AN ASSESSMENT OF THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THE UTILISATION OF SAVANNA PRODUCTS IN BOTSWANA

H.K. Watson and T.B. Dlamini, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Durban Westville
Report prepared for King's College London representing UDW’s 1999 contribution to European Union (INCO) Project: IC18- CT98- 0277 Southern African Savannas: sustainable management of natural resources.

Traditionally people in Botswana have utilised a wide range of savanna products for a variety of purposes. These products are most commonly referred to in the literature as "veld products", "non-grazing products," "non-timber forest products" and "woodland resources". The term "savanna" describes vegetation comprising a herbaceous ground layer and an upper woody layer. The degree to which either layer dominates is regulated by the interaction of drought, fire, grazing and browsing pressure by both domestic and wild ungulates, elephant damage, and the nature and intensity of harvesting by humans. Although the terms "veld", "woodland" and "savanna" are generally synonymous, the term "savanna products" has been selected for use in this report as it is believed to better encompass the variety of products from the diverse range of (a) savannas represented in Botswana from predominately grass with scattered shrubs in the arid south east, to the broadleaved dry deciduous forests of the north east, and (b) from both the herbaceous and woody layers.

During the 20^th century increases in population, urbanization and commercial opportunities have evidently increased the demand for most savanna products. Losses in the area covered by savannas and changes in the composition of extant savannas have however, decreased the potential supply of most of them. Shortages of several savanna products now occur around several large settlements and generally in south east Botswana. Unfortunately, reliable long term data on the magnitude of these demand and supply trends and on their environmental and socio-economic implications, are not available. The very significant contribution that savanna products make to food security and income generation particularly for poor rural and especially female headed households, has only been researched in earnest over the past two decades and only recognised at national policy level in the last few years. By examining the practices and policies regulating the demand for and supply of savanna products, this report highlights those which threaten the sustainability of the resource and identifies more sustainable alternative options. This report focuses on the tribal or communal lands which comprise 71 % of the country and where communities essentially have open access to most savanna products (Sekhwela, 1992).

Although access to these products is restricted on the privately owned freehold land which covers six percent of the country, Kgathi (1992) reports that illegal poaching of fuel and construction wood, thatching grass and wild fruits from such land, is common. Access to savanna products in the remainder of the country which is state land including national parks and forest reserves, is restricted by the 1968 Forest Act. A new forest policy has however been drafted (Republic of Botswana, 1999) and there have already been initiatives to allow neighbouring communities limited access to these products (Tema, 1999 pers. comm.).

According to Van Vegten (1979) travellers through Botswana between 1820 and 1935 describe a predominately grass dominated landscape. Woody components are very much better represented in its contemporary landscape viz:- (a) dry deciduous forests comprising most commonly Pterocarpus angolensis and Baikiaea spp. in the north where mean annual rainfall (MAR) exceeds 550 mm; (b) tree savanna in most parts of the country where the MAR is between 350 and 550 mm. These savannas are dominated by Colophospermum mopane and Acacia spp. in the north east and by Combretum spp. and Acacia spp. in the south east, and (c) Acacia spp. shrub savanna in the western part of the country where MAR is less than 350 mm (Kgathi et al, 1994). The very substantial decrease in both the variety and number of wild ungulates and corresponding very substantial increase in domestic livestock (eg., the country’s cattle population increased from a hundred thousand in 1900 to in excess of three million in the 1980s), served to increase the proportion of woody plant seeds that survived and germinated. The reasons for this are firstly, although cattle and sheep do browze especially when grazing is limited, goats are the main browzers and so a smaller proportion of woody plant seeds are ingested by domestic stock as compared to wildlife. Secondly, a smaller proportion of the ingested seeds are destroyed during passage through domestic stock (eg.,less than 20 % in cattle and goats) as compared to wildlife (eg., up to 95 % in impala). Thirdly, as the overgrazed grasses lose vigour, the woody seedlings can out compete them for water and nutrients. Finally, an overgrazed grass sword is unable to provide enough fuel for the high intensity fires needed to kill young woody plants (Tolsma, 1989).

