SUPPORT NEEDED FOR COMMUNITY WILDLIFE MONTORING PROGRAM

Following our earlier post in February 2019 on the training of Ju/hoansi San wildlife monitoring team members, we implemented a trial monitoring programme over a period of three months (March to May).  The patrols were carried out on foot by two patrol teams, who repeatedly surveyed sections of the Namibian border-fenceline as well as adjacent habitats (See Maps below). 

Under challenging conditions, the team covered more than 700km of mostly remote and uninhabited terrain, in the process obtaining valuable data on wildlife distributions and movement patterns, sex-ratios, direction of movement and movements across the decaying border fence-line.  Data for all large mammals was collected, for example: elephant, eland, gemsbok, kudu, roan, wild dog, hyaena, leopard and others. 

The results indicate, inter-alia, that there is a high frequency of cross-border widlife movement (despite the fence still mostly being upright) and that vast areas on the Botswana side are still intact ecologically, but need improved connectivity with Namibian habitats in order for further rehabilitation of wildlife population numbers to take place via in-migration from Namibia.  Predators were however found to be surprisingly low in number, and this is most likely due to a combination of wildlife poisonings over the years by farmers on the Botswna side and over-selection of males in trophy hunting oprations on the Namibian side (in the case of leopard).

This is a very special initiative that the community is proud to be involved in, as they identify strongly with its purpose.  They see their work here as being integral to their long-term efforts to preserve their land, cultural identity and natural resources, all of which are vital to their current and future well-being. 

The project has a number of valuable outputs, in that it:

• Provides a valuable source of income, especially for the youth of the general area, who lack employment opportunities.
• Assists in the transfer of ancient traditional knowledge in danger of disappearing (i.e. tracking and other skills), from skilled elder mentors to younger team members.
• Empowers communities to take charge of the management of their natural resources, thereby fostering a greater sense of ownership, pride and  wise custodianship of those resources.
• Assists in developing an understanding of Northwest Botswana's wildlife population dynamics, which are poorly understood, and of how to sustainably manage the area for the benefit of local communities and regional conservation efforts.
• Compliments current initiates aimed at developing community based tourism enterprises and provides a valuable monitoring role, especially in terms of helping law enforcement agencies to combat poaching and organized wildlife crime.
• Promotes cross-border harmonization of land-use, thus helping to pave the way for the future possible expansion of the KAZA transboundary conservation initiative westwards:  Re-establishing the historical connectivity that once existed between Namibias conservation areas and the Okavango Delta is key to rehabilitating the region's widllife biomass potential, and ensuring the long-term viability of the Protected Areas, which cannot suvive in isolation of the greater ecological continuum.  Only in this way can the true potential of the area's wildlife resources be fully realized:  as a primary economic driver of sustainable livelihood development for the region, based on the meaningful participation of communities in the tourism sector.

The programme urgently needs funding support to enable it to continue and develop further.  We need to train and include more team members, get the teams better equipped, and expand the programme to include other interested communities, thereby also expanding the extent of the border area and total wildlife habitat area under regular monitoring observation.