: - These towns act as centres of exchange. They are collection and distribution centres for local products.
2. Industrial towns: - These are towns that are primarily concerned with the processing of raw materials into finished goods. They normally have certain advantages as industrial sites such as proximity to power, minerals, raw materials, labour, market and good road network.
3. Commercial towns: -These are centres of commerce and finance where trade is the primary concern. There are established facilities for banking, insurance and other commercial interests.
4. Mining towns: - A mining town can be located in the very usual places provided there are sufficient mineral resources. For example New Castle in UK (coal), Sudbury in Canada for nickel, Magnitogorsk in USSR for iron.
5. Administrative towns: - These are the headquarters of the government and they are capital cities or centres of local administration. They deal with the organisation and administration of the nation or of a division within the country. Some capitals are Geneva, Washington DC, Canberra, Brasilia and Islamabad.
6. Cultural and educational towns: - These are towns in which are found world renowned universities, for instance Oxford, Cambridge and London in UK.
7. Ecclesiastical towns: - The towns under this category are very special. They are historical and religious centres. They are historical and religious centres as they frequented by pilgrims from all parts of the globe. Examples include Jerusalem (Judaism, Christianity), Mecca (Islam), Varanasi (Hinduism) and Canterbury (UK).
8. Royal towns: - Royal towns are the traditional residences of monarchs, kings and queens, sultans and their consorts. They are beautiful palaces and are visited by foreign dignitaries like Copenhagen (Denmark), Luang Prabang (Laos) and Kuala Kangsar.
9. Holiday resorts, hill resorts and health resorts: - Various kinds of resorts are located in favourable geographical surroundings. They include coastal resorts for bathing and yachting such as Brighton (UK), Miami (USA), hill resorts for mountain climbing and for the cool mountains air like Grindelwald.
10. Port: - These are berthing places for steamers and river craft and usually have deep waters, ware houses and international transport arrangements including customs offices and banking and insurance services.
TOWN GROWTH
Settlements grow in size and complexity with the passage of time. All present day large cities were once villages or small towns and their growth to urban status is due to a combination of factors. These include natural increase or rural-urban migration (lure of town).
Urbanization growth and its problems
Unemployment: - Unless urban growth can keep pace with the commercial and industrial development, many people will not be gainfully employed in the cities.
Housing: - In a congested city, housing can be acute problem. Scarcity of living accommodation can push up rental rates to exorbitant heights. This has over-congested living quarters and this can be a source health hazard especially in slums and quarter areas. The scarcity of land and the exorbitant land prices have necessitated or contributed the building of multi-storey flats and sky-scrapper office blocks.
Advantages of flats:
- they accommodate a large number of people within a limited space
- they accommodate estate, company or corporation employees in blocks without constructing many individuals houses
- the construction of upstairs residential flats was much cheaper
- There is maximum utilization of space and land- horizontally and vertically.
Disadvantages of flats
- those in upper storey have no room for holding funerals, weddings and other cerebrations
- children have no place for playing
- aged residents, the expecting, the sick and the disabled find it difficult to climb stairs
- there is no space for flower and vegetable growing
- regular conflicts between neighbours due to noisy music and bad conduct by some occupants
- there are a lot of difficulties in maintaining, repairing and repainting housing blocks
- water supply to upper floors is often inadequate
- immoral conduct easily result among occupants especially the youths
- prone to accidents and suicide cases increase
- lack of packing space for motor vehicles for those in the upper storey
- lack of dumping space for garbage
Traffic congestions: - Large cities with their millions of inhabitants who have to live, work and move about, invariably suffer from congestion on roads. All kinds of conveyances: - cars, buses, trucks, trains, railways, motorcycles and bicycles form the transport network and slow down movement. This is particularly serious during the rush hours in the morning, lunch breaks and after office hours as well as in the evenings where there are again many people on the streets going to restaurants and cinemas.
