Okavango Delta Management Plan - Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

vi. Where vegetation resources are scarce or getting scarce, a rotational system of harvesting should
be practiced, i.e. the same areas should not be exploited continuously without a break;
vii. An assessment of the harvesting areas should be conducted every year before the harvesting
season starts;
viii. All villages within the <strong>Ramsar</strong> Site should have a Village Natural Resource <strong>Management</strong>
Committee (VNRMC) as per the provisions of the Agricultural Resources Board Policy of 1975;
5.2.6 QUARRYING AND SAND EXCAVATION
The <strong>Ramsar</strong> site has experienced rapid growth over the last 15 years. During this
period, several facilities ranging from roads, schools, shopping centres, hospitals
and residential houses were constructed, resulting in high demands for
construction aggregates, gravel and sand. As a result, extensive excavations have
taken place, resulting in a number of un-rehabilitated sites within the project area.
There are rules, regulations and procedures in place dealing with the excavation of
construction aggregates from burrow pits, and the mining of sand from river beds.
The procedures involve the Department of Mines, which issues the excavation
permits, the Land Board, which allocates land for excavations and the Physical
<strong>Plan</strong>ning Unit under the Council, which helps the Land Board to identify suitable
excavation sites. An excavation permit is issued only after the applicant has
conducted an EIA and submitted a rehabilitation plan. Despite the existence of
these excavation regulations and procedures, illegal excavations and unrehabilitated
sites are common in the <strong>Ramsar</strong> Site. In order to address the
situation, the following is recommended (ODMP – Land Use and <strong>Management</strong> <strong>Plan</strong>,
2005):
i. The Land Board should identify areas suitable for excavation in accordance with the guidelines of
this plan and lease them off to excavating companies.
ii. The money generated from these lease agreements should be used by the Land Board to rehabilitate
excavated sites.
iii. The Land Board, Department of Mines and the Physical <strong>Plan</strong>ning Unit should be more vigilant to
ensure that excavators rehabilitate excavated sites as per the requirements of their permits.
5.2.7 FIRE MANAGEMENT
Fire has been used in the ODRS as a management tool. The reasons for burning,
identified during the development of the ODRS Fire <strong>Management</strong> <strong>Plan</strong>, were that
the vegetation was burnt for the removal of moribund and/or unacceptable grass or
other plant material like reeds as a means of rejuvenating the plant community.
Another purpose was to control the encroachment of undesirable plants e.g.
controlling bush encroachment (ODMP – Fire <strong>Management</strong> <strong>Plan</strong>, 2006). The <strong>Plan</strong>
has provided fire management guidelines which are given below.
5.2.7.1 Permissible fire regime for controlled burning
The following fire regime in terms of type and intensity of fire and the season and
frequency of burning is recommended for the ODRS.
i. Fires burning with the wind either as surface head fires in grassland or a combination of surface
head fires and crown fires in tree and shrub vegetation must be used in controlled burning. This is
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