2019 ACTIVITIES & the year ahead

This post provides an overview of what we got up to last year, and what we will be focussing on in 2020.  Thanks again to our donors for helping to make our work possible.  It's been challenging but we are making progress on the ground, where it matters most!

Review of 2019 activities undertaken:
(for details, images and maps, please click on the highlighted months under each bullet item to view the relevant original post):

• Portable rainwater harvesters for remote communities:                                                                                                                                                                        In February and April, six 2,500L capacity Portable Rainwater Harvesters (our invention) were installed at villages in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and in NG3, Western Ngamiland:  These devices provide invaluable drinking water supplementation, thus helping to alleviate the acute shortages affecting these San and Bakgalagadi communities, which during drought periods may be life-threatening.  Thanks again to Mike and Karen McCune and the Kalahari Peoples Fund for funding the installations.  (see our 2020 plans below for more on this topic)

• San / Aboriginal cultural engagement:                                                                                                                                                                                                                   In May we facilitated and logistically supported the first-ever field-based cultural engagement between Aboriginal Australians and the San of Southern Africa.  Aboriginal "fire rangers" and their support programme staff paid a visit to the remote Ju/hoansi community of /Oabatsha in NG2, Western Ngamiland, where they traded music and dance demonstrations, undertook bushwalks and shared insights related to fire ecology.  Despite living worlds apart, the San and Aborigines, being of hunter-gatherer origin, are culturally similar (e.g. both make fire by friction in an identical way) and both employ carefully planned dispersed, rotational strategies for harvesting wild bushfoods, thus ensuring sustainable use of defined territorial areas.  Under the Australian Government-spearheaded International Savanna Fire Management Initiative (ISFMI), traditional knowlege related to the use of rotational early winter burning to suppress large, hot-season fires, has been instrumental to the success of the ISFMI in reducing the frequency of destructive fires in wildfire-prone areas world-wide.  The outlawing and erosion of traditional San early winter burning practices (essentially the same as Aboriginal burning practices) is a contributing factor to the outbreak of frequent, large, late dry season fires that have become the norm in Botswana's sparsely populated rangelands:  This has led to structural changes (e.g. transformation of open tall tree savanna into dense low scrubland) and loss of biodiversity, with a decline evident in the diversity and abundance of the plant foods on which the San depend.   By reviving the traditional burning practices (under controlled conditions under ISFMI's Botswana pilot project) it is hoped to reverse these trends, whilst also helping to reduce global carbon emissions.  (see our 2020 plans below).  See video from the May expedition and a recent CNN article on the potential value of traditional practices in helping to prevent catastrophic fire outbreaks.
  

• Community Wildlife Monitoring start-up:                                                                                                                                                                                                 After initial training in February, a team of 8 Community Wildlife Monitors from two villages in western NG3 embarked on a schedule of bi-monthly foot patrols along the border area with Namibia, from March to May.  Covering a combined distance of 700km, spoor data was collected to better understand wildlife species presence and seasonal and cross-border movement dynamics.  Unfortunately, due to lack of funding, this program has had to be scaled down and is currently limited to areas surrounding the new wildlife boreholes, but funds permitting, a full reinstatement and expansion of this programme is hoped to take place in 2020 (see below).  With growing interest amongst the youth, the team now comprises 14 members and that number is likely to grow further.  The program is valuable in terms of the following:
  

1. As an additional source of income generation in a region where employment opportunities are virtually non-existent;
   
2. Revival of fast-disappearing traditional knowledge and skills through the mentoring of younger trackers by elder team members (traditional skills everywhere are dying out due to there being no opportunity to practice them and due to lack of inter-generational knowledge transfer);
   
3. Promotion of wise, localised custodianship of natural resources and the fostering of a sense of identity and pride amongst the participants;
   
4. Developing scientific understanding of wildife distribution and movement dynamics of Northern Botswana / Northeastern Namibia (aerial census methods  being notorioulsy unreliable for estimating species distributions, numbers and movement trends);
   
5. Assisting Government, including law enforcement agencies, in monitoring remote areas, particularly where infrastructure is lacking and resourcing for such work is inadequate.  This is crucial to countering the emerging threats to wildlife posed by criminal syndicates and is also crucial to gaining the support of local communities in these efforts.
   
6. Promotion of cross-border land use harmonization, development of the areas's tourism potential, and restoration of ecological connectivity between the Okavango Delta and west thereof in Western Ngamiland and Namibia (e.g. Kaudom National Park, Nyae-nyae Conservancy).  
   

