The effects of tourism development on the sustainable utilisation of natural resources in the Okavango Delta, Botswana

Abstract

Developing countries are faced with a decline in natural resources and high poverty rates. Ironically, these countries are also the key nature-based international tourism destinations. Research should, therefore, establish the contribution of tourism to Millennium Development Goals, particularly poverty alleviation and environmental sustainability. This paper uses the concept of social capital to analyse the effects of tourism as carried out through community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) to achieve the sustainable utilisation of natural resources in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. Focus is on the utilisation of giraffes, sable antelopes and thatching grass. Using ethnographic field research methods supplemented by secondary data sources, results indicate that CBNRM has achieved the following: increased social capital between the CBNRM stakeholders; the formation of local conservation institutions and co-management of resources; and development of conservation practices such as suspension of hunting of declining species, selective hunting and harvesting of thatching grass in the dry season, resource monitoring and policing by communities. These practices contribute to low cases of illegal hunting in the CBNRM areas and increasing populations of giraffes and sable antelopes. Based on these findings, CBNRM can be used as a tool to achieve sustainability in natural resource use in rich biodiversity tourism destinations.

Keywords:

• co-management
• community-based natural resource management
• sustainable natural resource utilisation
• social capital