Solutions to traffic congestion:
v construction of by-pass (ring roads) for through traffic like south of Kafue roundabout in Lusaka
v crating double lane routes to accommodate more vehicles per direction
v creating broadways and one way roads to reduce accidents
v fixing traffic lights on very busy routes
v using traffic police officers to direct vehicles at peak hours
v decentralizing the bus/taxi stations to different parts of the town
v police impound road unworthy vehicles which may be slow
v dispersing construction of townships and provision of most of the services away from the central business district.
Environmental deterioration; - Overcrowding always leads to a drop in living standards. A large population in a small area puts a tremendous pressure on a number of matters, such as disposal of sewerage and garbage and the provision of water supply, electricity, social and recreational amenities. Smoke from kitchens, factories and car pollutes the air and increase health hazards. Noise from the traffic and the industrial sites is often excessive and makes town life unpleasant.
SETTLEMENT STUDIES IN ZAMBIA
Settlement can be classified into rural and urban and they differ from one place to another. For example, the type of settlement found in rural areas is different from that of urban areas and the layout of the settlement usually gives a particular pattern which includes dispersed or isolated, nucleated or clustered and linear (ribbon) settlement.
Factors influencing settlement patterns
These factors could be categorized under the following:
(a) Physical factors: - which includes relief, climate, water and soils.
(b) Social-cultural factors: - these include security, traditional/ethnicity and transport
(i) Security: Tribal and colonial wars had to a large extent influenced the location and pattern of settlements. Some settlements were located near hills or mountains for defensive purposes others like Fort Jameson (Chipata) and Fort Rosebery (Mansa) were located on top of the mountain so that the enemy could easily be seen from a distance.
(ii) Traditional/Ethnicity: some people who have strong social traditions tend to live together. A chief’s palace is a good example of a clustered settlement where there is a meeting place where village affairs are discussed.
(iii) Transport: most settlements tend to develop along the lines of communication such as roads, railways and rivers like Livingstone to Copperbelt because it is easy for people to travel from the place to another and also transport goods for marketing.
(c) Economic development: - People tend to settle in places which are economically developed such as urban area. These areas provide opportunities for employment and other social services. Mining activities have attracted a lot of people
URBAN SETTLEMENT
A town may differ from a village because of population size. A town is usually defined by a minimum population size which may range from 5, 000 to 30, 000 people. A city however has more people.
Causes of town growth
- Availability of natural resources such as minerals.
- Availability of agricultural products or other raw materials.
- Location of the settlement in relation to transport and communication.
- Functions of settlement and other economic activities
Functions of a town
Many towns have developed as centres for the following functions:
- Administration: - Most of the towns and cities are administrative centres. They govern areas around them for example Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia. Lusaka is the main government centre for the whole country. There are also provincial capital/headquarters which offer government services through ministries and councils.
- Mining: - Most towns on the Copperbelt are mining centres due to availability of minerals for example in Kitwe and Chingola.
- Agriculture: - Zambia is largely an agricultural country as most towns are centres for surrounding agricultural communities for example areas around the maize belt (line of rail from Livingstone to Copperbelt, Mkushi and parts of Eastern province) industries which use agricultural raw materials are often located in such towns. For example Choma Milling Company in Choma, Gwembe Cotton Ginnery in Gwembe and sugar growing and processing at Nakambala sugar estates private limited company in Mazabuka.
- Manufacturing industries: - Manufacturing of different goods takes place in most towns and cities. Lusaka, Livingstone, Kitwe, Kabwe and Ndola are examples of manufacturing towns.
- Communication: - Towns grows where transport and communication are well developed for example along the line of rail and great roads. Kapirimposhi is an example of a town that has growth due to the development of road and rail transport. It is the centre for the railways from Southern and Eastern Africa, which is Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA), Railways Systems of Zambia.
- Trade: - All towns are trading centres. A number of products are sold like vegetables, fruits, clothes, tools and other agricultural products. Other towns are border centres. Examples border trading centres are Nakonde, Livingstone, Sinazongwe and Chirundu.
- Tourism: - Some towns developed due to the tourism attractions found in such areas, for instance Livingstone.