Although numerous researchers note the significant role that bush encroachment has played in vegetation change in Botswana, there is very little quantitative information on the extent and magnitude of this trend. Arntzen and Veenendahl (1986) note that bush encroachment increased the standing crop in Kgatleng to 60 tonnes per ha but there is unfortunately no baseline data. Using Landsat MSS Imagery Ringrose et al (1990) found that bush encroached areas intensified and expanded during drought. Using sequential aerial photographs Kgathi et al (1994) recorded a three fold increase in the number of trees over a 29 year period along a transect near Khakhea. Kgathi and Mlotshwa (1997) noted that bush encroachment was best represented around boreholes and settlements. Using Thermatic Mapper data along a rainfall gradient through south east Botswana, Ringrose et al (2000) found that 70 % of the fields present in 1984 had become bush encroached by 1994 and that 50 % of those present in 1994 had become so by 1996. The first and second intervals correspond to dry and wet periods, respectively. So, while as noted earlier, bush encroachment proceeds during drought, it is evidently substantially accelerated by more favourable rainfall conditions.

In addition to decreasing the grazer carrying capacity, a number of detrimental environmental trends are attributed to bush encroachment. Van Vegten (1979) notes that travellers through Botswana’s pre-colonial grass dominated landscape describe "a large number of streams and springs long since dried up". Deeper rooting woody plants are capable of extracting subsurface water more efficiently and this inevitably diminishes the surface availability in terms of both quantity and duration. As the overgrazed grass sword deteriorates the proportion of the exposed soil surface increases, increasing its susceptibility to erosion by both wind and water. The resultant increase in albedo may decrease local rainfall to some extent. Bush encroachment has also evidently decreased the range and availability of savanna products. Ringrose et al (1990) describe the decreases in the species diversity of the ground layer and in the availability of good browze, that it causes. The main bush encroachment colonizers are Acacia spp., Colophospermum mopane, Dichrostachys cinerea, Terminalia sericia and Grewia spp. While Colophospermum mopane has limited browze potential, it is of considerably less nutritive value than the grasses it replaces. Terminalia sericia and Grewia spp. are of no value as fuel wood. Most of these woody invaders particularly the Acacia spp. form dense thickets. Not only do livestock have difficulty gaining access to browze in them, but their trunks and branches are generally too small to be used for constructing dwellings and livestock enclosures. None of these woody invaders are important food sources (Clark, 1994).

The range and availability of savanna products has also progressively decreased due to the conversion of savanna to infrastructure and cultivated fields and the associated land degradation. Ringrose et al (2000) found that 17 and 18, percent of their study area which was savanna in 1984, had by 1996, become degraded and infrastructure, respectively, due to the expansion of major villages and Gaborone. They also noted that during non drought conditions there was a continuing and apparently escalating trend towards degradation. Botswana’s agricultural policy makes it mandatory for farmers to clear arable land holdings in order to secure their tenure of them (Kgathi, 1997). As a consequence, 80 to 90 % of these holdings have been cleared, even though on average only 60 % of them is ploughed (Arntzen and Veenendaal, 1986). The government’s Destumping Scheme and the Accelerated Rainfed Arable Programme has been a major agent of savanna transformation and loss. Eskeli (1989, cited by Sekhwela, 1997a) for example, found that over 70 000 ha of land had been destumped between 1985 and 1988 under this programme. Although most of the stumps rapidly coppice, the shoots are generally harvested to repair the fences around the arable fields. Once the arable lands are abandoned, the stumps redevelop into trees but their potential as a fuelwood source is substantially diminished. Kgathi et al (1994) reported that both tree density and biomass in unaffected areas was nearly four orders of magnitude greater than in areas affected by such arable activities. These activities are increasingly encroaching into grazing land. Arntzen (1989 cited by Kgathi, 1992) for example, reported that 2500 to 3000 ha of grazing land was converted to arable land in the West Kgatleng district between 1963 and 1982. This trend exacerbates the overstocking and bush encroachment trend described earlier.

