10 Feb 2025

In a move to bolster conservation efforts and ensure sustainability of its cherished national parks, the Department of Wildlife has unveiled the Botswana Protected Area Resource Mobilisation Strategy and Partnership Plan Project.

The initiative, launched during a stakeholder conference in Maun, underscores the need for innovative partnerships between the public sector and private enterprises to ensure the long-term preservation of the country’s rich biodiversity.

Acting Deputy Director of Department of Wildlife and National Parks, Mr Dimakatso Ntshebe said protected areas were the backbone of the nation’s tourism sector and the cornerstone of conservation efforts, thus the need for collaboration efforts especially that the income reserved for national parks was far from adequacy.

“This resource mobilisation strategy is designed to create sustainable funding avenues, ensuring that we can maintain our commitment to preserving these natural treasures for future generations,” said Ntshebe.

For her part, Biodiversity Finance Initiate National Coordinator (UN Development Programme) Ms Kebaabetswe Keoagile emphasised that the objective of the project was to assess and address challenges of protected area funding, provide a structured approach to coordinating the resource mobilisation and development of partnerships for Protected Areas in Botswana.

“We support countries to calculate their financial needs to meet their national biodiversity action plan and strategy through the Biodiversity Finance Initiative methodology of which Botswana became a part of in 2012 and it has already helped to increase national park fees that effected in 2022,” she said.

She further said that the financial pressures on Botswana’s protected areas had intensified in recent years and so the project sought to confront these challenges through a coordinated approach that enhanced private sector participation and contributions, particularly targeting tourism operators and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operating around these vital ecosystems over the next six months period.

Support Consultant in the development of protected area resource mobilisation strategy and action plan, Mr Kai Collins shared that a cornerstone of the resource mobilisation strategy was the implementation of comprehensive training programmes aimed at equipping stakeholders with the necessary skills to manage and operate within protected areas effectively.

“By mobilising resources from various stakeholders, including the private sector, we can create a sustainable funding model that benefits both our protected areas and the local communities that depend on them,” said Collins.

He further added that the strengthened financial sustainability would ensure long-term protection of Botswana’s biodiversity. ENDS