Positioning the University of Botswana Towards Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

An Analysis of Communities’ Attitudes Toward Wildlife and Implications for Wildlife Sustainability

“…The CBNRM policy provides for communal benefits from natural resources and for linking protected areas with neighboring communities (Sebele, 2010). However, its weakness is that it centralizes the control of the natural resources (Mogomotsi, 2019). This has the potential to undermine communities’ incentive to conserve wildlife (Pienaar et al., 2013).…”

“…Consequently, such exclusionary wildlife policies provide few incentives for the sustainable use of wild animals. (p. 941)The above observation is true in Botswana where policies or laws do not make any explicit provision for the involvement of local communities in the declaration of protected areas and how communities are to benefit from wildlife conservation (Cirelli & Morgera, 2010; Mogomotsi, 2019). The top-down approach in environmental policymaking practiced by Botswana leads to the exclusion of local communities (Mogomotsi et al., 2018).…”

“…It views communities as invaluable assets fully capable of sustainably managing wildlife and other natural resources from meeting their livelihood needs. However, it has been argued that this approach often fails when conflicts occurring between human activities and biodiversity conservation are poorly managed (Mogomotsi, 2019).…”

“…This conservation practice is largely meant to protect the flourishing nature-based tourism in the Okavango Delta to the detriment of local communities. As a result, there is an ongoing conflict between the state and the residents in rural communities were tourism is practiced in Botswana which is attributable to the acrimonious relationship between conservation and livelihoods of communities living adjacent to and within wildlife sanctuaries (Mogomotsi, 2019). There is a paucity of context-specific empirical studies to understand the perceptions of local communities toward wildlife conservation in the internationally recognized Okavango Delta.…”

Sustainable Development Goals Localisation in the Hospitality Sector in Botswana and Zimbabwe

“…For example, Dube [19] examined disaster risk reduction in the context of SDGs, Chirongoma [20] focused on the concept of ubuntu on disaster response in the era of SDGs and Chigudu and Chirisa [21] dwelt on the land issue in the context of SDGs, amongst a few other topics profiled. According to Mogomotsi et al [22], in Botswana, areas covered under the SDGs include university positioning for SDGs, while Musekiwa and Mandiyanike [23] focused on the national vision and Atlhopheng et al [24] on biodiversity and SDGs. There has been very little attention from Botswana and Zimbabwean academics on tourism and SDGs.…”