Caitlin Davies
THE Okavango Delta, mainstay of Botswana’s=20 tourism industry and home to a breathtaking=20 array of wildlife, is about to be fenced=20 in, although no environmental impact=20 assessment studies have been done and local=20 communities have not been consulted.
An outbreak of cattle lung disease – a=20 fatal airborne bovine pneumonia – in the=20 northern part of Botswana in 1995 led to=20 the mass slaughter of 250 000 cattle last=20 year. Desperate to seal the area off so=20 that cows and buffalo, which carry the=20 disease, are separated before restocking=20 begins, the government plans to extend the=20 existing northern buffalo fence and build a=20 new fence along the Caprivi border with=20 Namibia.
But, judging from the uproar when the=20 buffalo fence was first erected in 1991,=20 the new fences are not going to go up=20 quietly. The fence was originally put up to=20 protect cattle from foot-and-mouth disease,=20 believed to be carried by buffalo, and to=20 stop the encroachment of cattle into the=20 delta.
Whether this succeeded is open to debate.=20 “The existing buffalo fence has robbed=20 people living on the other side of the=20 delta of their hunting and fishing,” says=20 the president of Botswana’s opposition=20 Independence Freedom Party, Motsamai Mpho.=20 “As long as the fence stands, our game will=20 come home to meet its fate and die here.”
In 1991 this is what happened. No sooner=20 had the fence gone up than delta villagers=20 reported animals such as giraffe dying=20 daily, with government employees hurriedly=20 removing the evidence.
Five years later there still hasn’t been=20 any study on the impact of such fences on=20 the environment, and little, if any,=20 consultation with the affected communities.
“No fences should go up without an=20 environmental impact assessment,” says=20 Keith Leggett of the Kalahari Conservation=20 Society (KCS). “And then there is the need=20 to have a public forum to look at the=20 assessment once it’s done.”
The Botswana government is under immense=20 pressure from local farmers to begin=20 restocking, and claims there is no time for=20 studies. When the cows were slaughtered in=20 1995, the government compensated farmers=20 70% in cash at the time, but still owes=20 them 30% in kind.=20
Meanwhile, delta villagers are already up=20 in arms over the host of fences erected=20 last year to control the spread of lung=20 disease.
Residents of the delta village of Tsau say=20 the gates in the fence that runs near their=20 village are too far apart and they now have=20 to walk as far as 10km to visit relatives=20 and to access land, water and food.
“Tsau is this side, a cattle-post is the=20 other side, you used to ride a donkey to=20 get there, now you go out of your way to=20 get to a gate,” explains Jacob Nkate.
Last month dead kudu and zebra were spotted=20 along one of the fences and massive ostrich=20 deaths are predicted after the new fences=20 go up.
All this bodes badly for the tourism=20 industry which relies on a thriving=20 wildlife, says the director of the Home and=20 Tourism Association of Botswana, Modise=20 Mothoagae.
“Government didn’t see the need to talk to=20 us so it’s their own business, let them go=20 ahead. If it destroys the tourism industry,=20 let it be,” Mothoagae said.
Another fence is planned to run the entire=20 length of the southern boundary of the new=20 Caprivi Game Reserve in Northern Namibia,=20 which will also restrict the movement of=20 game between the two countries.
Work started on this fence in December and=20 the R4,8-million project is due to finish=20 in six months’ time.
Minister of Agriculture Roy Blackbeard has=20 said the fence is “the only practical step”=20 that can be taken to prevent free movement=20 of cattle.
“I know wildlife can’t move anymore,”=20 agrees farmer Texan Ramathodi, “but there=20 was no alternative”.
Yet conservation organisations say there=20 are alternatives, and both KCS and=20 Conservation International say there are=20 ways of making fences “wildlife friendly”.
Conservation International’s Dr Karen Ross=20 says the government has “expressed=20 willingness” to experiment with such=20 fencing, “but there seems to be a race=20 against time”. – Okavango Observer