Dynamics of local governance in natural resource conservation in the Okavango Delta,Botswana

There has been a shift in natural resource management worldwide. This paper describes how modern institutions and policies influence management and shape access to and utilization of resources by rural communities in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. It is rooted in the framework of adaptive co‐governance within social‐ecological systems, and employs a critical literature review to analyse access to and use of natural resources in rural Botswana. Prior to the establishment of community‐based natural resource management (CBNRM) in Botswana in 1989, resource governance was dominated by strong traditional institutions that were responsible for natural resource management and decision‐making. Contemporary natural resource governance is characterized by a bureaucratic system that invariably undermines the role of traditional institutions in natural resource governance. Findings indicate that policies and regulatory instruments deny rural communities adequate access to and utilization of resources available within their immediate environment. In spite of an orientation towards an anthropocentric approach to natural resource management (as in the case of CBNRM), the current governance system continues to undermine the inclusion of local resource users as legitimate stakeholders in the decision‐making process.     

Urban Environmental Management in Botswana: Toward a Theoretical Explanation ofPublic Policy Failure

For the last three and half decades, Botswana has been widely acclaimed to be one of sub-Saharan Africa's longest and most stable liberal democracies, coupled with and sustained by a growing economy. One of the major contradictions, however, within this development scenario, has been the neglect of environmental problems in the country in general, and urban environmental issues in particular. Part of the problem fueling the misconception of environmental issues in Botswana is the state's domination of the country's environmental agenda. This is linked to the power disjunction in decision-making and policy processes between state and nonstate actors over the most appropriate course of action to tackle the problems. Without adopting appropriate analytical frameworks, it is possible that the problem of urban environmental mismanagement in Botswana will persist. This article examines some of the major urban environmental issues in Botswana from neighborhood, citywide, and urban–rural interface perspectives. Further, the elite theory of public policy is used to explain constraints on policy change in the urban environmental management arena in Botswana.     

Experiences in the water resources development and management for sustainable use in Zimbabwe

Fresh water has become a very topical, emotive and sensitive issue in Zimbabwe following the recent continued droughts in conjunction with lack of finance to expand water resources development. Heated debates have arisen over the availability, allocation, distribution, disbursement and conservation of this precious resource. A great deal of inefficiency has also resulted from Government Ministries or Departments playing all the roles, from policymaking to supply operations. Government authorities often make the mistake of controlling day-to-day management of water and sewage services. In fact, greater accountability results when Government authorities focus on policymaking, establishing regulatory regimes that provide incentives for achieving goals and sanctions for serious failures, while giving sufficient autonomy to entities responsible for investment and operations to control outcomes. It is becoming more and more evident throughout the world that provision of water, as opposed to the planning and allocation of the water resource, should be handled by commercial undertakers. Indeed, Zimbabwe and its neighbours are currently involved with changing the status of their water departments to corporate entities; Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia have already commercialised or are currently in the process of commercialising their freshwater supply services.     

AGRICULTURE, WATER AND ENVIRONMENT IN BOTSWANA: A PROBLEM OF POLICY

In many countries, an increasing amount of attention is being paid to the economic and environmental repercussions of mineral resources development, and in particular to the problems of industrialisation of an agricultural society. In Botswana, the discovery of and planning for the development of nickel deposits is an important element of national policy. However, often overlooked is the basic and continuing role that has to be provided by the agricultural sector. The pressure of people and of livestock on the land, and the extension of cultivation into increasingly fragile environments where the availability of water is a critical constraint, pose serious problems for policy makers. The author examines the dilemma in a case study of Botswana, showing how changes in the agricultural sector have precipitated problems of water supply and of environmental stress. The need for inter-disciplinary approaches to policy making is underscored, together with detailed and integrated studies of the dimensions of these inter-related problems. The problem of the availability of water in adequate quantities and of appropriate quality has become a serious policy concern. Later this year the United Nations Conference on Desertification will address the broad scope of the relationships between man, land and water. This article examines one example of these changing relationships.     

