the role of tourism in natural resource management in the okavango ...

Table 5.1: Land UselTenure in Botswana
Use/Tenure Land, square kilomtres Percentage of Total Land
Communal Land
Pasturer, Arable and Residential areas 281 615 48.4
Tribal Grazing Land Policy Ranches 24292 4.2
Lease ranches 13090 2.3
Sub-Total 318997 54.8
Freehold Land
Freehold farms 19 109 3.3
Arable blocks 320 0.1
Sub-Total 19429 3.4
State Land
National parks 45900 7.9
Game reserves 60558 10.4
Forest reserves 4555 0.8
Wildlife Management Areas 128574 22.1
Quarantine and Botswana Livestock
Development Corporation ranches
3717 0.6
Sub-Total 243304 41.8
Total Land 581 730 100.0
5.2.4.2 Freehold Land
Source: Republic of Botswana Environment Statistics, 2000.
Freehold land comprises around three percent of the total national land area (Table
5.1) in designated blocks situated along the southern and eastern boundaries of the
country (Botswana's most fertile agricultural land), and a few blocks in the western
part of the country. Freehold land entitles the owner to perpetual and exclusive rights
to the property, including its natural resources, with the exception of wildlife. The
bulk of freehold land consists of private commercial farms which are dominated by
the livestock sector (Republic of Botswana Environmental Statistics, 2000).
5.2.4.3 State Land
State land comprises about 42 percent of the total national land area (Table 5.1).
This land consists of areas that the government has reserved for conservation
purposes, and quarantine ranches belonging to the Botswana Livestock
Development Corporation (BLOC), villages, towns and cities. Most of the state land
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