While savannas are adapted to withstand and even benefit from fires, van Vegten (1979), Arntzen and Veenendaal (1986), Alidi (1990) and others ascribe a significant portion of their degradation to an excessive fire frequency. Estimates of the proportion of the country’s savanna burnt each year range from a tenth (Arntzen and Veenendaal, 1986) to half (Clark, 1994). Arntzen and Veenendaal (1986) however, note that a successful campaign against veldfires has recently decreased this proportion. Most fires are deliberately ignited by pastoralists intent on improving grazing and arresting bush encroachment, and by hunters to drive wildlife into more accessible areas. Because of the lack of fire control facilities and the poor maintenance of fire breaks (Millar, 1986/87). Many such fires get out of control and end up affecting vast tracks of land. In 1989 for example, a run away fire affected 800 km² (Alidi, 1990). Kent Burger (1983) attributed the declining health and vigour of northern Botswana’s Baikiaea woodland to damage by too frequent fires. This trend in Pterocarpus angolensis was additionally attributed to elephant damage. As noted earlier, communities neighbouring state land in the Chobe district have only recently acquired limited access to savanna products on them. Elephants damage several tree species besides Pterocarpus angolensis, by breaking them to reach leaf fodder, stripping bark and pushing them over. This damage then renders the trees susceptible to further damage from fungi, disease, drought and fire (Millar, 1986/87). The elephant population in the district has increased from a few hundred in 1950 (Millar, 1986/87) to between fifty and seventy thousand at present (Tema, 1999 pers. comm.). An inventory of all trees in ten 5 km² plots in the Forest Reserve was carried out in 1992. The repeat survey in 1997 revealed a 50 % decrease in their number (Tema, 1999. pers. comm.). Elephant damage is likely to become an increasingly significant factor affecting the range nd availability of savanna products from this district, unless there is intervention to reduce their population.

While bush encroachment, land clearance, frequent fires and elephant damage have all served to decrease the range and availability of savanna products, the potential supply of these products nationally is still far greater than demand. But there is an unequal spatial distribution between supply and demand. These products are most under threat in the south eastern part of the country from pastoral use, land clearing and the harvesting of wood for fuel, construction and fencing. Forty five percent of Botswana’s population, half of which is urbanized is situated in the south-east on less than five percent of the country’s land area. Whereas ESMAP (1991) estimated the potential supply of wood for fuel, construction and fencing to be over 20 times the demand in the north east and central east area of the country, in the south east their supply estimate declines to three times demand. Considering only fuelwood species, their supply estimate for the south east is equivalent to demand.

Arntzen and Veenendaal (1986) estimated that 500 000 tonnes of wood representing 45.5 % of the total harvested annually in Botswana was used for fuel. Fuel wood supplies on average about 80 % of the energy needs of most households, small enterprises and public service institutions in rural areas, and of low to medium income households in urban areas (Sekhwela, 1997a). While fuel wood accounted for 60 % of the energy consumed nationally in 1991, by 1992 this had declined to 57 % due to households switching primarily to kerosene and LPG. As switching is motivated by fuel wood scarcity and the associated increased costs relative to that of the more convenient use fuels (Kgathi and Mlotshwa, 1997), a continuing decline is likely. Unfortunately these authors were unable to verify this trend, as no equivalent more up to date statistics are known to them. The households in both rural and urban areas primarily use the fuel wood for cooking, baking, space heating, lighting and beer brewing (Arntzen and Veenendaal, 1986; Kgathi et al, 1994). Small rural enterprises such as bakeries and restaurants, and public service institutions such as hospitals and clinics, schools, police and defence force camps, prisons etc., primarily use the fuel wood for bulk cooking and water heating (Arntzen and Veenendaal, 1986; Kgathi and Mlotshwa, 1997). ERL (1985, cited by Kgathi et al, 1994) estimated the household per capita fuel wood consumption in rural areas to be 0.51 tonnes per year. They also observed that household per capita consumption (a) was about 40 % in winter due to space heating, (b) was lower in urban areas and large villages, (c) decreased as the number of occupants increased, and (d) decreased as fuel wood scarcity increased. Most of the fuel wood is used as wood in open fires which have an energy efficiency of only about 8% (Kgathi, 1984). Very little charcoal is consumed and that which is, is mostly imported from South Africa as the only source in the country is the limited amount made from sawmill waste in the Chobe district (ESMAP, 1991).

