Conflicts in the co-management of community development and conservation in the northern Okavango Panhandle, Botswana

Community development and conservation programmes have recently been combined in the form of Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) Programmes. Community participation is recognized as an integral component of these development programmes. Communities, however, often lack the administrative or technical knowledge to participate fully in the decision-making or to take immediate control of the management of resource and development agendas. As additional stakeholders such as government and nongovernmental organizations become involved the number of ideas about what should take place and who is responsible increases. Given the diversity of experience, knowledge and interests of these stakeholders, conflicts among and within groups are almost unavoidable. The purpose of this study is to identify the conflicts concerning community development and conservation goals among the indigenous peoples, non-governmental organizations and government in the northern Okavango panhandle, Botswana, and to suggest strategies for resolving them. The research methods used in the study included a baseline survey, informal semistructured interviews, workshops and document analysis. The baseline survey data results are presented in the socio-economic profile of the community. Based on these methods, the issues concerning conservation and development were identified and grouped into three categories: (1) conflicts over the issue (CI); (2) no conflict over issue but conflicts over strategy (CS); and (3) no conflict (NC). Nine major areas of conflict emerged from the analysis of the data. They are: land tenure, natural resource management, the role of the cattle industry, the protection of the Okavango Delta environment, the retention of cultural identity, the maintenance of traditional leadership, education, language preservation and representation in and responsiveness of government. The conflicts identified should be taken into account when designing CBRNM programmes. Issues that do not cause conflict can be dealt with initially to build a good relationship among parties. Perhaps, once trust is established, more difficult problems can be addressed.