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

the Botswana government committed itself to two specific conditions, in addition to
maintaining the Delta's fragile ecology and promoting sustainable utilisation of its
resources. First, that it will consider the protection of the wetland in all national
planning and make an inventory of the countries wetland resources. Second, the
Botswana government was committed to creating a management plan for the Delta
and undertaking any research and monitoring necessary to implement the plan
(Campbell, 1997).
The Botswana Government has since initiated the process of developing a
management plan for the Okavango Delta, and the design phase is complete and
support has been secured to start the development of the plan. The overall goal for
the development of an integrated management plan for the Okavango Delta is to
integrate resource management to ensure its long-term conservation and thus
provide sustained benefits for the present and future well-being of the people. The
development of the management plan will hopefully be completed by 2008/09
(Republic of Botswana National Development Plan 9, 2003).
Regardless of the Botswana Government's apparent commitment in conserving the
Okavango Delta, the Okavango is less important to the Governments of Angola,
Namibia and even Botswana, than one might assume. Firstly, the Basin as a whole
is remote from all three of these countries capitals and economic centres - out of
sight, out of mind. Secondly, the Okavango offers each country little in the way of
food or hydroelectric power (this could change for Namibia if its planned
developments go ahead). Thirdly, there are no known mineral resources to provide
governments or politicians with good incomes, and lastly, too few people live in the
Basin to make the area politically important. All of this is negative, and even cynical,
but the reality is that governments are unlikely to pay much attention to the
Okavango, particularly when faced with far more severe socio-economic problems
within their countries such as HIV/AIDS, poverty and political strife (Mendelsohn and
el Obeid, 2004).
There are, however, still many people the world over who would like to see a secure
future for the Okavango River system, a future in which water, sediments and
nutrients continue to move down the network of rivers unhindered. There is also
hope that if the resources are used on a sustainable basis, present generations will
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