• Emergency community borehole replacement:                                                                                                                                                                                              In June we carried out an emergency replacement of ageing borehole equipment and parts that had broken down, leaving a remote community in Western Ngamiland stranded and without any stored water.  With the community and their animals in grave danger from dehydration, we commissioned a service provider to reinstate the water supply after only 4 days. The new solar system is relatively trouble free and generates clean water (as opposed to the previous which had started to pump water contaminated with rust and debri).  In addition, an emergency water delivery of 500L was arranged during the 4 day wait to stave off dehydration.  This mission averted what would otherwise have been a disaster as relocation to alternative villages would not have been a viable option due to the acute water shortages at those other localities.  Funding support from Mike and Karen McCune and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation made this emergency intervention possible.
  

• Emergency wildlife borehole activation in NG3:                                                                                                                                                                                    With funding support from the Oak Foundation, two wildlife boreholes were activated in Western and Eastern NG3 in August and October respectively.  Free-ranging wildlife populations in Western Ngamiland are under critical threat from persistent drought, exacerbated by diminishing access to traditional dry season water sources on account of expanding human and cattle populations, especially along the western fringes of the Okavango Delta. (see map). With the support of local communities, we coordinated the conversion of two unused boreholes located in remote, uninhabited locations into active solar powered boreholes dedicated for wildlife use.  A management and monitoring programme at these sites has also been established which is ongoing.  In addition to the persons already credited in previous posts, we wish to thank Mr. Rory Tomlison of Australia, Elephants Without Borders, and Tlhokomela Trust, for their respective donations towards the ongoing costs of this initiative.  We are also grateful to Jess Isden and Robynne Burger of Wildcru Botswana for lending us camera traps.  Lack of funding however remains a critical obstacle and we are appealing for support to ensure that these boreholes remain operational and properly protected so as to help ensure the survival and rehabilitation of Western Ngamiland's free-ranging wildife.   Important outcomes and benefits of this initiative are:                                             

1. The boreholes are helping to alleviate stress levels and reduce wildlife mortality rates by providing water in relativey safe areas for foraging and breeding - far from human disturbance:  some species, such as zebra, roan and wildebeest, would otherwise be facing possible local extinction in NG3 due to declining population trends (human + drought impacts).
2. They are also making it easier for wildlife to follow historical migration routes across waterless terrain, thus facilitating regional wildlife dispersal and connectivity across the landscape over  distance of more than 200km, from the East (e.g. Western Okavango, Botswana) to the West (Kaudom N.P. & Nyae-nyae, Namibia).  An increasing influx of wildlife across the border from Namibia has also been observed since August, which is facilitating population recovery inside Botswana (western NG3), whilst expanding the ranges available to populations in Northeastern Nyae-nyae conservancy and Southeastern Kaudum N.P.:  this will ultimately enhance the overall resilience of the ecosystem and the viability of Namibia's conservation areas, which are being increasingly compromised by habitat loss to their west, north and south, leaving Botswana (towards the east) as the only remaining opportunity for establishing spatial connectivity with other wildlife habitats.
3. Zebra, as with other large mammal species, have responded well to the new boreholes:  a lone emaciated male zebra moving along the dilapidated border fenceline averted certain death by discovering the western borehole the day after it started operating. Once its condition recovered (after a few weeks) it then set out in westerly and easterly directions, each time returning with new zebra from distant locations in Namibia and Botswana (up to 120km away).  This individual's remarkable lone "recruitment" efforts gave rise to the now two separate herds (total >14) associated with the western borehole. The zebra have maintained a high degree of mobility in their search for forage, visiting the borehole only for drinking when necessary. 
4. The boreholes are key to developing NG3's unique tourism potential through a policy of minimal human disturbance so as to reduce the fear of humans in Western ngamiland's wildlife populations, thus enabling their non-consumptive use potential to be realized.  This is one of the main reasons for the Community's stance against any hunting disturbances within or adjacent to their tourism project areas.  Rehabilitating and "calming down"  wildlife populations is important to existing tourism enterprises that the communities already depend upon, as well as a number of other planned community based tourism initiatives in NG3. 
5. The importance of these remote boreholes as relatively safe watering areas for elephants also cannot be underestimated:  elephants are under increasing threat from organized poaching syndicates, professional hunters (carrying out licensed citizen "quota" hunts) and the residents of populated areas, wherever elephants are likely to encounter humans in their efforts to obtain water (e.g. Western Delta around Etsha, Gumare etc).  Drought conditions of course tend to greatly amplify these threats.  In November 2019, seven (7) bulls from a small resident elephant population centred around the Mahopa spring in Western NG3 (30km south of KWT's core project area) were killed under a citizen hunting quota issued by Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP):  The arrival of professional hunters and their clients came as a surprise to the communities, who together with DWNP had already identified (in kgotla meetings held earlier in the year) the urgent need for developing remote wildlife boreholes as a practical means of encouraging elephants to spend less time in the vicinity of the Qangwa, Mahopa and Dobe villages, thereby reducing the potential for conflict.  Although DWNP undertook to do so, so far only KWT has acted to create alternative water sources for elephants in NG3.  The communities also emphasize that shooting elephants will undermine their tourism based livelihoods and lead to aggression, thus endangering people travelling on foot between villages. It is pertinent to note that the Mahopa elephant population has to date not injured or killed any people.  There have however been two reported incidents of aggression related to the Mahopa elephant herds:  the first incident occured in September 2017 when people travelling on foot came across a wounded bull that had crossed over the border fence from Namibia.  Significantly, that incident happened in approximately the same location where two of the seven bull elephants (including a collared one) were killed in November 2019.  The second incident happened on the 6th of December 2019, (9km Northeast of where the collared elaphant was shot, only 12 days prior to that on the 24th of November), when residents transporting food on donkey back were also charged.  This suggests that as far as NG3 is concerned, shooting at elephants is what poses the most danger to humans, as opposed to their mere presence in the area. The killing of seven of the oldest bulls (amounting to perhaps 10% of the resident population) may have irreparably damaged the social structure of the Mahopa herds. It also represents a tragic and irreversible loss of a valuable (renewable) resource that - through habituation around remote boreholes and camps in NG3 - would otherwise have served as valuable natural capital for generating income for NG3 residents on a sustainable and ongoing basis. 
   
