Grassroots initiative to save the environment

Communities hard-hit by environmental degradation in Botswana have begun to take greater ownership of efforts to halt the depletion of natural resources. "It is important that communities feel as if they are involved in the entire process to rehabilitate the environment. This strengthens collective efforts and contributes to the success of the process," UN Development Programme (UNDP) information officer in Botswana, Marx Garekwe, told IRIN. Garekwe noted that chronic poverty in remote villages had forced the population to "over-exploit" resources to meet their immediate needs. "There are examples, especially in the southern part of the country, where land has been either overgrazed or overharvested. This is mainly because of communal ownership, which meant that many families had to use the same piece of land," he said. Since last year UNDP and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) have been running an innovative project that involves local communities in drawing up "action plans" to reverse environmental losses, often drawing on indigenous knowledge and traditional land management systems. Community resource management committees are established in villages most affected by environmental degradation, and tasked with encouraging people to develop ways of stemming environmental losses, thereby improving their livelihoods. According to UNDP, the project covers steps to conserve the whole spectrum of local resources, including wildlife, firewood, medicinal plants and grass for grazing and thatching. Fourteen villages - five in the southern tip of Kgalagadi, six in northern Kweneng and three in Boteti - have already completed plans. "The project is tremendously important because if it can demonstrate that community management of rangelands is viable, the approaches developed have the potential to transform the way in which rangeland resources are managed," UNDP project team leader Michael Taylor said in a statement. The Global Environment Facility is providing US $8.7 million for the five-year pilot intiatives by UNDP and UNEP, and another US $3.5 million has been made available by the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), the University of Oslo, and the governments of Botswana, Kenya and Mali.