Using environmental accounts to promote sustainable development: Experience in southern Africa

Environmental accounts bring together economic and environmental information in a common framework to measure the contribution of the environment to the economy and the impact of the economy on the environment. They enable governments to set priorities, monitor economic policies more precisely, enact more effective environmental regulations and resource management strategies, and design more efficient market instruments for environmental policies. This article uses examples from the regional environmental accounting programme in southern Africa to demonstrate the usefulness of environmental accounts to policy-making and natural resource management. The examples address the contribution of natural capital endowments (minerals and fisheries) to sustainable development in Botswana and Namibia; the economic importance of non-market forest goods and services in South Africa; and the socio-economic impact of current water allocation and pricing policies in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. While there are many additional policy applications, these few provide a powerful argument for the use of environmental accounts in all countries.     

Integrated urban water management modelling under climate change scenarios

The concept of integrated water management is uncommon in urban areas, unless there is a shortage of supply and severe conflicts among the users competing for limited water resources. Further, problem of water management in urban areas will aggravate due to uncertain climatic events. Therefore, an Integrated Urban Water Management Model considering Climate Change (IUWMCC) has been presented which is suitable for optimum allocation of water from multiple sources to satisfy the demands of different users under different climate change scenarios. Effect of climate change has been incorporated in non-linear mathematical model of resource allocation in term of climate change factors. These factors have been developed using runoff responses corresponding to base and future scenario of climate. Future scenarios have been simulated using stochastic weather generator (LARS-WG) for different IPCC climate change scenarios i.e. A1B, A2 and B1. Further, application of model has been demonstrated for a realistic water supply system of Ajmer urban fringe (India). Developed model is capable in developing adaptation strategies for optimum water resources planning and utilization in urban areas under different climate change scenarios.     

Containing Urban Sprawl: Trends in Land Use and Spatial Planning in the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona

In recent decades, there has been considerable debate in the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona regarding the role of spatial planning in influencing general land-use trends. There is a widespread belief amongst geographers, environmentalists, planners and some politicians that spatial planning of the metropolitan region has not been particularly successful in reducing urban pressures on rural areas. The aim of this study is to explore the apparent links between urban sprawl, spatial planning and changing land use in the rural-urban fringe of Barcelona. The paper demonstrates that the main impacts of sprawl have been concentrated in agricultural areas, and that the planning system has not been capable of containing urban growth.     

A PROCEDURE FOR ASSESSING WATER RESOURCES FOR URBAN PLANNING1

A matrix has been developed to guide the assessment of urban water resources. The matrix provides a means for determining the relative importance of water-related problems, and for identifying the data needed to evaluate these problems for the purpose of urban planning. The matrix columns list nine categories of potential water-related urban problems. The rows list 51 categories of data inputs which may be needed to evaluate the potential problems. The inputs include standard types of basic hydrologic data, information based on analysis and interpretation of these data, and information on the interfacing factors of climate, land, and culture. A system is described for ranking the relative importance of the problem categories and data inputs on a numerical scale of 0 to 3. From this, an index is derived that evaluates the relative importance of each input item to an overall program for water resource assessment. From the completed matrix the hydrologist can determine the availability of data to meet the identified requirements. Judgement can then be made as to priorities on work elements to provide the planner with maximum information in minimum time. The matrix also provides a basis for the development of programs and their funding in order to overcome critical data deficiencies.     

The Indian perspective of utilizing fly ash in phytoremediation, phytomanagement and biomass production