Internal structure of a town
A town is made up of different areas of zones where different activities take place. For instance there are places where people shop or conduct business, areas where industries are located and where people live.
DETERMINANTS OF LAND USE
The use of land in any area may be determined by a number of social and economic factors, such as ability to pay for rentals. This has created competition for the resources. The control of resources usually determine where people live, work and spend their leisure time.
Organization of towns
The functions of the town are organized into specific areas due to several factors such as roads, railways or rivers.
The arrangement of activities into functional zones is known as morphology (or shape) of the town.
Models of towns
Models have been developed to help us understand the shape of town and its land use. Examples of models of towns are concentric and sector models.
(1)Concentric model: This model is common in most towns or cities. It has rings for specific functions. The inner most ring is called the Central Business District (CBD).
The other rings are industrial areas, residential and agricultural areas. The centre of the town is known as the Central Business District. This is where a number of business activities are found.
Centres and offices:- because of its central location, the rentals are high. Tall buildings are common features as they take up less ground space and bring in more rent.
The core ring is surrounded by other rings and here there is a distance from the centre. The CBD for Lusaka is the area between Cairo Road and Lumumba Road.
(i) Industrial area: This is the area where most industries and factories are located. These are usually located close to a good road and railway system for easy transportation of raw materials and finished goods. The industries are usually located away from the CBD and residential areas.
(ii) Residential areas: The residential areas are usually classified as high, medium and low density depending on the type of the houses and number of people who live there.
(a) A high density area is one where houses are close together and there are many people as the cases in Kalingalinga and Kanyama compounds.
(b) Low density areas are spacious houses and garden with a small population like Woodlands and Kabulonga.
(c) Medium density: This is found between the low density and high density areas. Examples are Kabwata, Chelenge and Kamwala.
(iii) Agricultural areas: This is found in the outskirts of a town. The most common type of agriculture found is gardening. Here a variety of crops such as vegetables and fruits are grown all year round and sold in town. Places where market gardening is done are along Kafue road and Chilanga.
(2) Sector Model: This pattern depicts land use in sector from the central business district. Examples include a well developed route running to the central of the city leading to high land ventures. Some industries are located along these routes for easy accessibility.
Some residential areas may also be found along the developed routes as shown in the model below:
Due to differences in land use, values, land use patterns have cut across the rings around the city.
URBANIZATION
Urbanization is an increase in the percentage of a country’s population living in towns or urban areas.
Causes of urbanization
- rural-urban drift
- natural increase in population
Factors influencing urbanization
These factors can be grouped into two:
(a) Push out factors: People leave areas due to various reasons such as;
- lack of enough land
- lack of enough food
- lack of jobs, especially gainful and formal employment
- natural disasters like floods or droughts
- dislike of traditional way of life
- civil wars or foreign war
(b) Pull in factors: People move to urban areas for various reasons such as ;
- Hope of improving their social status or standard of living
- Search for employment, educational opportunities and better medical care.
- Urban blight which tend to attract people especially those who come from rural areas that are not electrified
- Looking for modern way of life
Effects of rural-urban drift on rural areas
There are several effects of urban-rural migration on rural areas and some of these are:
- Land is cultivated by the old, the ill, women and children because the young able bodied ones have left for town
- Only few educated people are left in the village
- Farming becomes even less efficient hence low yields
- Families break up
- Perpetual abject poverty in the population
- Inefficient utilization of resources due to small population
- General insecurity in many human activities
Effects of rural-urban drift on urban areas
The following are some of the effects of this movement:
- Housing problems: - the housing problems worsen as available houses cannot accommodate every one. Some people end up roaming the streets due to lack of accommodation
- Over crowding: - This is due to shortages of housing, forcing people to end up living together in large numbers
- Development of shanty compounds: - This is as a result of people failing to find somewhere to stay which forces to build shelters to live in. These shelters are built anywhere and anyhow without permission from the country and town planners. Such buildings make up shanty compounds which are illegal and mostly these lack proper social facilities/services such as water and electricity supply, sanitation facilities, schools and hospitals.