6. By maintaining a constant monitoring presence we are able to evaluate wildlife responses (from spoor recordings and camera trap data), protect the installations from vandalism and theft, and guard against human-related threats such as organized bush meat poaching, wildlife poisonings and legal quota hunting.
7. Income is also being generated for residents of Nxaunxau, Qarinxago and Dobe villages, who are employed on a continuous rotational basis in the borehole monitoring and associated patrol work:  these men are proud "game gaurds," dedicated to their cause of wildlife protection.

Other work:    
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
Integral to the above achievements, KWT has made great strides in implementing community based conservation and related livelihood development:  an area of more than 80,000 ha is already earmarked by local communities in Western NG3 as a "wildlife conservancy / heritage conservation area," where livestock is restricted and the area is managed primarily to rehabiltate natural and cultural resources including wildlife for sustainable use.  Species that have in the past been low in number (mainly due to poaching orchestrated from other villages) are steadily returning, successfully breeding and becoming habituated.  This conservation area has the potential to at least double in size as more community members from other localities are brought on board, which bodes well for fully reviving the western ngamiland wildlife ecosystem.  A low-impact wilderness and cultural tourism enterprise set up by Arthur and Sandi Albertson for one of the communities in Western NG3 already generates substantial income for its residents and through KWT the aim is to export this tourism model to other similar semi-arid wilderness areas.  A growing number of residents, especially the youth are also becoming involved in the wildlife monitoring programme and craft production (facilitated by Sandi), which are other income generating pursuits that foster a sense of pride and also help to reduce dependence on Government social welfare programmes.

Other ongoing work done in 2019 included, but was not limited to:
a) Engaging with stakeholders and authorities to promote: community consultation related to resource use; setting of sustainable hunting quotas; implementation of consumptive resource use so as not to undermine other existing and planned sustainable use activities.
b) Monitoring of fencing impacts on wildlife and promotion of habitat connectivity through removal of fences where appropriate.
c) Documentation of traditional knowledge and facilitation of inter-generational knowledge transfer.
d) Convening kgotla meetings in Maun for craft development purposes and craft producer talent scouting.
e) Facilitation of GH10 Trust (Ghanzi District) remobilization in partnership with Cheetah Conservation Botswana and support to craft development planning and community efforts to protect GH10 WMA from privatised fenced ranching developments.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

2020:  some of our planned activities for the year ahead:

• Rain harvester deployment:   We are in the process of finalising the manufacturing and deployment of 10 more portable rainwater harvesters for communities in the Central Kalahari  (phase 2), under a grant from Debeers, and the manufacturing of 10 units for communities in Western Ngamiland and Nyae-nyae in Namibia (under a grant from Kalahari Peoples Fund):  Installations are scheduled for February/March and the roll-out will help to strengthen community capacity to independently access and manage their own drinking water supplies. The harvesters will also help to buffer the effects of shortages in these drought prone areas, where boreholes are unrealiable and the cost of transporting in water is exhorbitant.  Use of some of the harvesters to facilitate tourism activities and community wildlife monitoring patrols in remote areas lacking in water is also planned.
  
