18 Dec 2025

Botswana is committed to adopt a sustainable pathway in managing its natural resources and contribute to economic growth, shared prosperity and the well-being of the people.

Officiating at the African Union Commission (AUC) regional workshop in Maun recently, Minister of Environment and Tourism, Mr Wynter Mmolotsi said Botswana continued to ensure effective governance and legislative instruments and maintained high standards in the sustainable management of biodiversity rich ecosystems such as the Okavango Delta, the Makgadikgadi Wetlands system and in the Chobe area.

He pointed out that Botswana also invested in protecting and rehabilitating the range lands, as a cornerstone of the agricultural sector, an important ecosystem in its own right, a habitat for biodiversity, but also as a carbon sink.

“I am particularly proud to state that about 40 per cent of Botswana’s land is under protected area status. Furthermore, we recently enacted the Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) legislation to strengthen the CBNRM Policy of 2007.

“We are also advancing integrated implementation of our wildlife, forestry, climate change, and agriculture policies, recognising their interdependence and the need for effective coordination, cooperation, and strong institutional frameworks, he said.

Mr Mmolotsi also stated that the country had been recognised for its conservation leadership, yet they continued to learn and evolve, drawing lessons from their own experiences and those of others.

In addition, Mr Mmolotsi said Botswana was party to three Trans-boundary Conservation Areas, through which notable achievements were made such as habitat regeneration, wildlife recovery, improved community livelihoods, enhanced law enforcement and strengthened policy harmonisation, among others.

Mr Mmolotsi further said adopting a Transfrontier Conservation Area model was not an end as its success requires continuous investment in policy support, financial resources, capacity building, stakeholder engagement and holistic management.

The minister thanked partners for convening the African Union Commission (AUC) regional workshop in Botswana as a follow-up to the First Africa Biodiversity Summit, which he said culminated in the African Leaders’ Gaborone Declaration on Biodiversity.

He described the declaration as a call to action for all Africans citing that it offered a clear articulation of the continent’s priorities on biodiversity.

He urged all to promote cross-sectoral partnerships and cultivate innovative approaches and nature-positive investments among governments, civil society organisations and the private sector.

He said such efforts were essential for accelerating the transition toward sustainable, inclusive economies while conserving biodiversity and enhancing ecosystem resilience in alignment with the Gaborone Declaration for Sustainability in Africa.

He said the envisaged regional project proposal would deliver tangible results as it has already done in the Southern African.

He was also hopeful that the outcomes of the workshop would lay the foundation for a strong regional framework, one that translated shared ambition into coordinated action across borders and charted a path toward a resilient, bio-diverse and prosperous Africa where communities and ecosystems thrived together. ENDS