Hunter-Gatherers, Farmers, and Environmental Degradation in Botswana

Many governments and conservation organisations have argued that hunter-gatherers, farmers and pastoralists are responsible, in considerable part, for environmental degradation and biodiversity losses in southern Africa. Particular attention has been paid to alleged wildlife losses, especially eleph...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Conservation and society 2020-07, Vol.18 (3), p.226-237
Main Authors: Hitchcock, Robert K., Winer, Nicholas, Kelly, Melinda C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anthropology
Biodiversity
Biodiversity loss
Botswana
Community
Conservation
Elections
Elephants
environment
Environmental aspects
Environmental degradation
Farmers
Human-environment interactions
Hunter-gatherers
Hunting
Hunting and gathering societies
Livestock
Local communities
Native peoples
Native rights
Poaching
Population
Population growth
Protected areas
Social aspects
Tourism
wildlife
Wildlife conservation
Wildlife tourism
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Summary:Many governments and conservation organisations have argued that hunter-gatherers, farmers and pastoralists are responsible, in considerable part, for environmental degradation and biodiversity losses in southern Africa. Particular attention has been paid to alleged wildlife losses, especially elephants in Botswana. This article considers some of the issues surrounding hunting bans and protected areas with a view to conserving elephants. In Botswana, local people were removed from protected areas after being blamed for declines in wildlife numbers. Utilising government and other scientific wildlife data, the hunting ban cannot be shown to have had any significant impact on the conservation of elephants and other game species. Local people argue that many of their activities are sustainable, maintaining that they are generally not responsible for biodiversity losses and environmental degradation. Population growth, the expansion of agricultural, livestock and mining activities, the construction of veterinary cordon fences and increases in water point distribution have led to localised environmental degradation. The ‘great elephant debate’ became an important political issue during the run-up to the Botswana elections of October 2019. Local communities sought to ensure that they would be able to obtain benefits from wildlife tourism which had been denied them during the hunting ban.
ISSN:0972-4923
0975-3133
DOI:10.4103/cs.cs_19_87