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Protected areas and zones in Botswana given over for wildlife use and designated as Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs). Map by N. Bragin, based on UNEP-WCMC " World Data on Protected Areas, " 2009, and WWF " Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World, " 2004.
Source publication
Botswana has a variety of ecosystems, all of which support a multitude of wildlife species. The Kalahari is a vast semidesert that covers over 84% of the country. Grasslands along with scattered trees and drought-resistant undergrowth dominate large tracts of the Kalahari’s landscape. The northeastern Kalahari extends into the wetter environments o...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... total of 245,244 km 2 of Botswana (over 37%) is dedicated to wildlife conservation, with >17% of the country being designated as protected national parks and game reserves and a further 20% as wildlife management areas within which the primary use of the area focuses on wildlife (Fig. 2). There are three game reserves in the country-Moremi, Central Kalahari, and Khutse-and four national parks-Chobe, Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pan, Mabuasehube, and the Kalahari Transfrontier Park (Fig. 2). The reserves were formed for different reasons and gazetted during the 1950s to 1960s with further ex- tensions in the 1970s and 1980s. ...
Context 2
... national parks and game reserves and a further 20% as wildlife management areas within which the primary use of the area focuses on wildlife (Fig. 2). There are three game reserves in the country-Moremi, Central Kalahari, and Khutse-and four national parks-Chobe, Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pan, Mabuasehube, and the Kalahari Transfrontier Park (Fig. 2). The reserves were formed for different reasons and gazetted during the 1950s to 1960s with further ex- tensions in the 1970s and 1980s. Private protected areas make up approximately a further 2% of Botswana's land- mass and play an important role in wildlife conservation as many of them act as "buffer zones" between formally protected ...
Context 3
... massaiensis). Within the Kalahari region of Botswana, the Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pan National Park (7,900 km 2 ) and the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (52,500 km 2 ) with the attached Khutse Game Reserve (2,500 km 2 ) and surrounding wildlife management areas represent the two protected regions within which grass- land habitats are most dominant (Fig. ...
Context 4
... private venture run by Uncharted Africa Safari Company operates an ecotourism model that works on state or government land within the Makgadikgadi region of the Kalahari in CT/11 (Fig. 2). CT/11 forms part of the largest continuous, open grassland system in Botswana within a region in which the "big five"-elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion, and leopard-are largely absent, apart from lions, which are rarely seen (Brooks 2005). There are three camps located within CT/11, all owned or run by one operator, Uncharted Africa ...
Similar publications
Semi-natural grasslands were previously established through traditional land use and maintained by active management, but their extension nowadays is declining rapidly, particularly in areas that also have tourism potential. In parallel, the conservation value of the remaining areas is increasing. The shore of Lake Balaton is a particularly good ex...
Citations
... This conservation level is chiefly achieved through ecotourism. Government policy, high-income, and low-volume tourism support ecosystem conservation in Botswana [42][43][44]. ...
Grasslands (also known as savanna, prairie, steppe, and pampas) are natural or seminatural areas encompassing vegetation belonging to the family Poaceae as the most dominant vegetation, while, sedges and rushes may also constitute a minor proportion. These provide numerous natural products such as food feed medicinal raw material, and honey along with nonproduct-based ecosystem services. Grasslands in lowlands and mountains either in natural form or developed landscape can provide an added value in terms of ecotourism opportunities owing to having huge esthetic and recreational potential compared to uniform agricultural areas. Grasslands characterized by high species and habitat diversity-based ecotourism are nature-based tourism whereby people visit natural or developed areas for recreation, sight-seeing, permitted and controlled hunting, on-site purchase of organic products, etc., and are usually managed by adopting sustainable practices. Ecotourism generates multifaceted economic advantages for local communities such as direct sale of products to tourists. However, ecotourism may also have a variety of negative impacts when the tourists’ number multiplies which leads to overuse of resources. The most pronounced challenges confronted to the development of grasslands for ecotourism include lack of community cooperation, careless herders, need of hefty investment, and absence of trained human capital along with climate change and loss of biodiversity.
... https://www.rainforest-alliance. org/). The high biodiversity value of grasslands means that ecotourism could help to provide an incentive for protecting land; in some cases flagship mammals rather than birds may generate the greatest tourist interest (Maude & Reading 2010). ...