In northern Botswana Colospermum mopane is the most preferred fuel wood species. Elsewhere in the country the species most preferred for this purpose are Combretum imberbe, Combretum apiculatum and Acacia mellifera. Reasons cited for this preference include the fact that they (a) give reasonably hot fires and give lasting embers, (b) do not smoke or spark excessively, (c) do not have an unpleasant odour or detrimental effect on health and (d) can be cut with ease. Also used but less preferred because their embers do not last well, are Acacia erubescens and Dichrostachys cinerea (Kgathi, 1984; Arntzen and Veenendaal, 1986; Kgathi and Mlotshwa, 1997). Fuel wood is removed from the savanna resource by essentially two categories of people. The first category predominantly comprise women and children who collect naturally dead twigs and small branches and dead waste wood from other tree cutting activities including land clearing and the harvesting of wood for construction, for fencing and for trading. The collected wood is primarily removed on foot as headloads and used for home consumption (Kgathi et al, 1994; Sekhwela, 1997a). The second category primarily comprise men who remove large, live and dead, branches and trunks using modes of transport ranging from wheel barrows, bicycles, donkey to trunks (Sekhwela, 1998). Although they vehemently deny doing so, Kgathi (1984) and Diphaha (1994) report that there is abundant evidence that they obtain this material by both cutting live trees, and burning the base of trees and leaving them to die.

While carrying out sustainable practices themselves, the mostly poor, rural women in the first category, are detrimentally affected by fuel wood scarcity caused by land clearing and other unsustainable wood harvesting activities. Fuel wood is becoming increasingly scarce in south east Botswana particularly around large villages and urban centres. As its scarcity increases, the distances travelled to collect it increase for example Opschoor (1981, cited by Kgathi, 1992) found that the mean distance travelled by Mochudi residents to collect fuel wood increased from 1.3 kms in 1969, to 3.6 kms in 1979. By 1990, this distance had increased to 15 kms (Kgathi, 1992). These increased distances mean that more labour time is spent collecting fuel wood, which in turn, decreases the amount of time available for activities such as tending arable fields, fetching water, preparing and cooking food, and childcare. Responses to increasing scarcity include:- (a) the involvement of men in collection, (b) a reduction in the number of meals cooked, and switch to fast cooking but less nutritious foods, (c) collecting and harvesting less preferred fuel wood species, (d) ignoring cultural taboos and harvesting valuable fruit and medicinal species, (e) poaching fuel wood from freehold land and (f) using cow dung and crop residues as fuel. The last response listed, in turn deprives the soil of important nutrients and organic matter. All of these responses have been recorded in Botswana principally by Kgathi (1997), Kgathi and Mlotshwa (1997) and Sekhwela (1997a). The net affect of fuel wood scarcity is that its real price becomes excessive and households are forced to purchase it and other fuels. Kgathi and Mlotshwa (1997) point out that the poorest households are forced to purchase fuel wood first as their lack of access to transport renders collection beyond 16kms untenable. This threshold distance is 25 kms for wealthier households with access to transport.

Increasing population, urbanization and fuel wood scarcity have steadily increased opportunities to generate an income from supplying fuel wood. In the early 1980's Kgathi (1984) found that most fuel wood traders were rural based, middle aged men, of low socio-economic status who engaged in this activity to supplement their income from agricultural production. The intensity of this activity increased during droughts and winter when their labour was less needed for agricultural purposes. By the late 1980's, ESMAP (1991) found that although most fuel wood traders still collected the wood themselves, they were urban based and earned as much as unskilled industrial workers. Sekhwela (1997b) noted that recently stationary roadside sellers have become a common sight along main roads leading to urban centres and major villages in southeast Botswana.

