| Overview : The Government of Botswana in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are implementing a project called ‘Mainstreaming Sustainable Land Management (SLM) in Rangeland Areas of Ngamiland District Landscapes for Improved Livelihoods’ (SLM Ngamiland).According to the Department of Environmental Affairs’ State of the Environment Report (2008), rangeland degradation is one of Botswana’s leading environmental problems.Ngamiland is one of the most affected areas due to a multitude of factors which combined to fuel the degradation. IfNgamiland’s current land and livestock management challenges continue, the resulting land degradation is likely to affect most efforts aimed at securing the continued flow of ecosystem goods and services from the savannah ecosystem that are necessary to sustain the national economy, livelihoods and the rich faunal and floral diversity in the district. The long-term solution to address continued rangeland degradation in Ngamiland as proposed by the project is to mainstream SLM principles into the livestock production sector, specifically in areas adjacent to the Okavango Delta where rangeland degradation is most intense. Critically, the need for enhanced participation of local communities in rangeland governance is pressing. Considering the fact that rangeland degradation is a complex and dynamic process driven by a multiplicity of socio-economic and bio-physical factors, any rehabilitation and monitoring of the land should be duly informed by an integrated and multidisciplinary rangeland assessment. An integrated range assessment is a highly participatory and structured process intended to assess socio-economic and ecological risks to ecosystem resilience and land productivity, define management objectives and identify actions to meet the objectives for improved human livelihoods and for livestock and wildlife viability. It results in an integrated package of reports and maps that can be used by decision-makers and other stakeholders to evaluate and manage the effects of proposed and ongoing multiple land use activities. Furthermore, the process should make use of land user knowledge, actively involve them at all levels of project planning, decision-making and execution. This principle of linking science to society by combining traditional/local knowledge with ecological (academic) expertise for improved decision-making and sustainable environmental management is indispensable to combating loss of ecosystem resilience and land productivity, to creating local to regional perspectives and to sharing knowledge for the benefit of the socio-ecological environment (Fraser et al., 2006). The UNDP/GEF SLM Ngamiland Project is seeking a multi-disciplinary team of experts to undertake detailed Integrated Rangeland Assessment (IRA) of the three main project implementation areas namely: Haina Veld and Maun/Toteng commercial ranches; subsistence farming rangelands within and about Lake Ngami and; Western Ngamiland (NG2 and environs). The successful bidder is expected to conduct a detailed review of pre-existing land-use plans within Ngamiland and then to work closely with the Project Management Unit (PMU) to create and engage a Multi-Stakeholder Platform (MSP) necessary for the baseline evaluation of land management actions and indicators, a weighting of indicators, as well as a collective integrated evaluation of actions prior to field measurement or quantitative evaluation of ecological/biophysical and socio-economic indicators. Following completion of the IRA, the team shall produce specific land-use plans, maps and other reports for each of the targeted areas with clear management actions to be implemented by the project and other stakeholders during and after project life. The team is expected to use Land-Use Conflict Identification System (LUCIS), a land-use planning tool adopted by Tawana Land Board, in the development of the land-use plans. |