- Increase in unemployment: There are too many people looking for jobs against a few factories and industries which already have enough workers. Most of these people end up doing non-profitable jobs such as clearing shoes, selling groundnuts and mending watches. Unemployment situations usually lead to increase in poverty.
- Increase in crime: - Some people in towns who cannot find jobs become criminals. They steal while others get involved in vices such as selling drugs and prostitution.
- Pressure on education and health facilities: - This is as a result of these services being to higher than the available services. This has resulted in over crowding in schools in order to cater for the growing school population. This results in the lowing of the standard of provision of quality education because there are too many people to share few resources like books, classrooms and desks.
There is always pressure on medical facilities due to many people living in urban areas. In most cases, nurses, doctors, clinics and hospitals are not adequate to cater for ever growing large population.
Other problems associated with urbanization are traffic congestion especially during rush hours. Noise pollution from traffic and industries is the other problem. Others are drop in standard of living and environmental deterioration.
TOURISM IN ZAMBIA
This is an industry that depends on a person who travels for leisure or business. The industry takes care of local and foreign tourists.
Factors contributing to the thriving of the tourism in Zambia
There are a number of them and they include the following:
(a) Curiosity- People wants to see places of interest such as those with scenic beauty, plateaus, mountains, waterfalls and beaches. This type of tourism is eco-tourism. The other group of tourists wants to see places of historical interest, museums and traditional ceremonies. These are called cultural tourists.
(b) Advertising- It makes people aware of the range of holidays and recreation activities available to them.
(c) Pressure of modern life impact on people’s lives and consequent health problems. People travel to see places so as to get away from it all.
(d) Increased education- This has made people more knowledgeable about the rest of the world than before. This encourages people to travel.
(e) Air transport- This has greatly improved tourist travel and enables tourists plan flexible holidays to distance places of the world.
(f) Package holidays- This makes traveling to tourist resorts easier and cheaper.
Origins of tourists that visit Zambia
The table below shows the origins of the tourists that visit Zambia
Region
Total number of tourist
The Southern Africa
89, 095
Rest of Africa
27, 157
America
5, 263
Asia
5, 679
Europe
23, 683
Oceania
6, 248
Total
157, 125
Table 1.1 sources of tourists to Zambia (CS) 1993
It is clear from the table that the majority of the tourists to Zambia come from the sub-region.
ZAMBIA NATIONAL TOURIST BOARD (ZNTB)
Tourist attractions
Zambia has various tourist attractions. They include:
v Plateaus such as Nyika and Tonga plateaus
v Mountain ranges like Muchinga mountains, Mayingi and Makulu mountains
v Waterfalls which include the Victoria falls, Kalambo, Chishimba and Mambilima falls
v Game parks such as North and South Luangwa , Kafue, Liuwa National park, Lower Zambezi, West Lunga, Sioma Ngwezi, Blue Lagoons and Musi-O- Tunya
v Lake beaches provided by Lake Kariba, Bangweulu, Mweru and Tanganyika
v Traditional ceremonies such as Kuomboka, Umutomboko, Likumbi lyamize, Nchwala etc
v Historical sites such as Ingo’mbe ilede
v Museums like Livingstone Museum, Railways Museum, Lusaka Museum, etc
v Warm sunny tropical climate characterized with abundant sunshine
v Friendly people of Zambia
Tourist attractions in Livingstone
Livingstone has many tourist attractions with the following being the most prominent:
- Cultural village such as a Malamba Cultural Village and Mukuni Village
- Game viewing in Musi-O- Tunya National Park
- Museum for example Livingstone Museum and Railway Museum
- Son down cruises on the Zambezi river aboard Makumbi Boat
- Bungi jumping and white water rafting. Bungi jumping is done at the bridge while rafting takes place along the rapids in Batoka George
- Curios at Mukuni Park- curio centre
- Good modern hotels for like Sun-International Hotel
- Has a lot of lodges such as Wasawange, MC- guest House, Eastern and Western mansions
Why national parks important tourist attractions
Ø They have large and varied wildlife and birds like lions, elephants, leopards, hyenas, antelopes, buffalos, etc
Ø The parks have large game and un spoilt scenery untainted by the effects of mass tourism
Ø Large rivers flow along all the three parks provides water for animals. The river gives good scenery to the parks, attract migratory birds and promote water sport. Some parks are accessible by road and air like South Luangwa-can be reached by road from Chipata and by air from Mfuwe
