Okavango Delta Management Plan - Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

molesta as well as of planktonic and attached algae. The water will become turbid and the
whole guild of fish-eating birds, mammals and reptiles will be negatively impacted.
There is a need for reliable supplies of domestic water to the larger villages around the
<strong>Delta</strong> and above all for Maun itself, which has a very high growth rate. The groundwater
aquifers in the Thamalakane and Kunyere faults are large but difficult to use. The
substrate is often very fine grained so pumping and flow rates are slow. Deeper
groundwater is often salty and sometimes with high levels of organic material and high
levels of arsenic content. The changes of river flow patterns and flooding means that the
recharge is not predictable. Flexible systems are needed that are designed for adaptive
management.
The integrated hydrological model of the <strong>Okavango</strong> <strong>Delta</strong> indicates that whilst the present
surface and groundwater abstractions are minimally significant amounting to only 0.25% of
the inflows, the potential for upstream developments are likely to reduce the permanently
flooded areas by 38% (ODMP – Analysis of Water Resources Scenarios, 2006).
3.3.4 TOURISM
There is no doubt that tourism as an industry makes very substantial contributions to
virtually all spheres of Ngamiland District economic prosperity, since it is the main driver of
the district’s economy. However, there are problems in terms of sustainable tourism in the
district and these are articulated below.
There has been minimal or no sustained research on tourism carrying capacities and as
such the level of impacts caused by tourism activities in the <strong>Delta</strong> is not known.
There is little done to monitor tourism activities despite the perception that illegal
consumptive use of resources and unacceptable waste management practices may be
taking place in the <strong>Delta</strong>. Moreover, lack of capacity within the NWDC and DoT to carry out
regular inspections to ensure that operators comply with provisions of the lease agreements
and regulations is evident.
DoT does not have an appropriate database and information system to capture tourism
related information, such as ownership status and tourism statistics.
It is evident that Batswana are not meaningfully participating, in terms of ownership,
management levels, skills and requisite capital to invest in the tourism industry, hence not
appreciating the benefits thereof.
The current tourism activities are largely wildlife based. There are serious concerns that
this poses a major risk to the tourism industry as it is dependent on a single product.
3.3.5 WILDLIFE USE
The issues with regard to wildlife use include human-elephant conflict, wildlife-livestock
conflicts, declining population of certain species, and lack of baseline information on
certain species.
Human-Elephant Conflicts in the form of crop damage are common and wide spread within
the <strong>Okavango</strong> <strong>Delta</strong>. Crop damage by elephants is widely reported in the Panhandle area. It
is clear that compensation does not solve the problem; rather, effective mitigation measures
could reduce the Human-Elephant Conflict.
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