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Botswana: tourism, diamonds and a lot more

The Republic of Botswana, the former British protectorate of Bechuanaland, has been established in 1966. The surface of the country is 600,370 km², slightly smaller than Texas: it is largely formed (70%) by the Kalahari Desert.

About 1.8 million inhabitants live here, over 200,000 in the capital Gaborone coming mainly from the Tswana ethnic group; the official language is English, but the majority of people speak Setswana. The birth rate is higher than the death rate andthere is an increasing flow of Zimbabweans in search of better life opportunities after the recent political and economic crisis. Life expectancy at birth is anyway relatively low (50.2 years) caused at a large extent by the recent AIDS pandemic. Women have each 2.7 children on average and the literacy, the percent of people aged 15 and over able to read and write, is high (81.2%): these indicators show significant progress on the people’s life quality since the independence. Furthermore during the last decades the government increased hugely the education in the country: ten years of basic school are provided to all students*.

The country’s standard of living is similar to that of Mexico and Turkey: Botswana is now considered a middle-income country thanks to a fairly stable political system and a rapidly developing economy, very much linked to the economy of South Africa. The main sectors are the well known diamond industry, the high income/low flow tourism, services and manufacturing. Tourism is very important especially in the Okavango Delta, Chobe National Park and in various game reserves such as Moremi Game Reserve and the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. Given the very low population density the Botswanan territory offers living space to many plants and animals in different habitats such as savanna, grasslands, wetlands and a few rocky hills. Here, like in the rest of the world, the protection of biodiversity is crucial: in 2008 the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List** "has confirmed an extinction crisis, with almost one in four mammals at risk of disappearing forever" and extremely worrying numbers of threatened species (Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable) in many countries in South East Asia, the Americas and Central Africa. Botswana itself has an exceptionally high biodiversity but “only” 15 species are threatened (7 birds, 6 mammals, 2 fish): nevertheless the predicted population increase (national and in Angola and Namibia), climate change and development patterns upstream of the Okavango delta represent real problems for the ecosystems hosting the country’s precious nature.

Although local people own or co-own a significant part of lodges and other activities, many foreign businesses are run by foreign people with a share of income for Botswanans that can be certainly increased. This rests on the capacity and independence by national businesses to compete with external operators: cheaper eco-tourism options for reasonable numbers of “educated” tourists could give further opportunity of development to this nation. At the same time this would give to more people the chance to appreciate it and to live unique experiences from the desert in the South to the freshwater environments in the North. Another challenge for Botswana is to improve environmental figures such as waste recycling, energy saving and the use of renewable energy sources. This would made foreseeable a better balance between a higher average standard of living, needed for many people in rural areas and villages, and the preservation and valorization of natural resources. Vast environmental education programmes seem to be necessary to spread among inhabitants (and tourists) a higher consciousness of the natural richness and human possibilities of this large and fascinating land in the centre of Southern Africa.

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