The Effects of CBNRM Integration into Local Government Structures and Poverty Alleviation in Botswana

Abstract

The devolution of natural resource management to local government institutions is a dominant theme in contemporary discussion of common property natural resource management. However, much has not been researched on what levels of local government ought to receive devolutionary powers. The objective of this article, therefore, is to assess the effects of CBNRM integration into local government structures and its contribution to poverty alleviation and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Kgalagadi and Ngamiland Districts. This article is informed by the decentralization theory. Using primary and secondary data sources, results indicate that CBNRM is not integrated into local government structures in the two districts. At the village level are community-based organizations (CBOs) whose role within the local government structure is unspecified and unclear. Interestingly, CBOs are the units of local-level governance that received devolutionary powers of natural resource management in Botswana under the community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) program. The role of local government (District Councils) in CBNRM development is not integrated. This study concludes by stating that CBNRM has potential to contribute to poverty alleviation and contribute to MDGs in Ngamiland and Kgalagadi Districts. However, this is possible if CBNRM can be integrated into local government structures and recognized as one of the strategies that seek to reduce poverty and contribute to MDGs in Botswana.