Botswana needs bold strategies

The now all-too familiar calls for a boycott of local tourism are rising. The demonstration at Botswana’s Washington DC Embassy has presumably again taken place. The appeals to celebrities such as Ricky Gervais, Brad Pitt and Ellen DeGeneres are again being done.

The well-known dramatis personae of hostile media are again leading the charge, with the Independent newspaper in the United Kingdom calling the auction a “global conservation disaster”. Botswana’s good name, which has been well and carefully curated over decades is again being blackened by the robustly coordinated and well-resourced enemies of wildlife sustainable use. Search Google or social for “Botswana” and tonnes of negative articles appear each accusing Botswana and its leadership of everything from short-sightedness,  greed and even crimes against the environment.