19 Nov 2024

Batswana have been implored to adopt and embrace the blue economy in guiding in the development of inclusive and sustainable development of people. 

Speaking during the national stakeholders’ consultation and validation workshop of the Botswana National Blue Economy Strategy held in Gaborone on Monday, Minister of Lands and Agriculture, Dr Micus Chimbombi said blue economy was a new concept in Botswana, saying it was a new frontier in the sustainable utilisation of aquatic resources by blue domain sectors while deriving economic benefits for economic growth and improved livelihoods. 

He said the concept constituted a range of activities in established blue domain sectors such as fisheries, transport, mining, energy, water and tourism. 

He said the sustainable use of aquaria resources would be for economic growth, improved livelihoods and jobs while preserving the health of marine ecosystems.

He said although Botswana was not endowed with vast water bodies, there was a considerable potential for blue economy, adding that there was the Okavango Delta, Chobe River Kwando Linyanti, dams and underground aquifers. 

“These wetlands have a number of communities, especially marginalised ones who are dependent on them for ecosystem resources and goods and services,” he said. 

Therefore, he said the blue economy sought to protect those fragile aquatic systems while at the same time promoting the sustainable development of blue domain sectors, which hinge upon them. 

He further said blue economy would become a significant contributor to national transformation and growth through advancing knowledge on aquatic biotechnology, environmental sustainability, and management of fisheries activities on the aquatic spaces and the development of river and lake transport. 

He said it had a strong strategy alignment with other policy instruments such as Vision 2036, Sustainable Development Goals, and the SADC Blue Economy Strategy. 

Dr Chimbombi said the blue economy had challenges that included climate change, pollution and ecosystems degradation and biodiversity loss, limited financial resources and technology, saying he trusted that the strategy that the workshop would come up with would be implementable. 

Dr Chimbombi further said the new government was about exploring new frontiers ‘not that we will abandon or forsake the things that we have been used to, but that we should knock on new frontiers’. 

He said they would be doing Foot and Mouth Disease vaccinations for the cattle to sell beef, as well as explore other options such as fisheries aqua culture, bee keeping to see what they could get out of them. 

He expressed gratitude to the African Union-Inter African Bureau for Animal Resources for availing funding as well as the Norway for their support. 

Sharing the same sentiments, the Technical Advisor for Fisheries at SADC Secretariat, Dr Motseki Hlatshwayo, said the sustainable aquaculture could improve food security and create jobs.  

He said the blue tourism could also showcase the natural beauty of Botswana, while preserving it for future generations. 

Dr Hlatshwayo therefore said it was important for the strategy to be validated, as it was important to the economy of Botswana. ENDS