Africa-Press – Botswana. The total area of Chobe National Park has remained at 10 590 km2 since it was transformed from a National Reserve in 1968.
Answering a question in Parliament on July 9 on behalf of the Minister of Environment and Tourism, Labour and Home Affairs Minister Major General Pius Mokgware noted that even though its original total area at inception as Chobe National Reserve in 1960 was 21 000km2, it was reduced by 10 410km2 when it was transformed, but there had not been any changes effected to its borders since.
Furthermore, the minister noted that Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) were introduced in the early 1980s from a concept that arose from the Tribal Grazing Land Policy (TGLP) Government Paper of 1975.
He said the policy directed that land should be set-aside as reserves for future use, and this included land set aside for wildlife utilisation.
Maj. Gen. Mokgware said that the latter was zoned for WMAs, following its Wildlife Conservation Policy of 1986, resulting in Nunga and Kwando WMAs as the two in Chobe.
He said WMAs were designed to prevent the loss of key wildlife habitats and promote sustainable utilisation of wildlife to increase economic opportunities, both nationally and for the local communities in wildlife-rich areas.
The minister said Community-Based Natural Resources Management (CBNRM) was one of the programmes, which empowered local communities to utilise wildlife for livelihood improvement.
However, he noted that wild animals, particularly mammals, spent extended periods outside protected areas, due to their nomadic behaviour.
Subsequently, he said some WMAs adjacent to National Parks and Game Reserves acted as buffer zones to prevent conflicts between wild animals and areas of more intensive agricultural uses, while other WMAs provided protection to migrating wildlife by safeguarding migratory corridors.
The minister further noted that his ministry did not create the wild animal corridors that had always existed as traditional migratory pathways for wild animals as they moved around in search of food and water.
He said the expansion of human settlements and the need for more agricultural land over the years had resulted in the blockage of wildlife migratory routes since such activities encroached on wildlife land.
Also, he said as a result, this contributed to the current human-wildlife conflicts due to people settling where wildlife used to pass.
He said to address this challenge, the migratory routes for wild animals were mapped to avoid land allocation for human occupation along them, which are now referred to as wild animal corridors, which lead to where animals traditionally found food and water.
Nevertheless, he said the expansion of human settlements and developments had resulted in communal lands encroaching upon wildlife corridors, while the Land Boards had also unknowingly allocated land for human occupation in wildlife corridors.
Additionally, the minister noted that there was bound to be conflict that result in destruction of property, human injuries and loss of life when humans and wild animals live or come in close proximity to each other.
He acknowledged that there had been destruction of property and loss of human life in the corridors that pass through or near human settlements, including Kasane.
Maj. Gen. Mokgware said human-wildlife conflicts along those corridors had also compromised human livelihoods and wild animals raided rural economies for livestock and crops.
While he admitted that this had resulted in untold suffering among some members of the communities, he underscored the need to coordinate land use activities by all stakeholders, including land management authorities.
The minister was responding to a question from the MP for Chobe, Mr Simasiku Mapulanga, who had asked him to state the original total area of the Chobe Game Reserve at inception in 1960/61 and the changes in the total area from 1968 when it was transformed from a Game Reserve to a National Park.
He had also asked about any subsequent changes on the total area of the Chobe National Park from 1968 to date, when and the reasons for effecting those changes.
Additionally, the MP asked when WMAs were introduced in the Chobe District and the justification for their introduction, as well as when the concept of wild animal corridors were implemented in the district and why they led to communal lands.
Mr Mapulanga further wanted to establish if the minister was aware that the animal corridors that led to communal lands had led to the escalation of human-wildlife conflict, loss of valuable human life, destruction of property and escalation of poverty.
Source: dailynews
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