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Abstract
Economic pressures on rural livelihoods in Botswana are ever-increasing, especially for peripheral areas where resources harnessed for tourism purposes are prevalent. One of the avenues to achieve this balancing act is the Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) program of Botswana, which devolved management of resources to local communities to incentivise conservation through hunting tourism. However, due to questions over hunting sustainability as a conservation tool by conservation non-governmental organizations and animal rights groups, trophy hunting was banned in Botswana in 2014. The resultant impacts were felt not only by the hunting industry but also by communities through the loss of income and employment. For this research, we selected 2 villages impacted by the ban, namely Sankuyo and Mmadinare, based on their geographic separation, which gives an added dimension to the investigation of the phenomena. We conducted our research from June to August 2018. We interviewed 53 participants using semi-structured and structured interviews, consisting of 46 community members, 3 community trust leaders, and 4 former hunting employees. The results revealed that the ban had a more significant impact on Sankuyo village respondents, which has a smaller population than Mmadinare, also not closely situated to major conservation areas such as Mmadinare. Benefits lost by the community in Sankuyo include employment contributions, the sale of meat, and financial contributions to community development, which were significant for the small community. However, both communities experienced similar challenges due to the ban on trophy hunting, such as increased wildlife numbers, which escalated human–wildlife conflicts (HWCs). Our research furthermore revealed first that communities with a greater dependence on one single economic activity (hunting) lead to vulnerability, especially in small communities; secondly, attitudes changed toward wildlife in both communities due to an increase in HWCs; and thirdly, the communities had limited involvement in decision-making by the government in natural resource management by communities due to over-arching government powers despite the CBNRM. It is recommended that Botswana should re-examine the policy approach in implementing the CBNRM framework by the government by incorporating local control governance to maximize its effect on communities and conservation.
Recommended Citation
Mokgalo, Lelokwane Lockie and van der Merwe, Peet
(2024)
"The Ban on Trophy Hunting in Botswana: Local Communities’ Perceptions,"
Human–Wildlife Interactions: Vol. 18:
Iss.
2, Article 9.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.26077/n8g5-re19
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/hwi/vol18/iss2/9
