27 Nov 2017

Ngamiland Sustainable Land Management (SLM) Project, together with the sister projects in Makgadikgadi and Chobe Districts will hold a regional Sustainable Land Management conference in Maun from November 28-30.

The conference organised by UNDP and Bird Life Botswana will be held under the theme: 'Adapting to the effects of climate change; Food production – Livelihoods – Tourism.'

The conference hopes to bring together stakeholders across the board from Botswana, the SADC region and beyond to share their experiences and facilitate information sharing, networking and co-learning.

During the course of the event, there would be a panel discussion titled ‘Agriculture versus Tourism; Is it either one or the other? Or can it be both’.

The panel will include representatives from the tourism industry, farmers association, community leadership and government while the audience will also be given an opportunity to air their views.

However, according to statement from the SLM office, the Chobe, Ngamiland and the northern parts of the Central District are interconnected across the social, economic and environmental spheres, with huge stakes for different stakeholders interested in the landscapes for different uses.

Thus, the three-day sustainable land management conference will bring together stakeholders to dialogue on different interventions and initiatives around sustainable land management.

The conference hopes to draw on the views and perspectives of different actors on disconnect between resource abundance side by side with poverty in the region and to bring together the latest scientific and practical advances in sustainable land management to inform policy direction and decision-making.

Minister of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism, Mr Tshekedi Khama is expected to give a keynote address while Minister Patrick Ralotsia of Agricultural Development and Food Security and Minister Prince Maele of Land Management, Water and Sanitation are expected to give agricultural perspective and land use perspective on environmental Conservation respectively. ENDS