Desire for Greener Land

Botswana – Boteti
The main land use type is grazing. Dominant types of degradation are water degradation (aridification) and salinization
and alkalinization in the areas with salt pans, and degradation of the vegetation in all other land use types. The degree of
degradation is moderate to strong in the areas with salt pans, and moderate in the mixed land use south of Boteti river.
Degradation is slowly increasing for all land use types, except in the grazing land in the northern part. Current conservation
measures include changes in the timing of cropping activities in the floodplain, and changes in the intensity of grazing
in the grazing land around the villages (village grazing) and in the cattle ranging. However, in the larger part of the
area, used for grazing and mixed land use, no conservation measures are applied (‘Others’ in the legend). For this area, the
biogas conservation technology documented in this book was proposed. It addresses the degradation of vegetation by benefiting
from the high livestock intensity to produce biogas as an alternative source of fuel. Roof rainwater harvesting offers
an alternative water source in response to the declining groundwater table and the high salinity of this water source.
248 DESIRE – WOCAT Desire for Greener Land