03 Dec 2020

Minister of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism, Ms Phildah Kereng says the waste management policy has been completed and is undergoing peer review and final consultations with key stakeholders.

 Commenting on the State-of-the-Nation Address, Ms Kereng said the waste management policy would integrate the economic sense of waste recycling and its impact on the country’s economy.

The specially elected Member of Parliament highlighted that recycling was well-known for its environmental benefits, which included resource conservation, energy conservation and reductions in water and air pollution, including reductions in greenhouse gas immissions.

She emphasised that recycling was an important segment of the national economy, noting that it created jobs. She also said its economic significance had been overlooked. She pleaded with the public to be in a better position to benefit from the policy.

 Ms Kereng said the rehabilitation of landfills would remain a priority in order to safeguard against the degradation of the environment.

The minister also noted that the review of the tourism policy was complete, and that it had revealed the importance of improving accessibility and an efficient transport network, saying they were central to tourism development.

She also noted that tourism played an important role in the country’s economy, adding that there was need to facilitate the development of access roads to tourism destination areas to increase the influx of tourists.

She said strides had been made in the privatisation and management of campsites by citizens in protected areas as a way to empower citizens and create employment. She called for meaningful citizen and community participation in the tourism industry through public-private partnerships.

 She said the tourism sector was narrowly focused on wildlife and wilderness, and called for the broadening of the sector to include dam tours, agriculture game ranching and arts and crafts.

Minister Kereng said agro-tourism could be the backbone of the current and future socio-economic development of the country.

She noted that government had developed a mixed agricultural land use policy to allow for part usage of arable farmland for agro-tourism activities.

She said the presidential initiative to host cabinet meetings on citizen-owned farms was one of the many ways meant to motivate farmers to not only improve the country’s food basket, but also to ensure livelihood sustainability through farm tourism.

 She said the government had embarked on the development of site museums and heritage sites as modern tourists seemed to be more interested in historical artefacts, adding that the launching of the Kgalagadi heritage site and the revamping of the National Museum in Gaborone were both ideal to develop modern tourism.

Contributing to the debate, Lentsweletau-Mmopane MP, Ms Naniki Makwinja applauded the upgrading of some road networks in her constituency. She cited the Mahetlhwe/Ditshukudu road project as a welcome development, saying it would link villages.

 She commended government for drilling the Kopong borehole and the electrification of Medie, which was done through the rural electrification programme.

 Ms Makwinja, who is also Assistant Minister of Basic Education, acknowledged the role of the private sector in the development of education. 

She, however, cautioned that partnerships between schools and the private sector needed to be forged following regulations. ends