Grasslands are globally threatened and their biodiversity, including grassland birds, is
declining markedly. To inform grassland bird conservation globally, we systematically
reviewed threats and conservation actions for grassland birds, extracting data from 528
papers. Across the 10 primary grassland regions of the globe, agriculture was the most
frequently or joint most frequently reported threat in nine regions (reported as a threat
in 73% of publications); hunting was the most frequently reported threat in the remain�ing region. Natural system modifications (reported as a threat in 32% of publications)
and climate change and severe weather (24%) were less frequently reported threats com�pared with agriculture. The types of threat from agriculture varied regionally, but the
most pervasive were livestock farming and ranching (reported in 58% of publications
where agriculture was a primary threat) and non-timber cropping (43%). Most agricul�tural threats relate to intensification, but agricultural abandonment, typically the cessa�tion of grazing, sometimes accompanied by tree planting/succession, poses an emerging
threat to some grassland birds (reported in 32% of publications where agriculture was a
primary threat). The most frequent conservation actions implemented to date include
land/water management and protection, and species-specific management actions.
Authors of reviewed publications in almost all regions recommend more land/water
management, followed by calls for further land/water protection. The parlous state of
grassland birds globally suggests that existing conservation actions for grasslands are inad�equate. Furthermore, our review suggests that these should be primarily targeted at reversing the negative impacts of agriculture, in particular livestock farming and cropping.
... There are 22 protected areas in Botswana [16]. A total of 245, 244 km 2 of Botswana (over 37%) is committed to the conservation of wildlife, with >17% of the country being designated as protected national parks and game reserves, and 20% is utilized as wildlife management areas [17]. "Protecting such large areas of pristine wilderness across a wide variety of habitats has ensured that much of the biodiversity within Botswana is intact" [17]. ...
... A total of 245, 244 km 2 of Botswana (over 37%) is committed to the conservation of wildlife, with >17% of the country being designated as protected national parks and game reserves, and 20% is utilized as wildlife management areas [17]. "Protecting such large areas of pristine wilderness across a wide variety of habitats has ensured that much of the biodiversity within Botswana is intact" [17]. Out of the 22 protected areas, there are 3 national parks, 1 transfrontier park, 7 game reserves, 6 forests reserves (located in Chobe District), and 4 sanctuaries in Botswana. ...
... These areas comprise national parks, game reserves, forest reserves, and sanctuaries (Figure 1). The Botswana National Conservation Strategy was developed in 1990 because the Botswana government acknowledged the importance of its natural resources and the goal of the strategy is sustainable development and conservation of natural resources [17]. According to DWNP [22], there is a policy framework in place which guides the management of the national parks and game reserves and this is done . ...
In a natural environment, the vegetation is organized into different plant communities. The vegetation maps produced through phytosociological and remote sensing techniques can be used in the conservation, management, and monitoring of wildlife habitats in protected areas. A desk study was conducted to review studies conducted by various peer-reviewed researchers that used phytosociology and remote sensing methods to classify and map the vegetation in Botswana’s protected areas from 2000 to 2021. Seven studies were carried out in the last two decades, and four out of these studies were conducted in Northern Botswana. Even though a variety of satellite imagery was used, Landsat was the most commonly used. Maximum-likelihood supervised classification and random forest were the most common classification methods used to classify and map the vegetation. Vegetation maps are crucial in knowing which plant species occur in which protected areas, and they are used to manage effectively the vegetation in protected areas. It is important to incorporate phytosociology and remote sensing technology with the management of protected areas to conserve effectively and monitor the vegetation in these areas.
... The absence of ecotourism in these areas would most likely result in the primary land use being changed to cattle farming, which would have a detrimental impact on the grassland habitat and the region's biodiversity (Maude & Readings, 2010). According to Maude and Reading (2010), the presence of ecotourism activities in these protected areas acts as a deterrent to poaching (Maude & Readings, 2010). ...
... The conservation strategy involves the change in land use but also employing entrance fees by tourists and/ or lease fees by ecotourism operators to promote and protect the wildlife and their habitats (Mgonja et al., 2015;Shoo 2020;Snyman, 2012). The conservation efforts help to increase the wildlife in protected areas and thus bring in more tourists (Maude & Reading, 2010). In addition, the improved livelihood associated with ecotourism in protected areas positively influences the positive attitudes of host communities towards conservation (Mbaiwa, 2015;Snyman 2012Snyman , 2014. ...