Ø Most parks like South Luangwa, Musi-O-Tunya national parks have facilities such as roads, lodges and air strips
Limitations of traditional ceremonies in their ability to generate tourist traffic
Most of them take place in remote areas, where facilities like transport, decent accommodation and sanitation are lacking
They take place once in a year and are ordinarily a one day event
None of the ceremonies are conducted in English or any other international language
Importance of tourism in Zambia
- It provides employment for a number of Zambians like tour guide
- Lead to development of infrastructure like hotels, lodges, roads, air strip, etc
- Supports the development of other industries such as hotel industry, curio industry
- Provides market for local products such as hand craft, for example mats, baskets, curios
- Preservation of cultures like traditional ceremonies, dress, dances and historical sites
- Contributes to Zambia’s gross domestic product
- It encourages the conservation of the environment and wildlife
- Promotes international understanding and inter-cultural exchanges between people
General negative effects of tourist
v Hotels, airports and roads spoil the natural beauty of the land and create noise and air pollution and litter
v Employment in hotels and tourist related activities is high during peak tourist seasons, but there is wide spread of unemployment during off-season.
v Tourists rely on imported goods such as exotic foods, wines and perfumes. This depletes the foreign exchange industry which is supposed to boost
v Borrowed money to build infrastructure like roads, hotels and lodges increase the national debt
v A large portion of the profit from tourism is transferred to foreign countries where the capital invested in the tourism industry came from. It is estimated that the host country retains an income of only between 10 to 20%
v Tourism may promote vices such as prostitution, drug peddling, drunkenness and crime
v It can also cause/promote disrespect for local customs, dress and language
v Prostitution may lead to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases like HIV/AIDS which cause high mortality rates
Problems and prospects
The problems brought about by wildlife depletion and deforestation impact negatively on the success of the tourism industry
- Some animal species such as the rhino have almost disappeared due to poaching
- ZNTB is insufficiently funded and roads to tourism areas are poorly maintained
- The tax regime is also too high
- The foreign debt impacts negatively on tourism as the country is not able to develop the infrastructure needed for tourism development
- Long distances between tourism attractions are other problems. Tourists are unable to visit several tourist attractions in one visit
- Source region for tourists in Zambia are distance. The country is unable to attract many tourists
- Stiff competition for tourists within the region. Zambia offers the same attractions as her neighbours, in some cases even share these like the Victoria falls with Zimbabwe
- Lack of national airline makes the industry to depend on foreign carriers whose schedules may not be the best for the industry
Solutions to some problems stated above:
ü Debt cancellation by donors
ü Introduction of package tours to easy the problem of long distances
ü Efficiency and cost-effectiveness in delivering the holiday packages can solve the problem of competition
ü A national airline needed to boost tourism
Prospects
Ø The future of tourism in the country is bright. The country has immerse resources in the scenery, warm sunny climate, game and her people
Ø There is political will to develop tourism
Ø The government’s policy of turning certain areas tax free zones will enhance tourism development
Ø Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) is expected to spear head the promotion, protection and development of game areas in the country
Ø The formation of regional organizations like SADC and COMESA will ensure increased growth of tourism as these facilitates the development of infrastructure and the movement of capital and people
Ø Weak currencies like the Kwacha facilitates tourism as it makes Zambia a popular destination for tourists due to lower rates
Ø The success and acceptance of policies such as conservation of the environment and that of wildlife will ensure tourism development
Ø Community participation is expected to bring a sense of ownership to local communities and consequently better protection for animals
TOURISM IN THE SUB-REGION
Tourism in Kenya
Kenya is reported to have the most visited country in the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This makes tourism to be the second most important economic activity from agriculture in Kenya.
