Governance inertia and forest loss in Zambia’s Game Management Areas: lessons from Greater Kafue

Introduction: Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) has long been promoted in southern Africa as a participatory model for conservation, yet persistent implementation failures have been widely documented. This paper aims to analyze governance inertia and forest loss in Zambia's Game Management Areas (GMAs) surrounding Kafue National Park, and to assess how systemic failures in CBNRM contribute to ecological decline and community disengagement. Materials and methods: This case-informed policy analysis draws on 30 months of practitioner engagement, situating local observations of inactive Community Resource Boards (CRBs), fragmented institutional support, opaque benefit-sharing, and political inertia within the broader critical literature on CBNRM. Results: The study illustrates how governance failures manifest in practice, translating into accelerating forest loss and weakening community participation. Comparative insights from southern Africa reinforce the evidence that statutory ambiguity and lack of transparent benefit-sharing undermine co-management effectiveness. Conclusions: Revitalizing community governance in Zambia's GMAs is essential to restoring ecological integrity and community legitimacy. Adaptive co-management models, statutory clarity, and transparent benefit-sharing mechanisms are urgently needed to strengthen conservation outcomes in one of Africa's most significant landscapes.