Okavango Delta Management Plan - Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

c) Existing lodges would continue, but new ones should only be allowed if this is
within the carrying capacity of the <strong>Delta</strong>.
d) Non consumptive activities should be carried out in the buffer zone around
Moremi.
e) The need to balance protection and tourism use should be carefully examined in
order to avoid disruption of livelihood strategies.
5.2.3 TOURISM
The Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) process has been designed to be used as a
management tool to monitor for unacceptable changes to key systems and
processes within the tourism related operations of the ODRS. It should be noted
that LACs do not lead to the determination of fixed ‘carrying capacities’ for tourism
development activities. It is a dynamic process that will merely indicate when the
‘limits of use’ have been exceeded, leading to adverse conditions in the environment
or with the visitor experience. It is therefore in essence more responsive than
proactive. Should such demands place unacceptable loads on the ODRS; the LACs
will indicate such excesses – leading to responsive management action. Figure 5-2
gives the LAC categories and tourism opportunity classes.
These conditions and set of categories for ‘status of the land’ are Pristine, Semipristine,
Modified, Development Node or Area and Sanctuary. The proposed
conditions for each of these categories are given in Table 5-2.
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