Coal-based power generation is a principal source of electricity in India and many other countries. About 15–30% of the total amount of residue generated during coal combustion is fly ash (FA). FA is generally alkaline in nature and contains many toxic metals like Cr, Pb, Hg, As and Cd along with many essential elements like S, B, Ca, Na, Fe, Zn, Mn and P. Dumped FA contaminates the biosphere by mobilization of its fine particles and hazardous metals. Despite the negative environmental impact of FA, coal continues to be a major source of power production in India and therefore FA disposal is a major environmental issue. To overcome this problem, FA dumping sites have been started as a potential resource for biomass production of tree species. Phytoremediation is a strategy that uses plants to degrade, stabilize, and remove contaminants from soils, water and waste FA. Phytomanagement of FA is based on the plants' root systems, high biomass, woody nature, native nature, and resistance to pH, salinity, and toxic metals. Recently Indian researchers mostly from the National Botanical Research Institute have been working on phytoremediation and revegetation of FA dykes, inoculation of bacterial strains for reducing FA stress and biomass production from FA dykes. Many international researchers have worked on reclamation, revegetation and utilization of FA. FA utilization saves resources, mainly land (topsoil), water, coal, limestone and chemical fertilizer. Safe utilization of FA is a major concern around the world and regulatory bodies are enforcing stringent rules for the proper management of FA. This article summarizes various viable avenues in India for FA utilization and environmental management.     

In search of greener towns

Around 1970 a quiet revolution occurred in several European countries involving the use of naturalistic design approaches and ecological principles in the design and management of urban green spaces. The objective was to bring the qualities of nature into peoples’ daily lives and provide a richer external living environment. Parallel programmes of community participation and environmental education were involved. Successful projects in Holland, Sweden and Britain are described. These indicate that despoiled urban and urban‐fringe land can be quickly and economically transformed into green environments which are attractive for living and commercial investment. A reorganisation of Local Authority landscape resources is recommended.     

Promoting environmental awareness in Botswana: the role of community education

Summary This paper highlights the environmental problems confronting Botswana, which include growing pressure on water resources resulting from increases in population, urbanization and development, deforestation, overgrazing and rangeland degradation in the face of unfavourable environmental and climatic conditions. The paper also describes the role of the government through its National Conservation Strategy, and how this proffers possible solutions to these probems. Such solutions include, among others improved planning and administrative measures in the interest of both protecting water resources against pollution and the possible introduction of an incentive to encourage the collection of rain water, and government legislation which will lead to improvement in the management of both rangelands and livestock to prevent rangeland degradation, as well as the government intention to update its forestry policy to provide a comprehensive National Forestry Management Plan. The paper also examines the efforts of nongovernmental organizations including the Kalahari Conservation Society, the Forestry Association of Botswana, Thusano Lefatsheng and the Botswana Society. These non-governmental organizations are greatly involved in natural resource conservation and utilization and, in addition, they provide avenues for the discussion of issues relating to the environment and natural resources for public awareness. The paper finally discusses the role of community education, by examining the environmental awareness in terms of the population.This paper was presented at the Global Forum '94 Academic Conference, Manchester, UK.     

Development Potentials and Policy Options of Biomass in China

Biomass, one of the most important renewable energies, is playing and will continue to play an important role in the future energy structure of the world. This article aims to analyze the position and role, assess the resource availability, discuss the geographic distribution, market scale and industry development, and present the policy options of biomass in China. The resource availability and geographical distribution of biomass byproducts are assessed in terms of crop residues, manure, forest and wood biomass byproducts, municipal waste and wastewater. The position of biomass use for power generation is just next to hydropower among types of renewable energy in China. The potential quantity of all biomass byproducts energy in 2004 is 3511 Mtce (Mtce is the abbreviation of million tons of coal equivalents and 1 Mtce is equal to10⁶ tce.), while the acquirable quantity is 460 Mtce. Biomass energy plays a critical role in rural regions of China. The geographical distribution and quantity of biomass byproducts resources depends mainly on the relationship between ecological zones and climate conditions. Our estimation shows that the total quantity of crop residues, manure, forest and wood biomass byproducts, municipal waste and wastewater resources are 728, 3926, 2175, 155 and 48240 Mt (million tons), respectively. Crop residues come mainly from the provinces of Henan, Shandong, Heilongjiang, Jilin and Sichuan. All manure is mainly located in the provinces of Henan, Shandong, Sichuan, Hebei and Hunan. Forest and wood biomass byproducts are mainly produced in the provinces or autonomous regions of Tibet, Sichuan, Yunnan, Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia, while most of municipal waste mainly comes from Guangdong, Shandong, Heilongjiang, Hubei and Jiangsu. Most of wastewater is largely discharged from advanced provinces like Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong and Henan. Biomass byproducts’ energy distribution also varies from province to province in China. Based on the analysis of the market scale and industry development, the article argues that China’s biomass energy industry is still at a very early stage of development and that Feed-in Tariffs (FIT) might be the best policy option for China to promote its development of biomass energy. A successful enforcement of FIT in China needs some policy combination of special capital subsidies, R&D funding, tax incentives and pricing.     