Tourist attractions in Kenya:
These include national parks and reserves which includes Tsavo (West and East), Amboseli, Nakaru, Aberdares, Sumburu, Marshabit, Meru
The political stability that Kenya have been enjoying since independence
There is great variety of scenery to see in the country such as highlands (Mt Kenya), Volcanic mountains and the rift valley
The abundant wildlife available in the country such as elephants, buffalo, wild beasts etc attracts a number of tourists
The coast is another attraction because Kenya has 300km of coastline. This has a sandy un spoilt beaches which has marine features
The coconut palms and historical site like Fort Jesus which acts as added attractions.
The Kenyan government’s active promotion of tourism since 1955. This is done through the Kenyan Tourist Development Corporation (KTDC)
The country advertises its tourist potential abroad and arrange package holiday tours and charter flights
Well developed infrastructure such as hotels, roads of high standards and good airport
Good climate which attracts tourists especially those from cold regions
Sources of tourists for Kenya
Kenya has traditionally targeted Europe for its tourist traffic and Europeans constitute 63% of all the visitors coming to Kenya. The United Kingdom, Germany, France and Switzerland supply the majority of the tourists because of the following reasons:
Kenya is one of the major East-West air routes to Europe and the country is nearer to Europe than Zambia. This makes the airline fares to Kenya from Europe competitive
Nairobi is well served by international airlines. A total of 30 airlines land at Jomo Kenyata international airport per week. Additionally, there are regular daily flights to London and other European destinations by Kenyan airway
Intensive advertising programmes through television, magazines and newspapers target the European market
Most publicity offices have been set up mainly in Europe.
Tourism in Malawi
Tourism is an important sector of the economy. Most of the tourists come from America especially North America, Asia, Europe, Oceania and within Africa. These include those from South Africa, Zambia and Tanzania.
Tourist attractions in Malawi (map of Malawi)
There are several tourist attractions in the country and they include the following:
v The fine Lake Malawi beaches and a number of beaches such as Salima, Chintechi, Nkata Bay, Cape Maclear and Monkey Bay
Characteristics of Lake Malawi
- It is the third largest fresh water lake in Africa
- Occupies a quarter of the country area
- Has lonely golden beaches in Chintechi, Salima and Monkey Bays
- It has clear fresh water free from bilharzias and therefore promotes water
sports such as sailing and swimming
- Has a cool lake breeze which soothes swimmers and sun bathers
- Has abundant fish which promotes angling and fishing competition
v Mountains like Zomba and Malanje. Zomba has plenty of birds and plants
Government efforts to boost tourism in Malawi
· Government work hand in hand with the Tourism Development and Investment Company of Malawi Limited (TDIC) to improve hotel standards. TDIC operates most of the hotels in Malawi.
· Malawi has joined Southern Africa Regional Tourism Council (SARTOC) which promotes and co-ordinates the tourism industries in member countries
· TDIC operates and owns Soche Tours and Travel which is the country’s leading tour operators
Transport used by tour operators
Tourists visiting Malawi use the road, water transport (along Lake Malawi) and air transport. The international airport such as international airport at Lilongwe and Chileka (Blantyre) serve various carriers including British Airways, South Africa Airways, Air Tanzania, Air Zimbabwe, Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airways.
Air Malawi operates direct flights to South Africa and United Kingdom, and operates domestic routes. Hickling Transcom Limited and Malawi Lake Services Ltd operate lake services on Lake Malawi. They provide boat services from Monkey Bay to Karonga in the North.
Potential of the Malawian Tourism Industry
The industry has excellent potential for growth. This is due to the country’s:
Ø Peace and political stability
Ø Warm sunny climate which is pleasant all year round
Ø Un spoilt beauty that a country is blessed with in mountains, plateaus and rift valleys which give the country unparallel scenic beauty
Ø Friendliness and hospitality of its people
Ø Efficient hotels of high standards
Tourism in South Africa
Tourism is doing well in South Africa. It contributes 3.6% to the gross national product. One job in every 25 is linked to tourism. Domestic tourism is worth US$2, 400 million annually. In foreign exchange, it contributes US$2, 200 million (in 1997). In 1996, total arrivals of tourists were 5, 186,000.
