The socio-economic and environmental impacts of

See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: Socio-economic andEnvironmental Impacts ofTourism Development on theOkavango Delta, North–WesternBotswanaArticle in Journal of Arid Environments · June 2003Impact Factor: 1.64 · DOI: 10.1006/jare.2002.1101CITATIONS133READS1,1471 author:Joseph MbaiwaUniversity of Botswana52 PUBLICATIONS 829 CITATIONS SEE PROFILEAvailable from: Joseph MbaiwaRetrieved on: 26 May 2016Thesocio-economicandenvironmentalimpactsoftourismdevelopmentontheOkavangoDelta,north-westernBotswanaJosephE.Mbaiwa*HarryOppenheimerOkavangoResearchCentre,UniversityofBotswana,PrivateBag285,Maun,Botswana(Received22July2002)TheOkavangoDeltaisoneofBotswana’sleadingtouristdestinationareas,mainlybecauseoftherichwildliferesourcesitsustainsanditsscenicbeauty.Tourismhasstimulatedthedevelopmentofavarietyofalliedinfrastructureandfacilities,suchashotels,lodgesandcamps,airportandairstrips,intheOkavangoregion.Throughitsbackwardlinkages,wholesaleandretailbusinesseshavealsobeenestablished,especiallyinMaun,tooffervariousgoodstothetouristindustry.TarredroadsandothercommunicationfacilitieshavealsobeendevelopedinNgamilandDistrictpartlytofacilitatetourismdevelopment.TourismintheOkavangoDeltaalsoprovidesemploymentopportunitiestolocalcommunitiesanditisasignificantsourceofforeignexchangeforBotswana.Despiteitspositivesocio-economicimpacts,theindustryisbeginningtohavenegativeenvironmentalimpactsintheareasuchasthedestructionofthearea’secologythroughdrivingoutsidetheprescribedtrails,noisepollutionandpoorwastemanagement.This,therefore,suggeststhattourismintheOkavangoDeltahassocio-economicandenvironmentalimpacts,issueswhichareaddressedbythispaperbasedontheconceptofsustainability.#2003ElsevierScienceLtd.Keywords:socio-economicandenvironmentalimpacts;tourism;enclavetourism;community-basedtourism;eco-tourism;sustainabilityandsustain-abledevelopmentIntroductionThispaperdiscussesthesocio-economicandenvironmentalimpactsoftourismdevelopmentintheOkavangoDeltalocatedwithinNgamilandDistrictinnorth-westernBotswana.Becauseofitsrichwildlifediversityandscenicbeauty,theOkavangoDeltahasinthepasttwodecadesattractedtouristsfromvariouscountriessuchasthoseofNorthAmerica,WesternEurope,Australia,NewZealandandSouthAfrica.ThegrowthoftourismintheOkavangoDeltahasalsoresultedintheestablishmentoftouristfacilitiesinthearea.TourismintheOkavangoDeltaischaracterizedbybothconsumptiveandnon-consumptivewildlifeuses.Asaresult,significanttouristactivitiesinthedeltaincludesafarihunting,gameviewing,walking*Correspondingauthor.Fax:[phone].E-mail:[e-mail]0140-1963/03/020447+21$30.00/0#2003ElsevierScienceLtd.JournalofAridEnvironments(2003)54:447–467doi:10.1006/jare.2002.1101trails,dug-incanoeormekorosafarisandseveralotherphotographictouristactivities.ThenatureoftourismdevelopmentindestinationareassuchastheOkavangoDelta(anaturalwetland)makeithavesocio-economicandenvironmentalimpacts,anaspectthatthisstudyaimsataddressing.Theseissuesareassessedbasedontheconceptofsustainability,whichisanchoredonthethreemainprinciplesofsocialequity,economicefficiency,andecologicalsustainability.Generally,itisdifficulttoaccuratelyquantifytourism,itisarguably,theworld’slargestindustry,accountingforabout5?5%oftheworld’sGrossNationalProductand6%oftheemployment,anditisgrowingfast(Glassonetal.1995).Mostgovernmentsencouragethegrowthoftourismintheirrespectivecountriesinordertosupporteconomicdevelopment.Forpoorcountries,regions,townsandcities,tourismisseenasthefasttracktodevelopment.Hall(1995)statesthatthemainreasonwhygovernments,particularlyindevelopingcountriesencouragetourisminvestmentisbecauseoftheexpectationsthatitwillcontributetoeconomicdevelopment.Itisalsoarguedthattourismshouldbeseenasameansofdevelopmentinabroadersense(see,forexample,Krapf,1961;Kaiser&Helber,1978;Mathieson&Wall,1982;Murphy,1985;McIntoshetal.,1995;Wahab&Pigram,1997;Cooperetal.,1998).Theseanalystsdescribethebroadersenseoftourismtomeanthepotentialoftheindustrytohavedirectsocio-economicimpactsondestinationregions.ThisissueismademoreclearbyBinns(1995),whostatesthatdevelopmentshouldnotonlyrefertoeconomicmattersbutshouldencompasssocial,economic,environmentalandethicalconsiderationssuchthatitsmeasurementmayincorporateindicatorsofpoverty,unemployment,inequalityandself-reliance.Carter(1991)notesthatthereisacumulativerelationshipbetweentourismdevelopment,theenvironmentandsocio-economicdevelopment.Thismeansthatiftourismistocontributetosustainabledevelopment,thenitmustbeeconomicallyviable,ecologicallysensitiveandculturallyappropriate(Wall,1997).Thissuggeststhataneconomicinitiativesuchastourismshouldbebasedontheideathateconomicdevelopmentshouldconformtotheconceptofsustainabledevelopment.Thebasicprincipleofthisconceptisthatofintergenerationalequity,whichsaysthatourdevelopmentissustainableonlytotheextentthatwecanmeetourneedstodaywithoutprejudicetothoseofthefuturegenerations.Therefore,thepresentgenerationshouldleaveforthenextgeneration,astockofaqua