• Community Wildlife Monitoring:  A reinstatement and expansion of this programme to include a community in NG2 is planned. In addition to the listed benefits, this will double the extent of border area under regular surveillance, thereby promoting further opportunities for cross-border conservation and tourism development cooperation. It will also be extremely useful in countering the emerging threats on both side of the border related to wildlife trafficking, poisoning, and elephant and lion poaching.
  
• Traditional knowledge recording and mapping:  We plan to map vulnerable territorial areas encompassing important and as yet unrecorded cultural and natural heritage resources, that are vital to the current and future well-being of local communities.  The data will serve as a useful basis for culturally and ecologically sensitive, land-use planning and the protection of resources from unsustainable use.
  
• Wildlife boreholes:  The monitoring and management of these sites and surrounding areas will continue, as outlined above, with emphasis on improving the complexity and output of our scientific evaluations of wildlife dynamics associated with the water points.
  
• Habitat and wildlife protection:  Much effort will need to focus on curbing threats posed by illegal land occupants orchestrating cattle invasions into the Western Ngamiland community conservation area, and the threat posed by crime syndicates related to theft, wildlife poisonings and poaching.  These syndicates are suspected to be involved in trade in elephant ivory and lion body parts, with the ongoing poaching of lions posing a critical threat to dwindling core populations in Kaudom N.P and NG5.
  
• Fence decommissioning and removal:  We will continue with our monitoring activities and efforts to lobby for the removal of artificial barriers still hindering the restablishment of connectivity across the western Ngamiland landscape, but only where feasible and practical to local community conservation activities.  Remote sections of the border fence-line that are located in cattle-free areas, are already severely dilapidated and semi-porous to wildlife, rendering their complete removal appropriate to averting further injury to free-ranging wildlife.
  
• Community fire ranger unit:  With the support of the ISFMI, we plan to establish community fire ranger teams in two villages in NG3 and NG2 to commence experimental early burning aimed at reducing the incidence of destructive hot season fires.  This will generate income for the target communities, improve the abundance of edible wild plant foods over time, and is mutually complementary to the planned community wildlife monitoring patrols. 
  
• Tourism enterprise development (Heritage trail and other initiatives):  In collaboration with Botswana Predator Conservation Trust and WWF, a planned second phase will see the initiation of community based tourism enterprises at priority "focal areas" identified during the feasibility planning phase of the Heritage Trail study (now complete), which will be implemented throughout the Western Ngamiland landscape.  The primary objective is to capitalize on the available self-drive markets and the growing international demand for access to landscapes rich in authentic wilderness and cultural attributes, such as the under-utilised Western Ngamiland region centred around NG1,2,3,4&5.  Our district level stakeholder consultations  in 2018 and 2019 revealed that the primary interest of communities is to participate in the photographic tourism industry.  During kgotla meetings, community representatives (VDC members, Trust members and Dikgosi) expressed great interest in converting underperforming or abandoned cattle post boreholes in strategic areas into dedicated wildlife boreholes, for strengthening widllife movement corridors and as focal points for game viewing, cultural activities and campsite developments. These would cater to regional self-drive tourists, and be linked to one another via 4x4 adventure trails.  These tourism development opportunities are seen as having the greatest potential for enabling communities to enter the tourism industry, and for meangingful skills development and income generation to take place through direct employment or the establishment of support enterprises linked to these developments. A critical barrier to the implementation of such enterprises however remains the complex, time-consuming and costly adminstration and licensing procedures, which also needs to be urgently addressed.
  

Finally - some November 2019 camera trap images from the Western and Eastern boreholes, highlighting the species conservation value of NG3 as a viable habitat and as a corridor for cross-border wildlife movement:

Wild dog pack comprising 8 pups at Eastern (Morama) borehole outlet pan. (23 Nov. 2019)