16 Feb 2020

Minister of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism, Ms Philda Kereng has called for expansion of Botswana’s tourism base.

Speaking during launch of some products in Tsabong on Friday, she said Botswana should not only be known for its wildlife and wetlands, but must also be known for its cultural tourism and desert landscape.

During the event, she unveiled the Kgalagadi heritage trail map, awarded recipients of the National Environment Fund (NEF) as well as launched the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Global Environment Fund (GEF).

She said Botswana had a diversity of tourism products, which needed to be unearthed and developed. 

One such development, she said, was the Kgalagadi heritage trail map that would guide tourists on historic sites found in the district targeted at enhancing tourism product offered.

Ms Kereng noted that the heritage trail passed at various key sites in the district, therefore people must position themselves to benefit from the low hanging fruits.

The trail maps take tourists through 29 points ranging from Matthy’s pit in Struizendam, Bokspits Kgotla to the old women club house, John Sidney Martin’s House, De hoek, Rappelspan, Gakhibane, Khuis, Lobu, Seo Monument and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park amongst many other areas.

She said the district offered a wide range of ecotourism resources, products and cultural heritage such as the desert landscape, unique sand dunes, salt pans, culture and history. “Botswana’s cultural heritage has been somewhat neglected for some time but if developed, it can create employment thereby alleviating poverty,” she said.

Further Ms Kereng awarded five recipients of the NEF who had come from different parts of Botswana chosen from 112 applicants who had submitted funding proposals.

She said those who were awarded funding ranged from sustainable use of natural resources, sustainable development, or were undertaking activities related to development and implementation of community based natural resources management, waste management, climate change mitigation and adaptation as well ecotourism and cultural tourism.

On the GEF Small Grants Programme, she said it was a joint partnership between Botswana government and UNDP with a total of P12 million. Government contributed P7 million while GEF contributed over P5 million. Birdlife Botswana received P500 000 to facilitate capacity building and enhance implementation of some of the funded projects.

For her part UNDP resident representative Ms Jacinta Barrins said the symbiosis of the ecosystem was critical to sustaining livelihoods.

Thus, she said small grants helped to protect the environment. The grants, she said, helped humanity to value and conserve the small things which were traditionally not valued.

Ms Barrins asserted that for communities to effectively carry out conservation there was need to empower them through interactive capacity building initiatives.

Furthermore, she said data collection, monitoring and evaluation of the projects were critical to track progress.

Thus to reap higher benefits, it was pertinent to infuse innovation, business acumen and adoption of Information Communication and Technology on GEF supported projects

For his part, Kgosi David Toto II of Tsabong appreciated the launch of the products.

He said Kgalagadi was endowed with a wealth of natural resources which were unique and should be preserved for generations to come.

He called for preservation of the natural resources which he said was gradually loosing value on account of urbanization and changing use patterns.

Thus he called for more interactions between physical planners and land boards to work with communities when allocating land to avoid allocating plots in areas where there were oil fields.

Motlhware Community Development Trust from Letlhakeng received over P3 million to create a Wildlife conservation park.  BOPA