Green Colonialism in Zimbabwe, 1890-1980 By Vimbai Kwashirai

Alternative views of environmental history focus on ecological systems. Those who conduct ecological studies see soil, climate, plants, and animals as the main factors in changes in vegetation.¹² This school of thought suggests that colonial economic activity only partially explains the complexities of environmental transformation and that ecological determinants should be incorporated into the analysis. Ford contends that economic activity alone does not provide the key explanation for understanding ecological crises in the colonial period.¹³ He argues that sleeping sickness was not a direct by-product of colonial pacification and the opening up of the continent to economic development; he says it should be understood through an analysis that incorporates people as important ecological agents. According to Ford, colonisers should not be made to shoulder the whole blame for an ecological jigsaw of great complexity. Assigning responsibility for ecological collapse simply to agents of colonial capital, the agents who had earlier blamed African cultivators and Arab slavers for similar problems, is ideologically suspect and could lead to an incomplete historical explanation.¹⁴ McCracken also illustrates how penetration by colonial capital helped to trigger an ecological crisis in colonial Malawi that led to the spread of trypanosomiasis, but colonial tobacco production drove the disease back.¹⁵ My book takes cognisance of these approaches, which argue for a greater understanding of ecological relationships. Undoubtedly, they help to develop a long-term historical explanation of transformation in the Zambezi teak woodland. Here, in addition to felling operations and the danger of fire from human interventions, a harsh climate combined with generally fragile and infertile soils impeded vegetation growth. However, discussion of ecological relationships forms the background rather than the foreground of this analysis.

A key issue in the debate on capitalism, colonialism, and ecology is the origin and significance of conservationist ideas in Africa. While foreign influences have been stressed in the transfer of Euro-American conservation knowledge on soil erosion and deforestation to African colonies, colonial governments did pursue conservation policies and strategies suited to local conditions. Grove points out that the environmental