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

CHAPTER FIVE
Okavango Delta in Botswana: A Socio-Economic
and Historical Perspective
5.1 Introduction
In many ways, Botswana has had one of the most intense and successful economic .
growth experiences amongst sub-Saharan nations in the post-colonial era
(Valentine, 1993). Botswana has achieved remarkable social and economic
progress since independence in 1966. No other country in the world, over a period
of little more than three decades, has had higher growth rates. Even the 'Asian
Tigers' have not been as successful. Sound economic management has allowed the
country to transform itself from being one of the poorest nations in the world to its
present status as a middle-income country. Botswana also has the distinction of
being globally, the only country ever to have 'graduated' from the Least Developed
Countries (LDC) group, in 1994 (Carbone, 2003).
Such formidable growth has however, come at a high price. The cultural life of
Botswana's population has been severely battered by the demands of a Twenty-First
century existence and the fight for a place in the world economy. Traditions are
disappearing overnight, family structures are under enormous pressure, urban drift
has become an unstoppable flood, population growth is exponential and the
generation gap has become a gulf separating children and parents (Main, 2001).
The government still has to deal with high rates of poverty and unemployment and
the major threat to Botswana's progress, the severe problem of HIV/AIDS, which is
casting a shadow over the country's economic growth and human development
(Carbone, 2003).
Botswana's development has largely depended upon mining, especially diamonds,
and the cattle industries, and has been extractive and export driven (Valentine,
1993; Carbone, 2003). However, there are increasing concerns regarding the
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