The Chairman of Kalahari Conservation Society (KCS), Neo Moroka recently revealed that the Global Water Partnership for Southern Africa (GWP-SA) has contracted KCS to empower the Orange Senqu River Basin (OSRB) communities with water resources management skills for the development of its Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) Plan. According to Moroka, KCS has undertaken a workshop to identify stakeholder and training needs for the communities and will proceed to develop focus on training on water related issues.
Expanding on the Society’s regional trans-boundary engagements during the June 21-AGM, Moroka said: “As our trans-boundary work in OSRB has grown, we have engaged an officer based in Tsabong. In 2013, we partnered with other regional partners to develop the National Action Plan, Strategic Action Plan (NAP-SAP) for the basin under the United Nations Development Programme/Global Environmental Fund (UNDP/GEF, UNOPS) sponsorship.”
The Society, Moroka says, has been implementing USAID funded projects in the Okavango Delta, OSRB and Limpopo River Basins (LRB), collaborating with various partners such as the Southern Africa Regional Environmental Program for the Okavango (SAREP), Applying the Ecosystems Approach in Trans-Boundary River Basin Management Project and the Resilience in the LRB (RESILIM) project, respectively. These projects are progressing well and they are focused on improving management of resources by local stakeholders and improving the sustainability of ecosystems.
Moroka said KCS’ activities follow the realisation that the new ethic needed for a more sustainable development can only come about when the world looks further down the road at the impacts of its policies and actions. This has meant lengthening the Society’s time horizons, widening spheres of concern, and greatly expanding attention to the livelihoods of those far away or future generations. Through World Bank funding KCS was sub-contracted to train Board Members of four Community Conservation Trusts from the villages supported by the Northern Human Wildlife Co-existence (NBHWC) project in Ngamiland, Boteti and Chobe.
The escalating poaching incidents in Botswana have become a growing concern compelling the Government and the US State Department, with KCS support, to organise a regional anti-wildlife poaching/trafficking workshop in Gaborone, in October 2013. Wildlife enforcement networks (WENs) respond to the increasingly organized nature of wildlife crime by operating across borders and organizational boundaries, coordinating the efforts of wildlife law enforcement agencies and other relevant authorities at national and regional levels.
Moroka explained that as a collective, proactive response of national governments, WENs cooperate by sharing information on poaching and illicit trade activities, and exchanging best practice techniques on combating wildlife crime. The established Southern Africa WEN will join 10 other functional counterparts within Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America, attracting donor support for harmonized training and operations.
