Africa-Press – Botswana. Stakeholders have underscored the need to be come up with sustainable financial solutions that can generate more revenue in order to effectively manage protected areas.
They aired their views during a stakeholder meeting recently on Botswana Protected Areas Resource Mobilisation Strategy and Partnership Planning progress including finance solutions options
While they appreciated that the Department of Wildlife and National Parks was experiencing several challenges in managing the areas due to inadequate budget, they called for collaborative effort by all keys stakeholders to mobilise financial resources to bridge the gap.
Participants indicated that the challenges impacted the effectiveness of conservation efforts and the long- term sustainability of the country’s biodiversity.
They also called on the private sector to contribute and support the tourism sector.
Some urged the government to consider introducing some incentives, such as tax reduction so as to motivate the private sector to come on board.
Others called for establishment of a private fund for collecting monies that would be channeled toward management of protected areas, while some argued that the parks were generating a lot of revenue and as such, a certain percentage had to be reserved for their management.
Stakeholders also supported re-establishing park management committees and establishing a
‘Friends of the Parks’ programme to facilitate assistance from individuals and businesses saying they could work wonders toward management and conservation and management of the areas.
Manager for Khwai Development Trust, Mr Kgotso Kgosiemang proposed that instead of
establishing a private fund, the DWNP could consider tapping some funds from one of existing such as Conservation Trust Fund (CTF) and National Environmental Fund (NEC), especially the one underutilised.
“There are some reports that money from one of the fund is underutilised and I believe the ministry can review all existing funds and see prudently the monies are used instead of having multiple funds,” he added.
Managing director of Desert and Delta Safaris, Mr Mathew Johnson appreciated the presentation and suggested that all people utilising the resources (protected areas) should be charged.
He was of the view that the department could develop funding mechanism that charged users of the resources citing that there were a lot of companies and individuals accessing the parks.
He also highlighted that some finance solutions such as establishing ‘Friends of the Park’ programme would be good noting that the parks were over utilised and yet they were underdeveloped and believed that the programme could help develop them properly in order to generate more revenue.
Earlier, deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Ms Abigail
Khumoyame informed the gathering that the ministry acknowledged the challenges with regard to protected areas hence they had called them to discuss what they could do better to effectively manage them.
The government, she said could not do it alone because of limited budget and ‘we believe together, we can mobilise resources to address the challenges perpetuating so that we can be able to deliver quality service at the parks and eventually benefit the tourism sector’.
Furthermore, she reiterated that government was committed to put Batswana first and ensure all benefit from the economy adding that on the other hand, the resources had to be protected so that the future generation also benefit hence making improvements and beautifying public parks and infrastructure were paramount.
Source: DAILYNEWS
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