Hamisai Hamandawana

Environmental Changes in Botswana's Okavango Delta Region: 1849-2001: the Role of Human Factors in the Degradation of Natural Resources in Botswana's Okavango Delta Sub-region Hamisai Hamandawana

This thesis provides an in-depth overview of the role of human factors in the degradation of natural resources in and around Botswana's Okavango Delta. In terms of temporal coverage; two distinct periods comprising the interlude years between 1849 and 1967 and, 1967 and 2001 are covered, with 1967 providing a watershed before which environmental trends are reconstructed on the basis of multi-source historical/archival data sets. For the post-1967 period, declassified intelligence satellite photographs of 1967(CORONA), Landsat imagery for the years 1989, 1994 and 2001, aerial photographs of 1991 and 2000 and collateral information from the literature are used to reconstruct long-term trends in environmental change and to interrogate the nature and outcomes of human-environment interactions. The major insights emerging from this investigation point to naturally induced environmental stress and deteriorating conditions that are being aggravated and fast-forwarded by inappropriate human resource use practices. The thesis concludes by providing a wide range of recommendations and suggestions for the way forward without repeating what is readily available in the literature.