Okavango Delta Management Plan - Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

Theme Key Issues Proposed Pilot Sites
Solid and liquid waste
Manual Control of Salvinia
molesta
Clearing of small access
channels
Active Use and <strong>Management</strong>
of Fire by Resource users
Human/Elephant Conflict
99
Solid and liquid waste management systems in tourism facilities and
villages in and around the <strong>Delta</strong> are of concern. Some tourism
establishments are deep in the <strong>Delta</strong> and the terrain and structure
makes it difficult to access waste collection facilities. The waste
management costs are therefore high and in some cases discourage
waste management efforts of such establishments. Waste collection
services are not widely provided to all settlements especially the ungazetted
ones.
a) A sewage effluent polishing system which utilises locally available
wetland resources will be designed and tested in some tourism
establishments. This system should be ecologically sound, affordable
and easy to implement in tourism facilities.
b) A pilot project surrounding solid waste management in one or more
ungazetted settlements in the eastern panhandle.
People have observed that the biological control alone is not effective
and suggested a combination of physical and biological control. Manual
control of Salvinia molesta could improve access to wetlands goods
and services thereby increasing income generation opportunities for
local communities to alleviate poverty.
There is a growing concern from local resource users that access
channels are being blocked. A pilot project to unblock small access
channels to certain areas or resources that communities are dependent
on will be developed. This intervention would enhance livelihoods
opportunities in several sectors such as fishing, veld products
harvesting, tourism (poling), etc. This project will bring together
different sectors (water, vegetation, tourism, etc) and therefore
addresses the integration aspect which is one of the key principles of
the project. This intervention will improve accessibility for the collection
of raw material of craft production mainly used by women
According to the Herbage Preservation Act, it is illegal and punishable
by law to set the veld on fire on land that one does not have legal
rights over. However local resource users (communities and tourism
operators) see and use fire as a traditional management tool and this
leads to uncontrolled burning in terms of area affected and timing.
Many different sectors have expressed an interest in the use of fire to
manage resources, e.g. fishermen, photographic and hunting tourism,
reed harvesters, etc. In a pilot project responsibility could be given to
communities and safari operators to manage fire and monitor its
impact. The multi-sectoral approach will be applied as a resource
management strategy.
The increasing human-elephant interaction is one of the key issues
raised by local communities throughout the consultative process. Novel
ways to reduce human-elephant conflict are being tried elsewhere
(Caprivi Strip) but such interventions should be tried specifically in the
Ngamiland context. Local knowledge should be used to identify various
factors influencing elephant migration and map migration routes to
guide land allocation processes and inform alignment of fences and
other regional planning decisions in a way that reduces incidents of
human/elephant conflict.
Tourism and CBNRM Tourism and CBNRM was considered to be another area which requires
intervention by a pilot project. The current eco-tourism activities within
the <strong>Ramsar</strong> Site are predominantly wildlife based. The communities
have expressed the need to venture into tourism while on the other
hand there are concerns that wildlife tourism might be over subscribed.
It is from the foregoing that Department of Tourism is encouraging the
diversification of the tourism product into other areas such as cultural
tourism.
<strong>Okavango</strong> Polers Trust –
Seronga and Thuso
Rehabilitation Centre.
Eastern Panhandle
South Eastern <strong>Delta</strong>
Western <strong>Delta</strong> fringes
NG 11 - The Tovera area is
unique in that it is affected
by cross-border fires from
Namibia and the
communities in this area
use it for harvesting
thatching grass
Alternative - Concession
area in the <strong>Delta</strong>.
Eastern Panhandle
1. Tsodilo
2. Eastern Panhandle
The project could only fund three pilot projects. The lessons drawn from these
projects will guide future management options. The projects are:
• Tsodilo community cultural tourism,