Arntzen and Veenendaal (1986) estimated that 204 000, 170 000 and 34 000 tonnes of wood representing 27.3, 22.7 and 4.5 percent of the total harvested in Botswana annually was used for constructing fences around arable fields, constructing livestock enclosures and fences around homesteads, and constructing dwellings for human habitation, respectively. Poles derived from small diameter tree trunks and branches are harvested for the construction of dwellings for human habitation. Poles are preferentially harvested from Colophospermum mopane (Totolo, 1997) and Dichrostanchys cinerea (Kgathi and Mlotshwa, 1997) because their wood is relatively hard and resistant to termites. As noted earlier Colophospermum mopane is also a preferred fuel wood species. Dichrostachys cinerea while less preferred, is used for fuel wood particularly in areas where there is now a scarcity of the more preferred fuel wood species. While harvesting poles from these species may contribute to a fuel wood shortage in the long term, in the short term those collecting fuel wood for both home consumption and trading benefit from pole harvesting activities. As much as 70 % of the wood is wasted when extracting poles and hence available for fuel wood collectors (Sekhwela, 1998)

The harvesting of poles associated with rapid urbanization in Gaborone has resulted in a decrease in the density of surrounding woody communities (Kgathi, 1992). While Botswana does import a substantial amount of construction and fencing wood valued at eleven million Pula in 1984 (Artzen and Veenendaal, 1986), this is mainly used by housing contractors and commercial enterprises. Trade in harvested indigenous poles does exist in the large settlements and urban centres, but at low levels. Wood for dwelling construction is an infrequent requirement in most households. The household's males are responsible for meeting this requirement and generally do so by procuring transport and assistance to go into the wild resource for a once off harvest operation (Sekhwela, 1995). The amount of wood harvested for construction from its surroundings, substantially decreases once the main phase of settlement and expansion subsides. In the established settlements of Tshokwe and Diphuduhudu for example, Sekhwela et al (1992 cited by Sekhwela, 1997a) found that less than 0.65 and 0.20 % of their respective surroundings' standing stock was harvested for construction material annually. But even in settlements and urban centres where growth has progressively increased, the relative demand for indigenous construction wood has decreased with the trend towards modern multi-roomed housing units with concrete block walls and corrugated iron or tile roofs (Sekhwela, 1997a).

Palisade fences are popular around livestock enclosures and around homesteads because they are most effective in excluding and retaining, particularly the small livestock. Irrespective of whether small or large diameter trunks and branches are used, they consume the largest amounts of wood per unit length (Sekhwela, 1999 pers. comm.). Fences around arable fields are generally comprised of large diameter posts between which smaller branches are packed. Although they consume less wood per unit length than palisade fences, they nevertheless consume very substantial amounts. Tietma et al (1998 cited by Sekhwela, 1998) for example, estimated that 30 and 6, tonnes of wood was needed for construction and annual renewal, respectively, for a fence around a 4.6 ha field. There is a strong correlation between the number of posts in the fences and the number of stumps in the enclosed and surrounding areas. Interestingly, Sekhwela (1997a) found areas with more trees had relatively more stumps than areas with fewer trees. He attributed this to the likelihood that the former have trees of the required stem diameter sizes and offer more choice in terms of plant species and desired qualities. It is difficult to predict the future trend in demand for fence material as the intensity of subsistence cultivation fluctuates with drought and poverty levels (Artzen and veenendaal, 1986), and the requirement for household and kraal fences does not correspond directly to increases in human population (Sekhwela, 1997a).

Although Arntzen and Veenendaal's (1986) estimates as noted above, suggest that all wood harvested in Botswana is used either as fuel or in dwelling, kraal and fence construction, some wood is specifically harvested for other purposes. While nationally it may be an insignificant proportion, locally as will become apparent below, it may be quite significant. Wood from Albizia anthlminitica, Berchemia discolor, Commiphora africana, C. angolensis, Peltophorum africanum and Ricininodendron rautanenii is used to make wooden containers such as cups, buckets etc. Wood from Burkea africana, Combretum imberbe and Pterocarpus angolensis is used to make mortars and that from Colophospermum mopane to make pestles. Drums are made from wood from Pterocarpus angolensis and Sclerocarya birrea. Subsp. caffra, and furniture from Acacia burkea, Faura saligna and Spirostachys africana (Totolo, 1997). According to Totolo (1997), the demand for the above lisked/ wooden products has declined and is likely to continue to do so because of the increasing trend of people switching to using more convenient commercially available products.

