Analysing the impact of Covid-19 on the livelihoods of communities adjacent to protected areas: Machibini community and Hluhluwe Umfolozi Park
This study aims to analyse how the Covid-19 pandemic affected the livelihoods of the Machibini community adjacent to Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park (HIP). Its objectives are to a) analyse the livelihood activities of the Machibini community before the Covid-19 pandemic, b) evaluate the impact of Covid-19 on the livelihood activities of the Machibini community, c) evaluate the local community’s access to resources found within the HIP during the pandemic, d) explore the coping strategies utilised by the community members to deal with the impacts of Covid-19 and, e) propose strategies which can be implemented to assist rural communities to respond to disasters. To achieve this a qualitative research methodology was used in which the community members, the traditional authority of the Machibini community as well as the HIP park official were interviewed. The findings show that the Machibini community engage in various livelihoods. While some livelihoods require resources from the HIP, others do not. The pandemic affected the livelihoods of the respondents in different measures. Some respondents lost their only income-generating schemes, while others managed to maintain their livelihoods. The results also show that the respondents were granted access to the park to extract the resources they needed although the harvesting period was cut short during the pandemic. To cope with the challenges brought about by the pandemic, some respondents engaged in entirely new livelihoods such as selling chickens and fast foods. Based on these findings, the study recommends that the Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park (HIP) and the traditional authority must work together to establish a system that will ensure that information about the availability of employment opportunities in the park is disseminated to every part of this community. In this way, everyone has a fair chance of getting employment. It is also imperative for the park to make their employees' contracts permanent. The Machibini community also needs life skills programmes and other necessary facilities that will foster their livelihoods. The community members, through the assistance of the park, can open an online store that is featured on the HIP’s website since there is a larger audience there to sell their handicrafts to. This way, even if the people’s crafts are not sold physically due to disruptions such as the Covid-19 pandemic, they will be available and sold on this online platform.
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