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ENHANCING THE VALUE OF PROTECTED AREAS OF THE MAKGADIKGADI WETLAND SYSTEM THROUGH CO -MANAGEMENT AND SUSTAINABLE FINANCING Jane Turpie, Jon Barnes & Gwyn Wilson Final Report February 2011 ANCHOR environmental Cover photo and inside photos: J Turpie Enhancing the value of Protected Areas of the Makgadikgadi Pans Wetland System ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study was funded by GEF as part of the GEF/UNDP/DWNP/BirdLife Botswana “Strategic Partnerships” project, and was managed by Pete Hancock of BirdLife Botswana. This report was produced by: Anchor Environmental Consultants , 8 Steenberg House, Silverwood Road, Tokai 7945, South Africa; www.anchorenvironmental.co.za ANCHOR environmental Design and Development Services , 25 Saffier Street, Eros Park, PO Box 25942 Windhoek, Namibia. Enhancing the value of Protected Areas of the Makgadikgadi Pans Wetland System iii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Introduction This project forms part of the GEF/UNDP/DWNP/BirdLife Botswana PROJECT: “Strategic Partnerships to Improve the Financial and Operational Sustainability of Protected Areas”. The overall objective of the “Strategic Partnerships” project is to improve the financial and operational sustainability of Protected Areas (PAs) in Botswana through improved working partnerships between public, private, NGO and community stakeholders. This project aims to use the new CBNRM Policy, the draft Environmental Management Act and the Makgadikgadi Framework Management Plan in order to implement participatory planning and protected areas co-management, using the Makgadikgadi Wetland System, Makgadikgadi/Nxai National Park and the Flamingo Sanctuary as demonstration sites. Management of the small and fragmented system of protected areas in the Makgadikgadi area will only be sustainable and effective if numerous funding streams are tapped and benefits accrue to the adjacent communities. The Strategic Partnerships project will test the important assumption that by involving relevant stakeholders in PA management, control over their resources will be democratic, costs to central government will decrease, destructive behaviour will be reduced, law enforcement improved, capacity expanded, a wide base of technical and traditional knowledge tapped, a more equitable distribution of benefits will be possible, and the service provision functions of PAs will be better recognized and protected. Objectives for the study included a description of the current economic value of the MWS protected areas, options for establishing a protected area around the Flamingo Sanctuary in southern Sua Pan, options for co-management as a means of reducing costs of the parks in the MWS, a description of the current financing situation for protected areas in the MWS and a contribution to towards the development of a financing strategy. The Makgadikgadi Wetland System The Makgadikgadi wetland system (MWS) is located in north-eastern Botswana, south east of the Okavango Delta and south of the Chobe River. The MWS contains one of the largest pan complexes in the world, which is divided into the Ntwetwe Pan in the west and Sua Pan in the east, each of these having their own catchment area. In Botswana, the overall floral and faunal species richness is highest within the protected area network and in the more northern and eastern boundaries of the country, such as the Okavango Delta. The Makgadikgadi Pans does however represent an important part of the biodiversity landscape in Botswana, particularly for the representation of plains game, including migratory herds, for predator populations such Enhancing the value of Protected Areas of the Makgadikgadi Pans Wetland System iv as wild dogs, and for breeding waterfowl, in particular, flamingos. Flooding of the pans occurs after good rains when water arrives via the Boteti and Nata Rivers. This attracts herds of big game such as zebra and wildebeest as well as large flocks of birds such as pelicans, waders, terns and breeding aggregations of flamingos. The MWS also supports charismatic fauna such as the African meerkat and the highly endangered wild dog. Botswana's protected area system is one of the country’s most important natural assets. Botswana has set aside about 45% of its land area as protected areas in National Parks (8%), Game Reserves (10%), private Wildlife and Nature Reserves (<1%), Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs, 24%), Forest Reserves (1%) and National Monuments (<1%). Further protection is also afforded through the national Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) programme. In the MWS, the state protected areas are limited to three sites: the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, the Nxai Pan National Park, and the recently-proclaimed Sua Pan Flamingo Sanctuary within the southern Sua Pan. Non-state protected areas is the land which falls under the CBNRM Programme and here, in line with the National CBNRM Policy, communities have organised themselves into community-based organisations (CBOs). There are currently eight registered CBOs in the MWS, of which only three are fully functional. The primary conservation objective for community protected areas is the sustainable use of natural resources, rather than the protection of biodiversity and ecosystem integrity. The MWS boasts a range of tourism attractions that are complementary to the other areas of Botswana. These include the unusual pan-dominated landscapes, waterbird aggregations, baobabs, archaeological artefacts and local culture. The MWS is relatively underdeveloped as a destination but tourism developments have been significantly increasing over the last decade. These include luxury camps and lodges around the edge of the pans, community campsites, and hotels and camps along the main routes around the MWS. The campsites in the National Parks are basic. There are good tarred roads around the MWS but reaching areas within the MWS requires travel on poor quality dirt roads by 4x4. In total, if campsites are included, there are an estimated 1257 beds in the study area. The Makgadikgadi Framework Management Plan (MFMP) was developed in 2010 by the Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism (MEWT) through the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA). The MFMP identifies priorities for development, management and conservation activities with the overall aim “ to improve people’s livelihoods through wise use of the wetland’s natural resources ”. The MFMP consisted of three phases and a common environment-development approach was used where the activities were guided by a combination of sustainable development and livelihood approaches as well as an ecosystem approach. Potential future scenarios were developed for the area. These included “current situation and trends”, “resource protection and conservation”, “rapid economic growth” and “sustainable use”. Enhancing the value of Protected Areas of the Makgadikgadi Pans Wetland System v Executive summary “Sustainable use” emerged as the preferred management option. The MFMP activity plan highlights the importance of creating livelihood benefits and economic growth within the MWS. It states that underutilised natural resources need to be used to their full potential and the efficiency of natural resource use needs to be increased. Development and management of the area should be the shared responsibility of all stakeholders and therefore, partnerships between the private sector, communities, government and other institutions need to be improved and further established. Ecosystem goods, services and functions also need to be recognised and supported through management. The recommended MFMP activities include fully integrating the sustainable development and ecosystem approaches into management planning and development, implementing integrated river basin management for the area, conducting a more detailed valuation study of protected areas, and integrating indigenous knowledge into management. The MFMP also lists recommended activities specific to protected areas, tourism and CBNRM. Economic value of the MWS state protected areas The MWS as a whole generates a number of ecosystem services that have values to society. The recent MFMP study estimated the area to be worth over P1 billion in terms of the overall direct and indirect contributions to the economy. Direct uses include livestock production, crop production, harvesting of veld products, tourism and mining, and they amount to some P880 million (of which P197 million per annum is realised directly as private net income to households in the MWS). Indirect uses include ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration and the provision of wildlife refuge areas that serve the broader landscape which are estimated to be worth about P155 million. Ecosystems offer a range of goods, services and attributes that generate value and contribute to human welfare. Goods are harvested resources such as grass, services are processes that contribute to economic production such as water purification, and attributes relate to the structure and organisation of biodiversity such as beauty. They can also be categorised as provisioning services, regulating services, cultural services and supporting services. The Total Economic Value of an ecosystem comprises Direct Use, Indirect Use, Option and Non-Use values. In this study, the value derived from an activity was measured in terms of net private value , contribution to local communities and contribution to net national income . In measuring economic value, prices are adjusted to correct for distortions, wherever market prices do not reflect true
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