Rural livelihoods and household adaptation to desiccation in the Okavango Delta, Botswana

Abstract

Desiccation of river channels, resulting from low inflows, is among the major shocks affecting household livelihoods in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. Household coping and adaptive strategies against this shock are believed to be inadequate owing to changes in policy, land use and environmental conditions. This paper aims to improve knowledge on household capacity to adapt to desiccation in the Okavango Delta. It identifies and assesses the impacts of desiccation on rural livelihoods, the household strategies, and the impacts of institutional changes on household responses. Informed by the sustainable livelihood and socio-ecological frameworks, the study used a survey of 526 households and other qualitative methods. The results show that desiccation adversely affected livelihood activities. Household responses included livestock relocation to wetter areas, livelihood diversification, digging of wells and boreholes, and switching from flood recession to rain-fed cultivation. Land use and institutional changes inhibited household adaptation to desiccation. Additionally, households did not sufficiently use opportunities resulting from desiccation. The study concludes that the ability to capitalise on opportunities created by climatic shocks needs to be developed at all levels, as this can improve adaptation to the impacts of, and reduce losses from, future climate variability and change in Botswana and other developing countries.

Environmental change, adaptation strategies and the relevance of migration in Sub-Saharan drylands

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Linking Coastal and Marine Resources Endowments and Climate Change Resilience of Tanzania Coastal Communities

“…Agriculture in Kivinja 'A' village is favored by fertile land that supports both food (e.g., vegetables and fruits) and cash crops (e.g., cashew nuts and sesame), unlike Mchungu village where agriculture is limited to floodplains entailing mainly paddy production. Also, paddy is often grown in the delta area, utilizing the fresh-salt water dynamics potential within the deltaic branches of the Rufiji River (e.g., Motsholapheko et al 2012;Ogilvie et al 2015;Smith et al 2013). However, farmers pointed out that the durations for cultivation in the delta areas are variable over recent years, depending on the freshwater-salty water dynamics.…”