Fluid Waters and Rigid Livelihoods in the Okavango Delta of Botswana

Abstract

Current and future impacts of climate change include increasing variability in a number of biophysical processes, such as temperature, precipitation, and flooding. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has suggested that Southern Africa is particularly vulnerable to the anticipated impacts from global climate change and that social and ecological systems in the region will be disrupted and likely transformed in future decades. This article engages with current research within geography and cognate disciplines on the possibilities for responsive livelihoods within socio-ecological systems experiencing biophysical change. The paper draws from an ongoing research project that is evaluating perceptions of environmental change, specifically of precipitation and flooding dynamics, in order to understand social responses. We report on the findings from qualitative interviewing conducted in 2010 and 2011 in the communities of Etsha 1, Etsha 6, and Etsha 13 within the Okavango Delta of Botswana. While flooding and precipitation patterns have been dynamic and spatially differentiated, some livelihood systems have proven rigid in their capacity to enable adaptive responses. We assert this demonstrates the need for detailed research on livelihood dynamics to support adjustments to biophysical variability within socio-ecological systems experiencing change.

Introduction: The Continued Importance of Smallholders Today

“…Geographer Brian King and colleagues [63] make a strong argument regarding the need for more studies related to environmental perception and smallholder adaptation in the face of global climate change. Using qualitative methods and a regional case study approach, King and associates studied adaptation in three communities in the Okavango Delta of Botswana.…”

Smallholders’ uneven capacities to adapt to climate change amid Africa’s ‘green revolution’: Case study of Rwanda’s crop intensification program

“…Optimistically, adaptation processes can embody the ‘potential to constitute or to contest authority, subjectivity and knowledge claims’ (Eriksen, Nightingale, & Eakin, 2015, p. 523) and active application of pathways approaches through participatory work and continuous reflection on management paradigms can empower individuals to take action to remake institutions (Wise et al, 2014). However, rigid institutions of environmental governance can also constrain livelihood adaptations (King, Shinn, Crews & Young, 2016). To visualize and implement transformative adaptation that actively reworks structural constraints and social inequalities (Bassett and Fogelman, 2013, Pelling, 2011), it is essential to understand how adaptive capacity is unevenly built during development transitions and within contexts of environmental change.…”

Adaptive environmental governance of changing social-ecological systems: Empirical insights from the Okavango Delta, Botswana

“…Regardless of whether the floods of 2009-2011 represent a new level of variability, recent research indicates a perception of decreased predictability of precipitation and flooding patterns in the region of the study site for this project (King et al 2016). Moreover, climate models for this region predict future increases in environmental variability as a result of climate change.…”

“…This dynamic wetland ecosystem provides a critical source of water for Northwest Botswana (Mosepele et al 2009). Many of the livelihood strategies used by residents or this rural region are dependent on wetland resources (King et al 2016;Bedsen and Meyer 2003) and are designed to respond to some level of environmental variability (Kgathi et al 2007). This includes the practice of transitioning between dryland and floodplain agriculture (known locally as molapo farming) in response to flooding and drought (Motsholapheko et al 2012;Magole and Thapelo 2005).…”