Team Botswana upbeat ahead of Okavango vote
Mbongeni Mguni | Thursday June 19, 2014 06:59
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 successful listing will also boost tourism revenues, as operators will be able to use the new status to boost interest among tourists to Botswana and the Okavango Delta itself.
Environment, Wildlife and Tourism minister, Tshekedi Khama, yesterday morning jetted into Doha to spearhead a team comprising senior officials from the departments of national museums and monuments, wildlife and national parks, environmental affairs, water affairs and mines.
Representatives from Brand Botswana, the Okavango Research Institute, Okavango River Basin Water Commission, Botswana Tourism Organisation and Brand Botswana are also expected in the Persian Gulf capital before tomorrow.
Already, Team Botswana has set up a multi-sectoral exhibition in Doha to drum up support for the Okavango’s listing, while various stakeholder and media engagements are lined up in support of a positive outcome from the 21-country World Heritage Committee’s vote scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.
The Committee meets once a year and comprises countries such as Algeria, Finland, Germany, India, Jamaica, Portugal, Turkey and Vietnam.
“We have been well received by the people and the government of Qatar,” national museum, monuments and art gallery director, Gaogakwe Phorano told Mmegi in an interview from Doha.
“We are definitely confident of securing the vote because the advisory body for the Committee has recommended that the Delta be listed without reservation on all three criteria.
“That is a great boost for us.”
The three criteria are that the Delta possesses exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance, is an outstanding example of ecological and hydrological processes and supports globally threatened and endangered species.
Phorano said while the Committee is meeting from June 15 to 25, the actual vote would be taken on June 20.
“The World Heritage Committee has produced a video on the Okavango for itself and when it decides on our submission, the video will be shown to members in 3D in conference room,” he told Mmegi.
“Botswana Television also has a representative here to share the outcome of Friday afternoon’s vote with the nation back home.”
Khama is scheduled to make a speech before a roundtable of African heritage ministers on Saturday, before being interviewed by Qatari broadcast and print media during an engagement. Team Botswana is also due to host a reception on Sunday for various stakeholders where at least 100 people are expected to celebrate Botswana and the Okavango Delta.
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.
According to Botswana’s submission to the World Heritage Committee, the 16,000 square kilometres 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”.