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Problems Reconciling Sustainable Development Rhetoric with Reality in Zimbabwe

Many sustainable development initiatives in developing countries are characterised by weak implementation and low impact on the ground. This article focuses on one specific sustainable development initiative, District Environmental Action Planning (DEAP), modelled on Agenda 21 that was implemented in Zimbabwe. Although externally inspired and donor-funded sustainable development programmes, such as DEAP, are espoused and implemented as national programmes, they have had little ground level impact. Despite the populist sustainable development rhetoric, DEAP was not based at local level, environmental concerns were not integrated into development plans, and the projects that were implemented had negligible impact on either environmental or human well-being. DEAP was implemented within a strongly hierarchical framework and failed to bridge the gap between micro and macro levels. Analysis of DEAP's implementation has shown that the programme was essentially top-down, only partially participatory, and depended on the usual technocratic solutions to environmental management. This article provides lessons learnt from the DEAP experience and concludes that sustainable development initiatives need to concentrate on ensuring that action takes place on the ground. * The research on which this article is based was undertaken as part of a PhD thesis with the Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM), University of Manchester, UK and was an activity under the NORAD-funded Zimbabwe Environment Sector Programme in the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Zimbabwe.