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

Controlled Hunting Areas. The Act also makes it difficult to integrate wildlife
utilization with other socio-economic activities. For example, the management of
Moremi Game Reserve is not co-ordinated with the management of the surrounding
community lands and areas. This results in these protected areas forming
'conservation islands' instead of larger, sustainable and continuous ecosystem areas
that include the local communities living in the vicinity. Another example is that the
wildlife tourism industry in the Okavango Delta ignores community development.
Instead, local communities, such as those of Khwai village, are regarded by the
tourism industry as a wildlife management problem. This is another aspect that
encourages land use conflicts in the area because the various land use activities are
not prioritized or co-ordinated. Wildlife management is therefore not conducted
within the cultural and economic context of the people of the Okavango Delta who
continue to view game parks and reserves as the property of the government, where
local people are denied access to their former hunting and gathering lands (Mbaiwa,
1999).
Although aimed at promoting wildlife conservation, the Botswana Government's
efforts of zoning the Ngamiland District into WMAs and CHAs, has created problems
for wildlife management. This is because the zoning did not take into consideration
the other socio-economic activities in the area, nor was any Environmental Impact
Assessment (EIA) or Social Impact Assessment (SIA) conducted. As a result, this
has led to land use conflicts, especially between wildlife management and traditional
hunting and gathering activities in the Okavango Delta area (Mbaiwa, 1999).
Key informants in the wildlife industry in Ngamiland District appear to agree on the
possibility of integrated wildlife management in the area, if it is associated with
proper land use planning in the District. For example, members of the Okavango
People's Wildlife Trust (OPWT) argued that integrated wildlife management in the
area is possible if there is a return to the more traditional management methods and
land use values. An example given is that of traditional pastoralism, which is more
compatible with free-ranging wildlife populations as opposed to fenced commercial
ranches (Mbaiwa, 1999).
The DWNP holds the more realistic view that the traditional approach of integrating
wildlife management with agricultural production was possible in pre-colonial
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