Interventions to Improve the Food Security of Communities in Wildlife-Dominated Landscapes in Northern Botswana - TCP/BOT/3601

Interventions to Improve the Food Security of Communities in Wildlife-Dominated Landscapes in Northern Botswana - TCP/BOT/3601

Editor

FAO ;

Descripción

Wildlife-based tourism plays an integral part in the economy of Botswana. In 2015, tourism was estimated to have represented 12 percent of Botswana’s gross domestic product and to have generated 32 000 direct and 69 500 indirect jobs. The tourism industry and associated livelihoods are dependent on the effective management and protection of the country’s wildlife resources. The Okavango Delta, a World Heritage Site, is the focus of Botswana’s tourism industry and hosts a large number of tourism facilities. However, there is concern that wildlife populations in the Delta are declining; recent research indicates that the poaching of animals for bushmeat is potentially a major contributing factor. Poaching for bushmeat provides relatively limited livelihood benefits for the individuals involved, but places the livelihoods of much larger numbers of local people at risk by jeopardizing the tourism industry and its thousands of associated jobs, as well as by exacerbating wildlife conflict issues for local livestock farmers. Bushmeat poaching results in the destruction of significant quantities of wildlife but captures a tiny fraction of the value of the wildlife killed. Two key drivers for bushmeat poaching in the Okavango Delta are a lack of opportunity for some communities to access legal benefits from wildlife and the high costs imposed on communities in the form of human-wildlife conflict. Poaching is facilitated in some parts of the Delta by the vastness of the ecosystem combined with various logistical and financial limitations confronting the authorities commissioned with protection of the resources. The aim of the project was to address these issues.