South Africa is a member of both the World Tourists Organization (WTO) and the Regional Tourism Organization of South Africa (RETOSA).
Tourist attractions
The fastest growing segment of tourism in South Africa is eco-tourism. This includes the following:
Beaches: - These are centred around Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth. Other attractions include
Favourable sub-tropical climate around Durban which enables tourists to visit the towns all year round
Dry sunny Mediterranean summers which are a great attraction around Cape Town in summer
The Table Bay Mountain with its majestic view which is a big attraction around Cape Town.
The extensive sandy beaches around Durban and Cape Town (Cape Town alone boast s of over 100 beaches within an hour’s drive from the city centre)
Large ports with their various features for example the sugar and oil terminals, fishing fleets and dry docks
The Cable car ride to the top of the Table Bay Mountain
Presence of historical sites such as the Robin Island
Wildlife: - South Africa has 17 national parks. The largest of these is Kruger National Park which is blessed with a number of animals such as elephant, rhino, lion, leopard and buffalo. The country has 22 species of mammals, 45 species of fish and 100 of reptiles. Other national parks include, Kalahari, Gemsbok, Bonebok Karoo, Addof and Golden gate highlands.
Government efforts on tourism
The government has put up the Department of Tourism, which has the following mandates:
Promote tourism within the country for example by co-coordinating and advising on the improvement of facilities offered by various authorities such as South African Railways (SAR) and South African Tourism Corporation (Satour)
Promote other facilities, organization or means which serve the development of tourism, for example it conducts surveys on the nature, standard, extent and development of hotels, lodges and other tourist amenities.
Maintain all national tourist bureaus throughout the country where the visitors may obtain tourist information and publications
The establishment of hotel board whose task is to foster the development of accommodation, expansion and management of a hotel
Reasons why the tourism in South Africa is doing better than in Zambia and Kenya
This is because of the following:
- large capital has been invested in the sector from both the government and private sources to build lodges, hotels, airports, roads, cableways and communications
- the heavy capital on the road network, railway network and airports. Communication is as good as in many countries in Europe
- the immense and diverse tourist attractions have added to the massive development of tourism in the country (extensive un spoilt beaches, national parks, mountain attractions and historical sites)
- there is aggressive publicity mountain in Europe, America, Asia and Oceania. The advertisement entice many would be visitors to actually visit the country
- high standard and efficient services in hotels, lodges, airports and car hire firms have helped to boost tourism
- abundant, cheap and comfortable accommodation offered by hotels, lodges, guest houses and rest camps also help to boost the industry
Problems/prospects
Ø there is high risk of infection of diseases such as malaria, bilharzias and AIDS
Ø high crime rate especially in towns like Johannesburg and Durban scare away many would be tourists
Ø mass tourism endangers the environment especially the national parks and game reserves
Ø it dilutes local culture
Ø competition for land for settlements and farming poses dangers to the national parks and game reserves
Possibilities of reducing these dangers
- publicity on the dangers of these diseases could reduce the risks
- reduction of racial tensions and unemployment could ease the crime rate
- monitoring of tourist traffic could reduce the dangers
FISHING IN THE REGION WITH SPECIFIC REFERENCE TO MALAWI, NAMIBIA, ZAMBIA AND SOUTH AFRICA
Importance of fishing: -
v provides the most needed proteins
v provide employment to government officials, fishermen and traders
v it has broadened the economic base
v governments and companies earn foreign exchange from fish exports and crocodile skin
v promotes the development of fish related industries for example boat making, fishing nets production and fertilizer manufacturing from fish bones
Fishing areas
Fishing takes place in rivers, lakes, seas, coastal lagoons, pans, oceans, ponds and swamps.
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