Okavango�s Heritage status goes to the vote
Mbongeni Mguni | Wednesday April 30, 2014 11:33
If successful, the Delta will be Botswana’s second such Site after the Tsodilo Hills and will access statutory global funding for preservation as well as the attention and funds of both the national and the international community.
The Committee, which meets once a year, comprises 21 countries that include Algeria, Finland, Germany, India, Jamaica, Portugal, Turkey and Vietnam. The Committee will meet from June 15 to 25 in Doha, before announcing its decision.
Ahead of the crucial vote, National Museum director, Gaogakwe Phorano, has revealed that Botswana will send a strong multi-sectoral team to Doha and has also planned activities designed to drum up support towards a positive vote.
Environment, Wildlife and Tourism minister, Tshekedi Khama will lead a delegation which will also include senior officials from Botswana Tourism Organisation, Department of Environmental Affairs, Department of National Museums and Monuments and the various wildlife and parks departments.
The University of Botswana’s Okavango Research Institute, Brand Botswana and the Okavango River Basin Water Commission will also accompany the delegation.
“As a state party, Botswana will send a delegation as observers with the Minister to defend the Okavango Delta Nomination,” Phorano told HATAB’s annual conference in Kasane last Friday.
“Botswana will hold an exhibition on the Okavango Delta and also host a reception for 100 people to celebrate Botswana and the Okavango Delta.
“(There is also an)opportunity for co-exhibition with industry and launch of the Okavango commemoration package.”
According to Phorano, the effort to list the Delta as a World Heritage Site was initiated in 2011, followed by the submission of a nomination dossier to the World Heritage Committee in January 2013. Last October, the Committee conducted a five-day evaluation mission in the Delta and requested additional information in December.
Botswana submitted the additional information ahead of the February 28, 2014 deadline.
“The Okavango Delta satisfies three out of the four natural heritage criteria stipulated in the operational guidelines of the World Heritage Convention,” Phorano said.
“It contains areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance, is an outstanding example of ecological and hydrological processes andit supports globally threatened and endangered species.”
According to Botswana’s submission to the World Heritage Committee, the 16,000 square kilometre Delta supports 150 species of mammals, over 500 species of birds, 90 species of fish, as well as plants, reptiles, invertebrates and amphibians.
Of the confirmed bird species, eight are globally threatened while 20 of the 1,061 plant species are on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s “Red List”.
Phorano said after the successful listing tour operators would be able to use the new status to boost interest among tourists to Botswana and the Okavango Delta itself.
“Some of the opportunities that industry may take up includeco-branding using the World Heritage Committee brand and concessionary rates to celebrate the listing,” he said, warning tour operators to prepare for a possible increase in visitor volumes.