Okavango Research Institute, University of Botswana. Private Bag 285, Maun, Botswana *Corresponding author: finkymadigele@gmail.com & pmadigele@ub.ac.bw
Theme: Human-Wildlife Conflict Management Best Practices; Animal Overpopulation, Crop Destruction, Domestic Animals Preying, Infrastructure Development & Human Settlement.
Abstract
The utilization of the Okavango Delta has over the
years shifted from communal use to state control, with increased use for
conservation and tourism. This has consequently resulted in changing
demands in land-use from traditional land uses comprising mainly
subsistence agriculture to contemporary modern land uses within the
Delta. Therefore, the objectives informing this paper are to analyze
farmers’ attitudes towards land use conflict arising from agriculture
and tourism activities; determine farmers’ attitudes towards wildlife
and protected areas; and explore farmers’ perspectives towards the
development of tourism and Community Based Natural Resources Management
(CBNRM) within their communities. Empirical survey methods including
household survey, key informant interviews and focus group discussions
were implored to address the aforementioned objectives. The results
revealed that farmers generally perceive rural development to be more
important than wildlife conservation. They allege that the development
of the tourism industry in the Okavango Delta is given priority over
farming and their other livelihood activities. The farmers also perceive
the development of CBNRM in their communities as crucial. CBNRM
provides a potential solution for the communities’ negative attitudes
towards tourism and conservation. The paper concludes that indeed there
exist conflicts between contemporary and traditional land uses in the
Okavango Delta and therefore makes a clarion call to land-use
institutions to provide viable, effective and affordable options from
addressing land-use conflicts.
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