Conference on sustained production from semi-ard areas with particular reference to Botswana

Botswana is a sparsely populated landlocked country of poor agricultural potential in the centre of the semi-arid Southern African plateau. In spite of the low population density (ca 1.0 person per sq<km., Campbell, 1964) it is bedevilled by the world wide and inter-related problems of a rapidly expanding human population, with accelerating materialistic aspirations, dependent on rapidly declining renev/able natural resources. Both processes are gathering momentum and demand a solution and positive action if the future of the nation is to be preserved. This contribution considers the potential of wildlife, defined as natural ecosystems and their constituent organisms, for enhancing the sustained production available in rural areas in Botswana. In considering this topic it is necessary to take into account the impact of man and his agriculture on wildlife, as a basis for defining the problem of man's future existence in significant numbers on the land in Botswana. The problems of the rapidly expanding human population and the degradation of the natural resources are accentuated in this country for a number of reasons which combine to render the situation critical. The first of these is the intrinsically low productivity of the environment with its poor soils and low and erratic rainfall, and the ease with v/hicii ecological stability may be undermined.