| Overview : Botswana has established an impressive PA estate which covers approximately 40% of the total land territory (approximately 243,000 km2). The Chobe Complex, along with the Okavango, is Botswana’s flagship conservation area, with human livelihoods being closely tied to biodiversity and water resources. The Chobe-Kwando-Linyanti (CKL) complex in northern Botswana links the Okavango Delta, Caprivi Region of Namibia and Matetsi-Hwange PA complex in Zimbabwe. It comprises the iconic Chobe National Park (CNP), six forest reserves (FRs), and nine Wildlife Management Areas. A small area to the east is dedicated to commercial agriculture (Pandamatenga Farms) while agriculture and stock herding are also practiced by local people in the Chobe Enclave and around Pandamatenga. Although the Botswana Protected Area estate is impressive, there are concerns that have been noted about the progressive decline of biodiversity in the Botswana protected areas, including in the Chobe Complex (Child 1968; Campbell and Child 1971; Williamson 1994; Wheelwright, J. Mark Dangerfield et al. 1996). This decline is attributed, at least in part, to anthropogenic influences, including uncoordinated sectoral policies and land use conflicts, failure to re-invest in the PA/wildlife resource, and outdated management systems. Chobe is fully stocked, but there are some concerns that domination of the biomass by elephants (91%), the effects of past land uses (cattle stock routes, logging, burning), inappropriate or disruptive land uses (e.g. fencing, farms on PA boundaries) may be exacerbated by climate change so careful monitoring and adaptive management of these ecosystems is critical. Like elsewhere in the world, the impact of human and associated economic and livelihood activity is real in the Chobe Complex, and human population growth, anthropogenic effects on biodiversity are expected to continue rising. In order to mitigate the observed decline in biodiversity in the Chobe Complex the District is developing an integrated land use Plan. The conservation threats assessment are a vital piece of information needed to inform especially on sustainable management of the Chobe Complex protected areas need to be identified and assessed. The assessment should be detailed enough to guide the development of the threat mitigation strategies and threat monitoring programme, management planning of the Chobe Complex protected areas. In light of this, UNDP is seeking to engage the services of a Conservation Biologist or Zoologist or Ecologist or Natural Resource Management Expert to conduct a Survey and Assessment of the Conservation Threats of the Chobe National Park and Chobe Forest Reserves. |
