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

more rifles, European-made clothing, ironware, lead, liquor and gunpowder
(Campbell, 1997).
The involvement of local communities in the Ngamiland District in European trade
changed the traditional wildlife utilisation patterns in the area. Wildlife was no longer
used only for consumptive and religious purposes, but for commercial gain as well.
The commercialisation of wildlife resulted in the over-harvesting of particular species
as trade was driven by profit making with little or no consideration for ecological
impacts. The involvement of Europeans led to the loss of control of the Batawana
chiefs over the use of wildlife. European traders became involved in illegal trade and
hunting in the Ngamiland District, and this contributed to the depletion and over
harvesting of wildlife resources (Mbaiwa, 1999).
The development of commercial trade in the District also heralded a change in
people's attitudes and perceptions towards the traditions of respect for seniority and
collective ownership. Attitudes changed as chiefs lost power and people started to
recognise exclusive property and trading rights. Communities began to look to
wildlife and other resources as a commodity for profit, and attitudes towards wildlife
preservation changed as commoners could now buy guns and trade with Europeans
directly, without going through their chief.
This marked the end of an era where traditional wildlife management was
sustainable. New and foreign technological innovations tend to favour the over­
exploitation of biological resources and weakening of traditional approaches to
conservation, especially when a technologically superior group moves into a region
occupied by groups with a simpler technology. The collapse of traditional wildlife
management systems in Botswana was the result of the intrusion of European trade
into traditional wildlife utilisation systems. This new European technological
approach to wildlife resource use failed to adopt the previously held concept of
sustainable use of the resource, leading to the deterioration of wildlife in the
Ngamiland Region and the country as a whole (Mbaiwa, 1999).
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