... Habitat encroachment affects the biodiversityi.e. large mammals, birds and reptilesimportant for tourism and takes over pristine and culturally-linked sites (Maude and Reading, 2010;Muhumuza and Balkwill, 2013). Conversion of large areas of indigenous forest communities in the Mau forest of Kenya for example has affected cultural ways of life of the hunting and gathering Ogiek community (Chabeda- Barthe and Haller, 2018). ...
Management practices to improve soil health influence several ecosystem services including regulation of water flows, changes in soil biodiversity and greenhouse gases that are important at local, regional and global levels. Unfortunately, the primary focus in soil health management over the years has been increasing crop productivity and to some extent the associated economics and use efficiencies of inputs. There are now efforts to study the inter-relationship of associated ecosystem effects of soil health management considering that sustainable intensification cannot occur without conscious recognition of these associated non-provisioning ecosystem services. This review documents the current knowledge of ecosystem services for key management practices based on experiences from agricultural lands in sub-Sahara Africa (SSA). Here, practicing conservation agriculture (CA) and Integrated Soil fertility management (ISFM) have overall positive benefits on increasing infiltration (>44), reducing runoff (>30%) and soil erosion (>33%) and increases soil biodiversity. While ISFM and Agroforestry increase provisioning of fuelwood, fodder and food, the effect of CA on the provisioning of food is unclear. Also, considering long-term perspectives, none of the studied soil health promoting practices are increasing soil organic carbon (SOC). Annual contributions to greenhouse gases are generally low (<3 kg N2O ha⁻¹) with few exceptions. Nitrogen leaching vary widely, from 0.2 to over 200 kg N ha⁻¹ and are sometimes inconsistent with N inputs. This summary of key considerations for evaluating practices from multiple perspectives including provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural ecosystem services is important to inform future soil health policy and research initiatives in SSA.
... Ecotourism potentially can provide for alternative livelihoods for the local people residing in resource-rich regions (Kiper 2013). Botswana is a classic example; most of its biodiversity remains intact, having a higher percentage of its total landmass conserved primarily through ecotourism, operating at several levels and working towards biodiversity conservation (Maude and Reading 2010). ...
Ecotourism is the greener variant of tourism which advocates conservation of biodiversity and acts as a development strategy to build a self-sustainable system to help protect and further enhance the ecosystem through the income generated by ecotourism activities. There is a strong linkage between biodiversity conservation and ecotourism which has also been recognized by the UN and finds its place under the technical note on “Biodiversity and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. But, are the stakeholders of the ecotourism destinations religiously following practices that will ensure biodiversity conservation at all times is something that needs continuous evaluation and validation. The authors have worked in the past on developing multi-stage methodology (ESA Framework, ESM Model and their validation) using Qualitative and Quantitative techniques and successfully developed Ecotourism Sustainability Assessment Method (ESAM) for such an appraisal. The present paper aims at devising a process which will show the applicability of ESM model in identifying the biodiversity related and other environmental factors, adversely impacting the ecotourism destination at present, or may impact it in times to come. In addition, it also offers the prescription to solve these issues and achieve the goal of ecotourism sustainability at the operational level. This proposed process initially will be defined with the help of a site-level case study of Mt. Kangchendzonga Base Camp Trek, Sikkim. Later, this would be extended to other ecologies and geographies so that in the future, a robust and useful model, applicable for most of the ecotourism destinations, can be developed.
... Regardless, we also predicted that ecotourism operators would be torn, at times, between the competing objectives of economic growth, sustainable use of natural resources, and community support (Fig. 1). Following Maude and Reading (2010), we conclude by discussing the potential to extend our fi ndings in Namibia to the Great Plains. ...
... Th e natural, open grassland landscapes of the Great Plains combine with a unique cultural heritage and migratory routes for large flocks of migratory birds to provide attractions for ecotourists (Weaver 2001). However, the region lacks abundant resident populations of fl agship species such as American bison (Bison bison), elk (Cervus canadensis), wolves (Canis lupus), or moose (Alces alces) that attract tourists to other destinations (Maude and Reading 2010). Like Namibia, the Great Plains has expanses of landscapes with low population density, far from substantial cities, where guests can enjoy nature . ...
