Building bridges over troubled waters

By Mesh Moeti

When asked about the tensions and disputes in the Okavango Delta , one official reportedly said, “It’s no longer a conflict, but a war”.

The conflicts in the delta are characteristic of the various economic interests in the area, and such clashes come at different levels. The most commonly identified conflict is between tourism interests, on the one hand, and local communities that have subsisted on the delta’s natural resources for generations, on the other. The major source of discord at this level is access rights.

The tourism industry accrues P1, 115 million each year in an area where, for most households, firewood is the most commonly used heating source, with an estimated 176 million bundles harvested annually. A study on the economic value of the Okavango Delta estimate an annual harvest of 280 tonnes of plant foods and 160 tonnes of wild meat. Some 276 000 poles, 150 000 bundles of reeds and 174 000 bundles of grass are harvested each year. Over 9 000 bundles of palm leaves are harvested, and some 36 500 products (mainly baskets) are produced from a combination of grass and palm leaves as well as natural dyes. Fishing is practiced by up to 34 percent of households in the panhandle and central areas. It is the largest fishery in Botswana, with an estimated total of 3 570 fishers and a catch of about 450 tonnes.

Piet Scheepers, manager of the Shakawe Lodge Drotskey’s Cabins, faults the fishers for practices that lead to discomfort of guests, such as night fishing and beating the water (to chase the fish into the nets) even in front of camps.

“One morning people ask me what the gunshots were all about. It’s quite disturbing. They say they don’t go out at night, but there is video evidence. The fishers never used to fish at night because hippos and crocodiles move at night. They used to catch fish at daytime because it was plenty, but now there are just so many nets. Everybody can’t catch enough to sustain their business,” says Scheepers.

Mareko Mareko is one of the fishers that have constituted themselves into a syndicate in Samuchima. A former pastry chef at various lodges in Kasane, he understands the concerns of the tour operators from his experience with tourists and their high expectations.

He confirms the night fishing, which he says takes place between 8.00 pm and 1.00 am because fish move a lot at night. He has witnessed a lot of quarrels between tour operators and fishers during those night fishing expeditions. One particular source of misunderstanding was the method of using a motored boat to circle a particular area to chase the fishers into the nets.

Mareko says after meetings held at the kgotla at which each side voiced out its concerns, a compromise was reached.

“It has been agreed that we will only fish on the side of the river where there are no lodges,” he says.

The concern has to do with the reproductive capacity of the fish stock itself. To this, the fishing community has agreed to ban small nets, so that they only catch fully-grown fish.

“We watch each other for compliance,” says Mareko. “If anyone is caught breaking any of the rules , they are reported to the syndicate chairperson who is empowered to handle such matters decisively.”

In Maun, at the offices of Wilderness Safaris, the company’s environmental chief Map Ives adds his voice to the industry’s concern about the upsurge in commercial fishing in the Okavango Delta. He declares that if conducted traditionally, fishing would not clash with tourism interests.

“Where we have an issue with fishing is when people bring motor boats, deep freezers, and vehicles with cool boxes,” says Ives. “The delta can sustain commercial fishing, but the conflict is over noise, pollution, and the size of the nets. Commercial fishing currently is not accountable. No fisherman pays tax, or keeps books. The same applies to commercial letlhaka (reed) cutting. People bring Land Cruisers, and they have workers cutting letlhaka for them. They travel into the protected areas with dogs, and carry arms. They use fire as a way of encouraging next year’s harvest”.

He would like to see people who harvest these resources be licensed, and be required to have registered offices, keep accounting books, and be allocated specific concessions. He finds fault with the Okavango Delta Management Plan’s (ODMP’s) perceived reluctance to put in place regulations on traditional use of natural resources.

“It’s almost like lack of political will. The attitude seems to be, “look out for a place for Batswana, instead of look out for a place for the environment,” he protests.

There is another dimension that Scheepers brings to the debate. He finds it a contradiction that while the law prohibits hunting at night, the wildlife department tolerates night fishing.Phepa Babupi, the Senior Wildlife Warden in Gumare, explains that the new fishing regulations currently being drafted will address concerns such as night fishing.

Sekgowa Motsumi, the ODMP coordinator, aptly defines the conflict as a battle between commercial access rights and traditional access rights. While private companies have been granted concessions for camps, the lease agreement issued by the land board stipulates that local communities must be guaranteed access to natural resources.

The poor state of the buffalo fence has long between a source of conflict between cattle owners and government. Since the fence is not adequately maintained, it’s easier for livestock to cross into wildlife areas. When that happens, the cattle are killed, and the owner compensated P400 per head. The communities never fail to point out that when buffalo crosses into livestock area, government mobilizes its resources (a helicopter, for instance) to drive it back. Motsumi says it is a challenge to explain this apparent contradiction to the communities, and one has to be considerate and sensitive.

Away from the eyes of the local communities, there is low intensity conflict between the big players in the tourism industry. Scheepers voices suspicious goings-on in neighbouring properties, which were allocated as residential yet the owners have quietly turned them into lodges. He reports sightings of tourists on boats who stay at the properties in question. A local who is privy to this conflict points out that when confronted, owners of the “offending properties” claim that they are hosting private guests – and that could mean friends, family or relatives. The source of conflict here is that if, indeed, “private guests” are tourists, their hosts are able to undercut the market, and pose unfair competition to the registered operators.

Scheepers suggests that it is an issue that the land board must investigate.

“We pay fees and taxes. We have to comply with all the rules, but what about other people? If people are to open a camp, that’s fine, but the same set of rules must apply to them as well,” says Scheepers. “We hope ODMP will be a solution to all these problems, by bringing everybody to work together”.

The other conflict, perhaps not so volubly expressed, pits hunting safaris against photographic tour operators. Once again, it’s over utilization of a natural resource – this time, game. For instance, there is an allegation that hunting safari operators sometimes chase game from areas designated as photographic areas to shore up the numbers in the hunting areas.

Map Ives does not hide his disdain for hunting. A former hunting enthusiast, Ives recalls that in 1965, it only took two kilometers out of Francistown to shoot wildebeest. Today one has to drive halfway between Nata and Maun just to see one.

“I am terrified that we keep pushing them backwards. I hope with the ODMP, we can manage the pushing back,” says Ives. “Even as I say this, I am aware that hunting is a major industry in this country; it can employ people who are not qualified in other fields, such as skinners and trackers”.

One thing that ODMP has managed to do is to foster understanding between the non-consumptive and consumptive camps. There was a time when the two industries were not in talking terms.

Managing Director of Wilderness Safaris, Grant Woodrow comments: “Today we lobby government together. In the past, each would go separately. Now when we have a problem, we go together to see the minister, and the issue is sorted out quickly. Since ODMP, their representative comes to our meetings.