Forest resource utilisation and rural livelihoods: insights from Chobe enclave, Botswana

ABSTRACT

For centuries, developing countries have been immensely dependent on environmental resources, forests included. Despite the established contribution of forests to livelihoods, the level of communities’ reliance on forest resources, as well as the uses and value of these resources in rural livelihoods, has not been adequately explored in Botswana. This paper assesses the extent of households’ reliance on non-timber forest products and their contribution towards the livelihoods of Chobe Enclave communities. Primary data were collected through the administration of a survey instrument to a random sample of 183 households from three Chobe Enclave villages. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data. Results indicate that about 75% of the households reported being highly dependent on forests for their livelihood. Forest products are critical in providing for household energy needs, construction materials, agricultural inputs and dietary needs. Among the various products collected from the forest, firewood was the most collected while fodder was the least. About 86% of 157 households reported collection and use of firewood, while fodder was cited by only five households (2.7%). In promoting sustainable use of forest resources, this study recommends a shift towards key alternative strategies and technologies such as species domestication and energy efficient firewood stoves.

KEYWORDS:

• Non-timber forest products
• species domestication
• safety-nets
• Chobe Forest Reserve
• Botswana

Acknowledgments

Part of the content of the paper was presented as a Poster at a conference: International Research on Food Security, Natural Resource Management and Rural Development (TROPENTAG), 18^th - 21 September 2016, Vienna, Austria. We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and constructive suggestions on the earlier version of this article. Thanks to Prof. O.D. Kolawole and the internal reviewer from Okavango Research Institute for comments on the draft manuscript prior to submission to the Journal. Special appreciations to the following: S.R. Noga (M.Phil.) for his insightful guidance on discussions related to Likert scale and the journal editor (Prof Trevor Hill) for his engangement throughout the review process of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. BWP 1 = USD 0.09 (2016).

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by the Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (SASSCAL): German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) [Task 311]. The task 311 was hosted at Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources.