EVALUATION OF TOURISM IN THE OKAVANGO DELTA IN BOTSWANA USING ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTING By MAY LEHMENSIEK A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2004 This work is dedicated to the people and wildlife of Botswana and their future. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I want to first and foremost thank my major professor, Dr. Mark Brown, for sending me on this intellectual adventure and supporting me through all the challenges encountered on the way. My profuse gratitude goes to my committee members, Dr. Clay Montague, for generously giving his time and energy at a crucial point in the finalization of this study, and Dr. Clyde Kiker, for providing a different perspective on the results of this work. I am eternally grateful to Lars Ramberg, Hannelore Bensen, Joseph Mbaiwa, Donald Kgethi, Thoralf Meyer, and all the other wonderful people at the Harry Oppenheimer Okavango Research Center in Maun, Botswana, for letting me work and learn at their facilities. Special thanks go to the people of Mababe and the various tour operators in Maun who provided the data and information without which this work would not have been possible. I greatly appreciate all the wonderful friends I made along the way in Florida as well as Botswana. I could not have completed this work and kept my sanity without you. Thanks everyone! Words can not express how grateful I am to have parents who support me through all the adventures I embark on. This work would not have been possible without them. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iv LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................................ vii LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... viii ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................1 Statement of the Problem..............................................................................................1 The Country Botswana .................................................................................................3 The Region Okavango Delta ........................................................................................5 Tourism in the Okavango Delta....................................................................................6 Tourism Driven Community Based Natural Resource Management ...........................7 CBNRM in Mababe (NG 41) .......................................................................................8 Plan of Study.................................................................................................................9 2 METHODS.................................................................................................................11 General Methodology of Emergy Analysis ................................................................11 Data Used for the Three Scales Analyzed ..................................................................13 Emergy Evaluation of Botswana ................................................................................13 Methods of the Mababe/CBNRM Analysis................................................................14 Methods of the Safari Lodge Analysis .......................................................................16 3 RESULTS...................................................................................................................18 Results of the Country Analysis .................................................................................18 Systems Diagram of Botswana............................................................................18 Emergy Evaluation of Botswana.........................................................................20 Results of the Mababe/CBNRM Analysis..................................................................27 Systems Diagram of Mababe and CBNRM in NG41 .........................................27 Emergy Evaluation of Mababe and CBNRM in NG 41......................................30 Results of the Safari Lodge Analysis..........................................................................33 v Systems Diagram of a Safari Lodge in the Okavango Delta...............................33 Emergy Evaluation of a Safari Lodge in the Okavango Delta ............................35 4 DISCUSSION.............................................................................................................39 Discussion of the Country Analysis ...........................................................................39 Characteristics of the Economy of Botswana......................................................39 Tourism Aspects of Resource Flows in Botswana..............................................41 Discussion of the Mababe/CBNRM Analysis ............................................................43 Changes in the pattern of resource flows in Mababe ..........................................43 Emergy Trade Balance between the Villagers and the Hunting Camps .............45 Discussion of the Safari Lodge Analysis....................................................................46 Natures Contribution to Lodge Tourism – Defining Ecotourism........................46 Tourism Density and the Quality of the Tourism Experience.............................48 Conclusions.................................................................................................................49 APPENDIX A TRANSFORMITIES CALCULATED FOR THIS STUDY .....................................51 Transformity for Wildlife in Botswana ......................................................................51 Human Transformities for Botswana..........................................................................52 B COSTS PER BED PER NIGHT.................................................................................54 LIST OF REFERENCES...................................................................................................55 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .............................................................................................58 vi LIST OF TABLES Table page 3-1: Emergy evaluation of the country of Botswana, showing resource flows in raw units, their transformity, the emergy value, and the Em$ value. Details on the calculation of each resource flow and data sources can be found in Appendix C. ..22 3-2: Summary values of the country analysis derived from Table 3-1............................24 3-3: Emergy indices for Botswana. Based on the summarized flows in Table 3-2, the indices give an overview of the economy of Botswana and show some of its characteristics. ..........................................................................................................25 3-4: Comparison between Country Indices of Botswana and the USA. Values for Botswana were based on this study, Table 3-3, and values for the USA were adopted from Odum 1996. .......................................................................................26 3-5: Emergy evaluation of NG 41 with the village of Mababe and two hunting camps. Flows of money, matter, energy, and information were evaluated and translated into common units of emergy. Footnotes to Table 3-5 can be found in Appendix C 31 3-6: Evaluation of emergy flows between the village of Mababe and the hunting camps. Footnotes to this Table can be found in Appendix C...............................................32 3-7: Emergy evaluation of a safari lodge in the Okavango Delta. All inputs material, energy, service, and information were evaluated and translated into common units of emergy. Footnotes for this table can be found in Appendix C ............................36 3-8: Summary of values from Table 3-7 and relative importance of different flows......37 3-9: Emergy evaluation of lodge tourism with increasing number of tourists. The evaluation is based on the calculations in Table 3-7................................................37 A-1: Calculation of the transformity of wildlife in Botswana..........................................51 A-2: Human transformities for Botswana ........................................................................53 B-1: Itemized costs for one bed per night in a lodge in the Okavango Delta as reported by a safari operator...................................................................................................54 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure page 1-1: Map showing the country of Botswana with district boundaries. The Okavango Delta is in the North west corner of Botswana, within Ngamiland District...............3 3-1: Systems diagram of the country of Botswana, showing flows of energy, matter and money. ......................................................................................................................18 3-2: Systems diagram of the Wildlife Management Area NG 41, including the village of Mababe and hunting camps. Numbers indicate the line items in Table 3-5 and letters correspond to items in Table 3-6 ...................................................................28 3-3: Systems diagram of a safari lodge in the Okavango Delta, showing flows of matter,