Spatial Policy in Natural Resources Governance

Abstract

Governance of natural resources includes issues of power, use, access and most importantly, responsibility. While many people assume natural resources to be free and open for all, most natural resources are in fact under form of governance, be it official or unofficial. Available studies are generally critical about the overall management and interaction of ecosystems. Many studies are concerned with biodiversity interaction and management and conservation methods. With the objective of exploring the ways through which geographical technologies could be applied to influence spatial policy on natural resource governance, this article critically examined the issue using both secondary and primary data. Secondary data collection included the extraction of temporal remote sensing Google Earth images (1979 to 2014) used to thematically map features by onscreen digitising using visual image interpretation and confirmed by ground truthing fieldwork. The electronic spatial database created was then used to map the spatial extent of the lake, human activities including infrastructure development and gardens close to the lake for the period. Primary data were collected using fieldwork conducted to ground truth the present activities and man-made features near the lake. The method also reviewed available spatial and temporal secondary data. The article therefore demonstrates the importance of spatial technologies in natural resources management with a special reference to the critical and internationally recognised Lake Ngami on the north western Botswana.