Wetlands protection a major challenge in Botswana

LAWRENCE SERETSE
Correspondent | Friday February 3, 2012 00:00

This is according to the Minister of Environment Wildlife and Tourism, Kitso Mokaila at a conference in commemoration of the World Wetlands Day, which took place at the President Hotel in Gaborone yesterday. The theme of the day was: ' Wetlands and Tourism a Great Experience'.The day was in efforts to promote societal attention and commitment to protect the sustainable use of wetlands globally, in an aim to improve livelihoods through wise use of wetlands.He said the protection of wetlands brings a lot of challenges because when embarking on a strategic environmental assessment, coordination and integrated planning has to be done. 'To succeed in that one has to have good key players as well as sustainable finances.' The ministry also intends to tighten laws to curtail environmental problems, he said.

He also said that curbing the problems is a long-term goal because the cycle itself revolves around how man lives.Climate change and the environment are affected by our own inventions that are actively contributing to global warming and pollution.He also said wetlands are the most imperative features in the environment, whether wet or dry they still have to be appreciated and conserved. However, no intensive surveys were carried out in assessments for residential plots allocated in places where there used to be rivers that had dried up in the past such as the Rakops road which passes through Boteti river. 

'What if heavy rains were to return sooner and flood those pans and valleys? People and their infrastructures will be buried underneath. Wetlands are very vital as we benefit fresh water from them, they are habitats for animals, birds and fish and ultimately are tourist destinations.' he said.Whether wet or dry they should be left as natural as they are, they can be effective in flood retention methods and erosion control he pointed out.

The year's slogan 'Responsible Tourism Supports Wetlands and People', demands countries to cooperate internationally concerning trans-boundary wetlands, shared wetland systems.Botswana signed the SADC protocol on shared watercourses and continues to provide input into the expected basin wide integrated management through the Permanent Commission of the Okavango Basin (OKACOM), Limpopo Commission, Orange-Senqu and the Zambezi Commission.

Mokaila said the 1994 expansion of the Okavango River Basin Commission between Botswana, Angola and Namibia that was shelved because of sovereign differences was basically to establish the river delta as a single entity. The commission intended to promote environmentally sustainable regional water resources and build a pipeline from Botswana to Zambia so that all communities can benefit the lives of people in both basins, he said.Surveys showed that the Okavango delta is habitat to more than 200 plant species, more than 70 fish species, over 162 arachnid species, more 20 species of large herbivores and over 450 different species of birds including the endangered wattle crane.

The director of Environmental Affairs, Portia Segomelo said that some of the poorest communities are the ones situated where these tourist attraction sights and resources are. She said the ministry is reviewing the environmental policies to try and alleviate the abuse of such resources. She added that establishment of trust funds for such communities in those areas was to allow them to also benefit.'Some communities do not use the resources appropriately and they still remain poor but there are those that manage their resources and trust funds well that have succeeded.'In 2011 the ministry was able to measure domestic tourists who came to Botswana during the festive season for vacations, although the report is still being prepared, the financial contributions of domestic tourists went over one billion, said Mokaila. 'We are rigorously trying to promote Domestic Tourism in Botswana because it is quite resilient but it comes with a lot of uncertainties since we are facing a double-dip recession problem of which I do not think Botswana can sustain,' he said.