From Community Based to Community Driven; The Evolution of the Commons Management in the Okavango Delta, Botswana

Abstract

"Botswana was one of the countries in Southern Africa that pioneered Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) twenty years ago, together with Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia. Whilst the different countries have recorded different levels of success, within Botswana, different commentators have evaluated the programme and scored it differently. Some argue that CBNRM has suffered multiple failures; It has failed to devolve management authority of local resources to communities as well as failed to generate significant benefits to improve the quality of life of rural communities. The same commentators also argue that where conservation of species occurred, it was merely incidental, having little or no direct casual effect from CBNRM. However, other commentators argue that CBNRM has had a mixed bag of results, excelling in some objectives and failing in others. Noticeably, these commentators argue that CBNRM has injected revenue in rural villages and reduced the levels of poaching. In this paper we reviewed the roles played by facilitators within five CBNRM projects in four Okavango Delta villages of Mababe, Seronga, Gudigwa and Tubu. Emerging from the analysis is a critical role in the CBNRM process that should be played by an actor that we refer to as the Broker, without whom the process is bound to struggle. The success and failures that have been experienced in CBNRM depict firstly the presence or absence of a Broker. Secondly they depict the strengths and weaknesses of the Broker. We conclude that the niche for a Broker is a permanent one and its fulfilment will transform natural resource management from Community Based to Community Driven. What may change over time is the profile and origin of the broker."