The state, community-based tourism, and wildlife user rights in tourism concessions in Botswana

Abstract

The community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) programme is the backbone of community-based tourism (CBT) in Botswana. This chapter analyses how state control of CBNRM has created conflict between the state and its citizens and how this undermines the growth of CBT in Botswana. This analysis is based on secondary data, published and unpublished, on CBNRM and wildlife-based tourism in Botswana. The chapter argues that CBT in Botswana faces a set of political and economic constraints that determine the performance of their business model and their engagement with people in conserving environmental assets. Although CBNRM puts a strong emphasis on devolving user and management rights over land and wildlife resources to local communities, the increased state involvement in CBT ventures and projects results in the poor performance of the CBNRM programme in Botswana. State decisions such as financial control of CBT revenue, hunting bans, the creation of the tourism, and bank and displacement of local communities from conservation areas reflect state dominance in CBT. This has forged new relations and deepened the existing conflict over user rights to wildlife resources between the state and its citizens. The implementation of neoliberal policies and the emergence of an elite class in the wildlife-based tourism industry in Botswana have reduced local autonomy over wildlife resources and deepened the dominance of foreign-owned multinational companies in this sector. For CBT to succeed in Botswana, the principles of devolving user rights to communities and forming joint venture partnerships between communities and the private tourism sector must be adhered to.