Fjölrit RALA - 05.12.1999, Blaðsíða 74

72
Desertification in Botswana
ment of the livestock sector and the utilization of the country’s grazing resources, a
complex relationship between people and environment has developed, giving rise to
dryland degradation or desertification. While considerable progress has been made in
combating desertification, the results of most anti-desertification efforts have not yet
achieved the expected results. The constraints against combating desertification in-
clude climate, govemment policy and population growth. But, perhaps, the greatest
constraint is the void and confusion created by the breakdown of traditional stmctures
and the lack of adequate institutional capacity and mechanisms for implementing
community based natural resource projects (Pilane 1997). Also, there are influential
sceptics who currently believe that the nature and extent of desertification in the
country have been exaggerated, a factor that could influence the pace of development,
especially, of govemment’s action in fully implementing appropriate policies such as
those outlined in the country’s blueprint, the National Conservation Strategy (NCS).
However, given the strength of the economy, the political will, the democratic gov-
emance and the environmental consciousness prevailing among the political leader-
ship and educated elite at present, there appears to be good prospects for sustained ef-
fort and possible success in containing the desertification problem in the country in
the near future.
References
Abel, N.O.J. 1992. What’s in a Number? The Carrying Capacity Controversy and the Communal
Rangelands of Southem Africa. Ph.D. thesis, School of Development Studies, University of East An-
glia, 320 pp.
Abel, N.O.J. and Blaikie, P. 1989. Land degradation, stocking rates and conservation policies in the
communal rangelands of Botswana and Zimbabwe. Land Degradation and Rehabilitation 1, 101-123.
Arntzen, J.W. 1989. Environmental Pressure and Adaptation in Rural Botswana. Free University,
Amsterdam, 249 pp.
Arntzen, J.W. 1990. Economic policies and rangeland degradation. Journal of International Develop-
ment 2(4), 471-499.
Arntzen, J., Chanda, R., Musisi, N., Ringrose, S., Sefe, F.T.K. and Vanderpost, C. 1994. Desertifica-
tion and Possible Solutions in the Mid-Boteti River Area: A Case Study for the Inter-Governmental
Convention to Combat Decertification (INCD). Consultancy Report, Department of Environmental
Science, University of Botswana, 164 pp.
Arntzen, J., Gould, J., Moletsi, M. and Ringrose, S. 1995. Botswana Environmental Profile. African
Development Bank, 53 pp.
Arntzen, J., Fidzani, H. and Tacheba, G. 1996. Communal Rangelands in Botswana: Less Subsis-
tence, More Commerce and Fewer Beneficiaries. GCTE Subsistence Rangelands Workshop, Ga-
borone, June, 17 pp.
Chanda, R. 1996. Human perceptions of environmental degradation in a part of the Kalahari ecosys-
tem. Geo-Journal 39, 656-671.
Cooke, H.J. 1983. The struggle against environmental degradation - Botswana’s experience. Deserti-
fication Bulletin 8, 9-15.
Dahlberg, A. 1994. Contesting views and changing paradigms, the land degradation debate in South-
ern Africa. Discussion Paper 6, Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Uppsala, 59 pp.
Dalal-Clayton, B. 1997. Southern Africa beyond the millennium: environment trends and scenarios to
2015. Environmental Planning Issues No. 13, IIED, London, 149 pp.