Do natural resources and economic components exhibit differential quantile environmental effects?

In view of the resource curse assumption, the environmental aspects of resource utilization are arguably posing more dangers to human existence. In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, the region that holds more than 60% and 50% of the world's oil and gas reserves respectively, the need to examine the contribution of natural resources to environmental quality among other factors cannot be overemphasized. By leveraging on the novelty of observing the differential impact of natural resources and other economic components such as income and primary energy utilizations across the quantiles of carbon emission, this study implements the quantile regression approach alongside other relevant techniques to analyze data between 1990 and 2018 for selected countries in the MENA region including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait, Qatar, Algeria, Morocco, Oman, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The result posits that natural resource utilization generally hampers the environment across the quantiles. However, this negative effect decreases until the 50th quantile before starting to rise again toward the upper quantiles. Additionally, primary energy utilization and globalization respectively worsen and improve environmental quantile, especially toward the upper quantiles while income affirms the inverted U-shaped hypothesis across the entire quantiles. Moreover, there is a statistically significant one-way directional causality from natural resources, economic expansion, primary energy use, and globalization to carbon emission levels. Hence, the study offers environmentally friendly resource utilization policies to the MENA economies and other resource-rich states by extension.     

Indigenous Grass Ecology and Socio-Economic Values in Swaziland

The fast-degrading land resources of Swaziland requires a multi-faceted approach to their management. One resource of utmost importance to all Swazis is grass. Grass research over the years had focused on pasture grass, while other uses have been neglected. The omission is a serious one and could be attributed to the neglect of indigenous grass knowledge and people's socio-economic values of grasses. Grass as a major resource is used for cattle feed, ecological control measures, medicinal plants and crafts. Within the study area, 46 grass species were identified and described by the local people. The neglect of the people's knowledge and utilitarian values of grass is a waste of resources. Thus, for grass research to be relevant to the people and national development objectives, research scientists should rethink their approach; they need to recognize and incorporate the indigenous knowledge about other uses of grasses.     

Denitrification potential in urban riparian zones

Denitrification, the anaerobic microbial conversion of nitrate (NO3-) to nitrogen (N) gases, is an important process contributing to the ability of riparian zones to function as "sinks" for NO3- in watersheds. There has been little analysis of riparian zones in urban watersheds despite concerns about high NO3- concentrations in many urban streams. Vegetation and soils in urban ecosystems are often highly disturbed, and few studies have examined microbial processes like denitrification in these ecosystems. In this study, we measured denitrification potential and a suite of related microbial parameters (microbial biomass carbon [C] and N content, potential net N mineralization and nitrification, soil inorganic N pools) in four rural and four urban riparian zones in the Baltimore, MD metropolitan area. Two of the riparian zones were forested and two had herbaceous vegetation in each land use context. There were few differences between urban and rural and herbaceous and forest riparian zones, but variability was much higher in urban than rural sites. There were strong positive relationships between soil moisture and organic matter content and denitrification potential. Given the importance of surface runoff in urban watersheds, the high denitrification potential of the surface soils that we observed suggests that if surface runoff can be channeled through areas with high denitrification potential (e.g., stormwater detention basins with wetland vegetation), these areas could function as important NO3- sinks in urban watersheds.     

Groundwater resource management and environmental protection

Population and economic developmental pressures will continue to put increasing pressure on the environment, especially on scarce water resources. Meanwhile, large numbers of poor families in the developing countries still lack access to safe water. An integrated water resource planning and policy analysis framework is presented that permits the main issues and alternative options to be systematically considered and prioritized, especially problems arising from groundwater pollution. Basic principles of water resource economics are used to illustrate how the neglect of long-term environmental considerations jeopardizes the availability and quality of groundwater resources in the Greater Manila area. This paper contains a brief overview of drinking water and sanitation issues in developing countries, presents a policy-oriented analysis of a groundwater problem of great relevance worldwide, and demonstrates how the study conclusions might be implemented practically in a constrained developing country context.     

