17 Aug 2022

Lack of finance has disrupted lake Ngami Conservation Trust’s  aspiration to run key tourism development projects aimed at  generating income and improving livelihoohds of the community

The situation is so bad, so much so there is not even funds to pay staff wages, a state that has prevailed since beginning of the year, trust chairperson, Mr Sekano Bodio stated in an interview.

With a zero budget, he said they had no choice but to retrench seven of the nine employees, to save the trust from further financial hemorrhage.

Mr Bodio said the two remaining were security guards needed to look after assets while he managed all the affairs of the trust since it had been operating without a manager for some time.

He said the trust was banking on fishing and charcoal production as sources of income but things did not turn out as expected.

The trust depends on monthly subscriptions from fishermen but because Lake Ngami had dried up and there had not been any fishing activity in the last two years, income had dwindled, said Mr Bodio.

He said the charcoal project had potential to generate income, more so that it received financial assistance from Kavango Zambezi Trans-frontier Conservation Area, (KAZA) in 2020 but none had been realised.

KAZA funded the trust with P600 000, to ease COVID-19 impact.

The funds were to be deposited into Bird Life Botswana account for proper management and accountability but Mr Bodio said they had not been able to access them due to circumstances beyond their control.

“We were hopeful that the project will broaden our resource base and create employment for our communities but the project is struggling.

Our plan was to recruit more youth from villages affiliated to the trust to increase production,” said Mr Bodio.

The trust produced charcoal from the abundant dead acacia trees along the lake, a project it ventured into with assistance from UNDP. The ideas was to reduce bush encroachment into Lake Ngami and surrounding areas.

Mr Bodio stated that the trust was failing to utilise natural resources in their environment to generate jobs, revenue, and carry out some development projects that could benefit communities affiliated to the trust, and most of whom were poverty stricken and looking to the trust to turn their fortune around.

He said they had thought of privatising some of the projects but because their books were not audited though they had sought assistance from council, the idea never saw the light of day.

Mr Bodio is now hoping that the establishment of a Community Based Natural Resource Management unit in Maun would be an answer to their challenges.

Guidance from the unit would come in handy, to help us implement activities within the CBNRM framework and come up with ways to generate income, said Mr Bodio. ENDS