The rivalries, which date back to the 1980s among the chiefdoms of Maphungwane, Tikhuba and Lukhetseni, posed a grave threat to the diversity of the Jilobi Forest, according to environmentalists. For generations, the people of the Tikhuba, Maphungwane and Lukhetseni chiefdoms have depended on their intertwined relationship with the Jilobi Forest for survival and consider themselves to be the custodians of this invaluable natural resource. However, when the chiefdoms were at loggerheads and disputes arose between them over borders and whose livestock should be allowed to graze where, conservation was not always a priority.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA
