A well-known ecologist in Africa is charging that the Zimbabwe government’s policy of redistributing land owned by white farmers to poor blacks may create an environmental “disaster” threatening the country’s biodiversity. Johan du Toit of Pretoria University in South Africa says the land is home to rare animals such as black rhino, cheetah, and sable, and that much of the land is actually not suited to farming, so that if it is turned over to impoverished people, they will have to resort to hunting the animals to survive. He says the poor blacks need the type of infrastructure support and training that only the international community can provide. But other nations have been unwilling to help because they don’t support the current relocation program.
