Okavango Delta Conservation

From a conservation perspective it's important to view the Okavango as the entire basin that encompasses three countries, each with differing attitudes to the value and uses of the river system. Conservation issues should therefore be dealt with by all the role players.

Generally in good environmental health, the Okavango is facing several challenges and Botswana, the final recipient of the waters, leads the way in conservation. One third of the Delta is protected in the form of the Moremi Game Reserve while numerous private concessions (for hunting or, increasingly, photographic safaris) play an essential role in ensuring the vitality of the eastern and central Delta. Various conservation projects have been in place for a number of years and the Delta remains the stronghold of endangered species such as the African wild dog and wattled crane. The western half of the Delta is an area of small scale farming and cattle ranching. Of less importance than in Namibia and Angola's Okavango regions, agriculture around the Delta is precarious due to poor soils and erratic rainfall and consequently generates low incomes. Livestock farming however is more lucrative and has lead to one of Botswana's most contentious conservation issues: the veterinary fences.

Designed not only to separate vaccination zones for cattle but also to prevent contact between cattle and disease-carrying buffalo, the fences have restricted the movement of wildlife and impacted severely on traditional migration routes. The debate rages about the efficacy of the system and the damage done to wildlife but it should be borne in mind that as population pressures increase the northern and southern buffalo fences also prevent the encroachment of farming and ranching into the Delta.

From a broader perspective the Delta faces larger challenges from outside Botswana's borders. Namibia makes extensive use of its limited exposure to the Okavango River by way of irrigation schemes. Although the amount extracted is a tiny percentage of the Okavango's total volume, the 2003 proposal to construct a hydroelectric plant at Popa Falls is one that has precipitated a fierce environmental debate.

Likewise, as Angola slowly recovers from decades of war, the pressure on the headwaters of the Okavango is increasing in the form of greater agricultural and domestic use - pollution and changes in nutrient levels are issues that will cause increasing concern.

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