Botswana restores its degraded ecosystems
Restoration of nature is important for the survival of the planet and the human race, Minister of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism, Philda Kereng said during the commemoration of World Environment Day ( WED).
The minister further said Botswana is not an exception when it comes to ecosystems that have been degraded or destroyed over the years, and so restoration is critical as per the theme of the day, ‘ Ecosystem Restoration’.
“This is due to a variety of factors such as unsustainable agricultural practices overgrazing, indiscriminate clearing of land, veldt fires, logging, alien and invasive species and over exploitation of veldt products,” she said. The commemoration marked the launch of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2020- 2030. Kereng explained that the decade of ecosystem restoration is intended to scale up the restoration of degraded and destroyed ecosystems to combat climate crisis, prevent loss of million species and enhance food security, water supply and livelihoods. She said a lot of land is not ripe for land use and not rehabilitated and that waste hazards threaten human health. “Botswana is committed to combat ecosystem degradation as demonstrated by the ratification as well as implementation of the requirements of several multilateral environmental agreements ( MEAS),” she said. These she said include; United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC), The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity ( UNCBD) and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and Drought ( UNCCD) and the RAMSAR Convention on Wetlands of International Importance. Director at Metrological Services, Chandapiwa Sebeela noted that climate change also contributes to the depletion of the ozone layer. “Climate change results from growing populations, consumer lifestyle, burning, in- house gases and this automatically causes global warming,” she said. Subsequently, global warming causes change in the environment, leading to loss of vegetation.
“This is how the country ends up experiencing wild fires, climate change, loss of traditional species, loss of productive soils which impact food security,” she said. Kereng said that at the national level, her ministry has embarked on the development of specific ecosystem management plans such as Okavango Management plan, Makgadikgadi Framework Management Plan and currently the development of the Kgalagadi Ghanzi Dryland management of various ecosystems.
Tree planting has also been encouraged, to maintain ecosystem restoration, as well as litter picking. Mophane tree can also be restored only if there is no unnecessary harvesting.
Further, there is extreme patrolling in place to ensure that the indigenous tree does not go extinct. Permits are required for commercial use of Mophane tree to ensure that people do not over cut it.