18 Mar 2020

Parliament has approved the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism budget of over P1 billion for the financial year 2020/2021.

The budget is composed of over P196.7m for the development budget and P846.8m for the recurrent budget.

Debating the budget proposals, legislators called for capacitation of wildlife officers in various constituencies, especially in areas with broad tourism base.

Legislators decried that elephants continued to haunt citizens by destroying their produce, adding that the problem was worsened by shortage of wildlife officers in their constituencies.

They said Batswana who mostly relied on farming and rearing of livestock had become destitute because they were attacked by elephants which ransacked their produce and left them empty handed.

MPs further called for review of the compensation for lost produce to elephants, which they said was far too small compared to the damage caused.

They also called on government to consider compensation for lost produce and livestock to baboons, hyenas and jackalas.

Furthermore, they called on the ministry to broaden the tourism base products to include sport, religious tourism, photography, dam and geo-tourism.

MPs also requested government to empower the youth to tap on the use of natural resources products which they said were unexplored as some indigenous plants such as morula, kgengwe, and others were exported to produce cosmetics in other countries.

Legislators were of the view that tourism had a lot of unexplored opportunities which could create employment for Batswana.

MP for Nkange, Dr Never Tshabang called on the ministry to improve on the turnaround time for assessing damaged crops by elephants, adding that the turnaround time of seven days was in most cases not honoured, and therefore resulted in evidence disappearing.

He also said the ministry should engage communities in developing wildlife management strategies.

MP for Lentsweletau- Mmopane, Ms Nnaniki Makwinja said agro-tourism guidelines should be adhered to and that Batswana should be empowered more on sustainable tourism products.

MP for Serowe West, Mr Tshekedi Khama said environmental challenges should be addressed as per the dictates of Sustainable Development Goals, while Mmadinare MP, Mr Molebatsi Molebatsi said he was happy for the Environmental Impact Assessment And Climate Change policies as they would attract more investors.

Specially elected MP, Ms Beauty Manake said the ministry should do more on diversifying tourism products and indigenous products such as morama and morula which she argued should be processed locally to create jobs especially for young people.

MP for Gabane-Mmankgodi, Mr Kagiso Mmusi complained about indiscriminate dumping of rubble and litter in his constituency , calling for stern measures against perpetrators.

MP for Shoshong, Mr Aubrey Lesaso also complained about indiscriminate disposal of hazardous waste.

MP for Gaborone North, Mr Mpho Balopi hailed some reforms in wildlife and tourism, which he said would help to grow the economy away from resource base.

When responding, Ms Kereng said the ministry was working tirelessly to address a plethora of problems caused by human wildlife conflict.

She acknowledged the MPs contributions in the suggested tourism sector opportunities.

Ms Kereng also said strategies were in place to turn part of the Gaborone City into a cultural centre to cater for visitors coming to Gaborone.

She also said an audit would be conducted for Botswana Tourism Organisation to establish why Batswana were missing opportunities in the tourism sector and why the tourism industry was non- performing.

 She further said environmental management would be looked into and that communities would be involved in policing the environment. Ms Kereng said the ministry was working towards empowering Batswana by diversifying the economy through wildlife based toursim that has ability to create jobs. Ends