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COVID-19 has had significant impacts on industries and individuals globally. Due to restrictions put in place to reduce the spread of the disease, it has affected the travel and tourism industry. Using the concepts of ecotourism and sustainable tourism, a systematic qualitative document analysis of available literature was carried out to determine the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on nature-based tourism and its implications on community development, using Botswana as a case study. Results indicate that due to the unsustainable and predominant dependence on the international market, the tourism sector in Botswana has come to a standstill. Furthermore, the promotion of domestic tourism to nature-based attractions may lead to conservation issues. COVID-19 has also had an impact on community development through abrupt losses of employment and income. However, several positive environmental impacts have also been experienced. The paper calls for a transformation of the tourism sector to make it more resilient. As a response measure, it is necessary to assess whether there is a need to call for a change in policy from high-value low-volume to low-cost high-volume, which may have negative impacts on conservation. However, as an adaptive response, we assert the need to diversify tourism products to consider the needs of both domestic and regional markets so that the focus is not just on nature-based tourism and international clientele.

Following the discovery of diamonds in Botswana, there was widespread use of plastic bags, possibly as a positive reaction to the change in economic and financial landscape of the country. The excessive use of plastic bags by consumers throughout Botswana, however, imposed several negative externalities to the environment and consequently to livelihoods through their effects on wildlife and livestock. The government of Botswana, in an effort to mitigate the negative impacts of plastic bags on the environment, introduced both a ban of plastics with less than minimum thickness and a plastic bag levy. This study assesses if the plastic bag levy regulation by the government is achieving its goal of reducing the use of plastic bags in Botswana, where Maun is used as a case study. It analyses consumers’ perceptions about the plastic levy and its effects on their consumption. A total of 154 semi-structured questionnaires were administered through random selections of respondents at two shopping malls in Maun. In conclusion, the study established that although the levy is well targeted on consumers as sources of plastic bag litter, the levy is yet to attain its intended purpose of effecting a reduction of plastic bags demanded and/or consumed in Maun.

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