... While PAs have intrinsic value as conservation instruments, and not only as mechanisms for generating ecotourism income (Chan et al., 2016), visitation to parks creates political support for the continued presence of conservation areas (Buckley, 2009a(Buckley, , 2009bLindsey et al., 2005). Both consumptive and non-consumptive uses of biodiversity in PAs can also contribute to conservation funding (Bovarnick et al., 2010;Maude and Reading, 2010). ...
Protected areas connect socio-economic and ecological systems through their provision of ecosystem goods and services. Analysis of ecosystem services allows the expression of ecological benefits in economic terms. However, cultural services, such as recreation opportunities, have proved difficult to quantify. An important challenge for the analysis of cultural services is to understand the geography of service provision in relation to both human and ecological system elements. We used data on visitation rates and measures of context, content, connectivity, and location for 64 private land conservation areas (PLCAs) to better understand geographic influences on cultural service provision. Visitation to PLCAs was influenced by a combination of ecological and socio-economic drivers. Variance partitioning analysis showed that ecology explained the largest proportion of overall variation in visitation rates (26%), followed by location (22%). In tests using generalized linear mixed models, individual factors that significantly explained visitation rates included the number of mammal species, the number of Big 5-species (ecological variables), the number of facilities provided (infrastructure) and average accommodation charges (affordability). Our analysis has important implications for the economic sustainability of PLCAs and more generally for understanding the relevance of spatial variation for analyses of cultural services.
... Internationally, privately owned areas that are devoted to nature-based tourism and recreation have already emerged as a viable means of nature conservation [22]. While such efforts are relatively new to the grasslands of the United States, places like Namibia, Kenya, Botswana, Venezuela, and Brazil have working examples of nature-based entrepreneurship on their privately owned lands [21,232425262728. Non-governmental organizations are also recognizing the link between conservation and rural development. ...
... As I mentioned at the outset, there are a variety of examples across the globe. The literature cited in this article helps collect these valuable lessons, which will be helpful in making a sustained effort at private-lands conservation in the United States21222324252628,64]. On the institutional design front, of course, we have many examples of working endeavors in other contexts in the United States. ...
In the United States, today’s ranches are engaging in small-scale nature-based endeavors to diversify their income base. But the geographic boundary of the land they own creates a relatively small area within which to operate, and fragmented ownership diminishes the ability of any single landowner to produce nature-based income. Collective action among nearby landowners can produce a set of resources from which all members of the group can profit. Such action can enhance the economic, social, and environmental sustainability of grasslands and the populations that use them. This article shows that common-interest communities can be used to provide and allocate wildlife and other resources on ranchlands, enabling individual landowners to generate more income from selling nature-based experiences to customers. Common-interest communities are familiar in urban settings but they have not yet been used in this setting. Thus, the article proposes a new approach to ranchland management based upon a familiar set of largely private legal arrangements. More broadly, the article illustrates the relevance of private law and private property to sustainable development by explaining how property owners can use private law to engage in environmentally beneficial and economically profitable enterprises on the vast privately owned landscape of the U.S. Great Plains.
The African continent is endowed with significant biodiversity and environmental resources, including terrestrial and aquatic species, water bodies, natural mineral reserves, and an enormous and diverse landmass. This makes it a prime investment hub for some of the world's biggest corporations. Therefore, effective and sustainable policies on managing these resources are crucial to balance the need for and pursuit of development with preserving biodiversity and environmental resources. This chapter gives an overview of the policies regulating the biological and environmental resources on the continent. It begins by presenting Africa's biological and ecological resources based on available literature and then highlights the policy structure currently adopted by some countries within the continent. The policy and legal framework of some of the continent's leading and emerging economies – Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, and Ethiopia - are also discussed. To enhance the current policy structure, African countries need to understudy the constantly-evolving legal frameworks of model countries like China and Australia, which have made significant progress in framing and constantly updating their biodiversity and ecological policies. Some key challenges of sustainable biological and environmental policymaking in Africa include inadequate government funding, the government's inability or unwillingness to prioritize sound policymaking, and scarce literature on progress made by several African countries in supporting evidence-based policymaking and enacting. We recommend that political support be galvanized for sound policymaking and revisions for sustainability purposes. It is pertinent that evidence-based research informs scientifically-clear policy drafts and that this should replace the conventional, politically driven, and ineffective ones. The potential of digital platforms to raise awareness of policymakers about emerging biological and environmental concerns is also encouraged.