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

local people utilise wildlife resources for their own benefit (Mbaiwa, 1999). The
specific objectives of the policy include:
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To increase foreign exchange earnings and government revenue;
To generate employment, mainly in rural areas;
To raise incomes in rural areas in order to reduce urban drift;
To promote rural development and stimulate the provision of the services in
remote areas of the country;
To improve the quality of national life by providing educational and
recreational opportunities; and
To project a favourable national image to the outside world (Mbaiwa, 2002).
However, like the Wildlife Conservation Policy of 1986, the Tourism Policy had been
rushed through without proper consultation with the various stakeholders (Mbaiwa,
1999). Hence, it is not properly understood by local communities. The policy adopts
a 'top-down approach', designed to take place within the framework of rational land
use zones, to ensure wildlife resource utilisation to promote tourism without
necessarily taking the de facto open access and local community interests into
serious consideration. This top-down approach has resulted in the policy lacking the
integration needed to improve links between nature conservation, local community
development, and the tourist industry itself (Mbaiwa, 2002).
5.4.2.10 The National Conservation Strategy (NCS) of 1990
The National Conservation Strategy (NCS) Policy document was approved by
Parliament in December 1990 to deal with environmental problems in the country as
a whole. The NCS set up two institutions: namely a 17-member National
Conservation Strategy Advisory Board chaired by the Minister of Local Government,
Lands and Housing, and a National Conservation Strategy Coordinating Agency.
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