Okavango Delta Management Plan - Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

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PREFACE
This document constitutes a <strong>Management</strong> <strong>Plan</strong> for the <strong>Okavango</strong> <strong>Delta</strong>. It is largely based
on the Government of Botswana planning system and complemented by elements from the
New Guidelines for <strong>Management</strong> <strong>Plan</strong>ning for <strong>Ramsar</strong> Sites and the Ecosystem Approach.
The format is described below.
Chapter 1 - Introduction
This chapter sets out the goal of the <strong>Plan</strong> and the policy framework within which the <strong>Plan</strong>
has been developed at local, regional and international levels. It also describes the need for
the plan, why the site was selected and the planning approach.
Chapter 2 - Site Description
This chapter describes the ecological character and the institutional, and socio-economic
characteristics of the <strong>Ramsar</strong> site. It is fundamentally a collation and synthesis of existing
data and information about the site and identifies any shortfall of relevant data and
information. The site description needs to be regularly reviewed and updated as new data
and information becomes available. This section is further developed into a comprehensive
and detailed inventory in a separate volume of the ODMP series of documents.
Chapter 3 – Evaluation of status and condition
The purpose of this chapter is to evaluate the status and condition of the features described
in chapter 2 in order to determine the management interventions and objectives. The
process of evaluation involves developing a set of evaluation criteria and applying this to
each key feature. The evaluation focusses on the ecological character; the ecological
components and processes as well as the ecosystem goods and services provided by the
wetland to support livelihoods. The evaluation also draws from the stakeholder analysis
and issues report.
Chapter 4 – Goals, Objectives and Action <strong>Plan</strong>s
The purpose of this chapter is to set out management objectives determined from the type
of management intervention identified during the evaluation process of the site
characteristics and the necessary management interventions in the form of action plans. An
objective defines what needs to be achieved through management of the site. Four levels of
objectives have been used in this document, these are: the Overall Goal of the <strong>Okavango</strong>
<strong>Delta</strong> <strong>Management</strong> <strong>Plan</strong>, the long term Strategic Goals of the three <strong>Okavango</strong> <strong>Delta</strong>
Ecosystem thematic areas or subsystems, the strategic objectives, which have been
developed in order to reach the three strategic goals, ,and the operational objectives, which
are derived from the strategic objectives. A tabular presentation of the objectives and action
plan is adopted which conforms to the standard Botswana Government planning format.
The action plan describes the implementation of management interventions in terms of
operationalising the management objectives through various actions. It describes in detail
activities, outputs and resources needed. At this level the integration elements are apparent
with respect to the objectives and institutional responsibilities.
Chapter 5 <strong>Management</strong> <strong>Plan</strong> Implementation Strategy