Dugout canoes are made from Baikiaea plurijuga, Guibourtia coleosperma, Pterocarpus angolensis and Spirostachys africana trees. Tourism in the Okavango delta sustains the demand for these canoes and there is concern about the decreased availability of large trees of all these species (Totolo, 1997). While the authors observed that wooden trailers drawn either by donkeys or motor vehicles are widely used in Botswana, no literature on the origin of the wood or qualities involved is known to them. Wood carving is not a large scale activity in Botswana. A total of about only 300 people generate an income from doing so (Totolo, 1997). The quantities of wood consumed by this activity are nevertheless quite substantial and are likely to continue to increase for as long as political stability continues to elude neighbouring countries. Most of the carvers are not Botswana nationals. Tietema et al's (1988, cited by Sekhwela, 1998) study of the craft industry in the Dukwe refugee settlement indicated that 791, 374, 94 and 113, Kirkia acumunata, Commiphora spp, Sclerocarya birrea and Ricinodendron rautanenii trees respectively, were used annually by 58, 32, 13 and 31 people, respectively.

A very wide range of savanna plants and plant parts are used as (a) a source of food and fibre, (b) to make beverages, cosmetics and floristic displays, and (c) tannins, resins, dyes and medicines. It appears that it is only once the product acquires commercial value, that the traditional norms and taboos that previously regulated its utilisation at sustainable levels, are disregarded (Kerapeletswe et al, 1997, van der Vleuten, 1998). Grass and reeds which have commercial value as thatching and fencing material have become increasingly scarce around all areas of concentrated population in south east Botswana (Artzen and Veenendaal, 1986). About 3000 people generate an income from mopane worms picked off Colophospermum mopane tree in northern Botswana. On average 350 to 400 tonnes are harvested annually and mostly purchased by Tuli block farmers for export to South Africa (Artzen and Veenendaal, 1986). Recently outsiders have taken to harvesting these worms. Because they need to spend the least possible time in the area, they are too impatient to wait for the caterpillars to finish feeding on the leaves and come down from the canopy to pupate. So, they break branches to get them down. If this trend is permitted to escalate, it may well affect the sustainability of this resource (Sekhwela, 1999 pers.comm.).

According to Artzen and Veenendaal (1986) some 67000 people generate an income from the Mokola palm. The palm occurs around the Okavango delta and Makgadigadi pan in northern Botswana. Its leaves are used to baskets. They report that weavers in Etsha who produced an average of three baskets a week, earnt P 360 to 370 per annum. Twenty percent of the baskets produced were sold locally, the balance were purchased by Botswana Craft in Gaborone. Previously one or two young leaves would be cut from each palm. In response to the increased commercial demand for these baskets, an excessive number of leaves have been harvested from a substantial proportion of the palms, killing them. Arntzen and Veenendaal (1986) report that 97 % of the basket weavers around Etsha experience increased difficulty in obtaining palm leaves. Arntzen and Veenendaal (1986) and Clark (1994) report that the excessive stripping of bark from Berchemia discolor and Euclea divinorum used dyeing the baskets brown, has killed so many of these trees that they are now scarce. According to Marshall (1998), in 1985 there were 3100 traditional medical practitioners in Botswana most of whom were based in the rural areas. Although some cultivation is practiced, most of these practitioners collect the plant material they require themselves. The highest demand is for Harpagophytum spp., Cassia abbreviata, Ximenea spp.,Grewia flava and Grewia flavescens. Grewia is traded for leaves and branches, the others for their underground parts. According to Sekhwela (1990) over exploitation of the Grapple plant Harpogophytum procumbens due to export to Namibia and South Africa, stopped when NGOs such as Thusano Lefatsheng, orchestrated the creation of a local market for it.