Hybrid input-output analysis to evaluate economic impacts of biomass energy

ABSTRACT

The introduction of the new biomass industry exerts influences that change the interactions among economic sectors by drawing the resources for generating electricity, pricing alterations from the existing market and competitively selling electricity to the power grid. These influences should be described and identified to ensure the benefits to the local economy. In this article, we deem to test the potential of hybrid I-O analysis to analyze the economic impacts and address the change in characteristics of the economic impacts of the biomass power plant. The resource utilization data from the existing biomass power plant located in Kochi Prefecture (Japan) is collected and then analyzed by a hybrid input-output (I-O) analysis. We found that (1) the use of cutoff function could determine the new economy’s structure included the biomass power plant where the allocation of resource in the economy is changed according to the consumption and production of the biomass power plant, (2) The power plant increases the total production of Kochi prefecture’s economy, and this benefit overthrows the negative effect of the loss of resource demand of the existing economic sectors. The use of the hybrid I-O to forecast the economic impacts on the local economy could enhance the decision made by the policymaker.     

Cultural values of natural resources among the San people neighbouring Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park,South Africa

Globally, cultural values of natural resources are increasingly recognised as important for local natural resource management and conservation in and beyond parks. The tendency has been to focus on the direct-use rather than the cultural values and importance of natural resources. The cultural values underlying natural resources (directly or indirectly used) and various natural resource-based activities, and the implications for conservation, remain little explored. Drawing from household surveys, in-depth qualitative interviews, observations and secondary data, we explore the cultural significance of natural resources and different land-use practices among the San people bordering Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in South Africa. Our findings illustrate that though cultural values are inextricably linked to resource use, they are not recognised by all community members. Further, cultural values arise from a diverse and sometimes conflicting array of values that punctuate individuals' lifestyles. A better understanding of context-specific cultural settings and the linkages between the cultural and material dimensions of resource use can lead to the development of interventions that can ensure effective conservation of both natural resources and culture.     

我国粮食生产的耕地资源环境效应特征与代价分析

我国粮食产量逐年增长,但伴随形成的水土资源消耗和耕地环境负荷令人担忧。本文综述了近年来我国粮食生产的耕地资源环境效应基本情况,总体结论是化肥、农药、地膜等农业投入品过量使用所带来的环境负荷日趋严重。同时,对休耕模式和粮食主功能区调整这两项国家战略政策的资源消耗与环境效应进行了重点分析,建议逐步扩大在水资源超采区、重金属污染区、生态退化区等典型区域的休耕面积,积极谨慎地评估主功能区调整形成的潜在资源消耗缓解与环境效益提升作用。提出:改变以牺牲耕地资源环境为代价换取粮食持续增长、建立以资源环境效应评估为平衡点的粮食供需模式的时机已成熟,粮食生产的耕地资源环境效应,应纳入国家粮食战略安全保障整体计划中。     

Is there a Dutch disease in Botswana?

The Dutch disease is regularly evoked in the resource curse literature and remains a frequent explanation for the poor economic performance found in many resource-rich countries. Given Botswana's high rate of per capita GDP growth, it might seem superfluous at first glance to ask whether or not there is a Dutch disease in Botswana. Yet, Botswana merits study here both as a significant potential exception to any posited inevitability of the Dutch disease and also because the debate on whether or not Botswana has avoided the Dutch disease is far less settled than is indicated by its economic growth record. Botswana currently suffers from many of the symptoms of the Dutch disease but not for the causal reasons posited in the Dutch disease model. Indeed, many of the explanations for the lack of diversification found in Botswana's mineral-dependent economy have nothing to do with either diamond revenues or the Dutch disease. Botswana has done about as well managing its resource wealth as could realistically be expected but it is unlikely to succeed in diversifying its economy away from diamonds anytime soon.