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

Little water is presently extracted from anywhere in the Okavango River Basin,
which is surprising as much of the entire Basin, as well as the countries that the
Basin lie in, are so dry. No irrigation schemes pump water out of any of the rivers in
the Angolan part of the Okavango Catchment, and the only known dam is a small
one (about 40 hectares) on a tributary of the Cuebe at Menongue. None of the
towns have bulk water supplies from the rivers, and it will hopefully still be some
years before pumped, treated water is provided from the rivers of the catchment to
the towns. For example, the water supply system to Menongue was completed in
1974, but stopped working in 1977. Recent attempts to re-establish the scheme
have failed because most residents did not wish to pay for water (Mendelsohn and el
Obeid,2004).
Namibia, on the other hand, which is at the best of times a dry country with few
water resources of its own, has had its eye on the water of the Okavango River for
some time. The country suffered a severe drought for half of the 1990s, which
eventually reached crisis proportions, and faced with pressure to provide its capital,
Windhoek, with water, the Namibian Government has been forced to consider its
options. The Okavango River is a tempting source of water which could feed the
capital in a cost-effective way, and although there has been considerable outcry,
Namibia has few alternatives. Desalinisation plants and pipelines to carry water from
the coast are simply not financially viable options (Bailey, 1998; Mendelsohn and el
Obeid, 2004).
Presently, only about 22 million cubic metres (Mm 3 ) (equivalent to 0,022 cubic
kilometres) are now extracted from the Kavango River each year in Namibia.
Approximately 74 percent of this supplies agricultural irrigation schemes, 15 percent
is taken by rural people for their livestock, and 11 percent is used for Rundu. The 22
Mm 3 amounts to less than 0.25 percent of the total average volume of water that
enters Botswana at Mohembo. Even during years and months with low flows, the
volumes pumped are relatively small. About 1100 hectares are now farmed under
irrigation in the Caprivi Strip. However, new schemes are being developed to irrigate
another 7400 hectares. Once implemented, this would raise the total amount of
water extracted from the river to about 134 Mm 3 per year or 1.4 percent of all water
that leaves Namibia. The proportion remains small but much irrigation would be
pumped at the start of the growing season in early summer when the river is at its
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