Most people interviewed in three villages in the Kweneng West district in a study reported by Sack (1997a and b), ranked the collection of non-wood, non-grazing savanna products as their third most important livelihood activity, and considered these products to be an important part of their lives. Eighteen percent of the households sold these products and derived an average income from them of P 212.36 per annum, which is relatively high. While male headed households, profited more from the sale of these goods than female headed households in real terms these products were particularly important to women because of their more limited access to income generating opportunities outside the home. In the light of these findings, Kerapeletswe et al's (1997) report on another component of the same broad project in the same study area, that most people were of the opinion that these products were no longer as plentiful as they were in the past, is cause for concern.

The transformation of Botswana's savannas not only diminishes its potential to provide savanna products, but also its potential ability to provide environmental services. These indirect benefits include soaking up rainfall and releasing it slowly into the air, and into surface and subsurface waters; absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen; fertilising and protecting the soil from erosion, and providing wildlife habitats. The non tangible benefits of savannas such as their role in enhancing ecotourism and fulfilling cultural and spiritual needs, may also be adversely affected by their transformation (Clark, 1994).

As a signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, the UN Framework Convention on Climatic Change, the and Agenda 21 Agreement, Botswana has an international obligation to more actively regulate the transformation of its savannas. Botswana's Government is well aware of this obligation and has commissioned numerous research programs and encouraged the research activities of several relevant NGO's with a view to identifying ways of reducing the demand for savanna products. This research has included (a) assessing ways of improving the efficiency and acceptability of both fuel wood and coal stoves, (b) assessing ways to implement a widescale, socially equitable fuel wood harvesting levy, (c) assessing the feasibility of encouraging widescale agroforestry and community forestry, and (d) assessing the feasibility of involving communities in the monitoring and management of savanna products. Tangible outcomes of this research effort include the government's role in (a) replacing fuel wood stoves with coal stoves in public institutions, (b) the campaign to reduce the frequency of veld fires, (c) supporting annual Arbor Day activities (d) supporting research into the propagation of savanna products.

The most significant realisation to emerge from this effort is that the most effective means of securing savanna products and services is not through an extensive planting scheme, but through multi- sectoral savanna management. Such management definitely includes harvesting live trees, which if properly regulated can actually increase the productivity of woody communities. The culmination of this realisation is reflected in the New Forest Policy which takes more general responsibility for the country's forests and woodlands. This policy was approved by Parliament during its last session of 1999. The review of the 1968 Forest Act and formulation of the New Forest Act is due to start early in the new millenium. In addition to be moulded by the national research effort noted above, the New Forest Policy has clearly benefitted from the rapidly developing international expertise in forestry issues reflected in for example, the UN Forestry Principles. It is an excellent document that lists a multitude of objectives. The most significant of which to the focus of this report are (a) " Empowering local communities in rural and urban areas to manage forests and tree resources, fostering ownership or usufruct of trees and ensuring that trees and forests are sustainably utilised for the benefit of all, now and in the future, (b) encouraging and supporting rural people, both women and men, to grow appropriate multi- purpose trees, in community woodlots, in agroforestry, or in other arragements that are suitable to their specific needs, capacities and customs, (c) promoting development of sustainable forest related activities such as, nurseries, forest based handicrafts, identification and harvesting of potentially valuable non wood forest products and beekeeping as means to raise income, (d) encouraging and supporting the development of value added processes to forest and veld products at village level so as to maximize income for the producers, and (e) providing communities with adequate assistance packages including establishment of nurseries at village level, education, technical training and information in order to enable them to carry- out community forestry activities (Republic of Botswana, 1999)."

The major challenges in drafting the New Forest Act will be to harmonize it with other related legislation such as the Wildlife Conservation Act, Land Act, Water Resources Act and National Parks Act. The most significant detrimental impacts on the country's savannas are not addressed by the New Forest Policy i.e., (a) the agricultural policy that makes it mandatory to clear land within five years of allocation to avoid forfeiture and (b) the government's subsidies to " cattle barons" (Alidi, 1990) enabling them to maintain unacceptably high stocking rates leading to overgrazing and bush encroachment. The efficacy of the New Forest Act and any related new legislation in ensuring the sustainable utilisation of Botswana's savannas, is very largely dependent on whether practical obstacles such as the shortage of adequately trained personnel and funding, large distances, and lack of effective communication between government departments, noted by Alidi (1990), can be overcome.

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