Evolution or Illusion? The Okavango Delta Management Planning Process Versus the Conventional Planning System in the Face of Climate Change and Variability in Botswana

Abstract

Land and water management in Botswana has evolved as have all other sociopolitical and development processes, through pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial eras. As the evolution took place, the country’s land resources ownership and use transformed from a traditionally managed communal system throughout the country to a mix of land uses and proliferation of land resources authorities. Figure 10.1 shows the location of Botswana and illustrates the different land uses that have come to exist through the land management evolution, each pretty much with its own institutional authority. It is argued and demonstrated in this chapter that the fragmentation of land uses and takeover of land management from community leaders have practically reduced the land available for community livelihoods and rendered them vulnerable to and unable to adapt and cope with global and climate variability and change conditions. In this map illustration, the white areas indicate land left for communal use. Judging by the white shading shown in the study sites (1 and 2), they are among the most affected districts by the systematic reduction of communal land.