In the recent years, debates on rural development and sustainable management of natural resources in Zimbabwe and many other African countries have emphasized the importance of Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) systems as the main driving force for sustainable development in rural communities. This is to say that central to CBNRM has been generative discussion around issues of decentralisation, administering of the commons in the rural areas, and community empowerment through the securing of resource rights. Yet equally important is the key question around issues of community resources (the commons), particularly on who owns and manages the commons and for what purposes (Murphree 2002). In the light of these observations and realizations, this paper makes an attempt to explore the relevance of CBNRM to development practitioners and policy makers in view of the commons in Zimbabwe. The paper adopts fisheries management in Gache Gache Communal Lands of Kariba in northern Zimbabwe as its case study. The choice of Gache Gache Communal Lands as a case study is not accidental but premised on the fact that it is one area where CBNRM is being deployed in managing fisheries in the area.

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