An interdisciplinary team of NSF-funded researchers at the University of Florida have created predictive models showing the ecological and social impacts of alternative management approaches in the Okavango Delta ecosystem in southern Africa. The models offer local communities and University of Botswana researchers insight into the potential impacts of alternative management approaches. Protecting African wildlife while alleviating African poverty creates a difficult issue: how do you maximize the socioeconomic benefits of natural resources?
Students from disciplines as diverse as anthropology and mechanical engineering tackled this question as part of the University of Florida’s NSF-funded Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship program. Their innovative curriculum took them to field sites in Africa, where they collected ecological data in a local Game Reserve and took part in discussions with local tribal groups. During a follow-up course back at UF, they created the models to cross traditional disciplinary boundaries of social and biophysical sciences in order to understand potential impacts of management alternatives. The models evaluate how factors such as elephant browsing, tree growth, nutrient cycling, fire frequency, and salinity level in the wetland affect economic prospects.
The Okavango Delta is a RAMSAR wetland inundated by water from upstream Angola into the region every dry season, providing an oasis north of Botswana’s Kalahari desert that attracts dense populations of wildlife. Large grazing and browsing animals such as elephants, hippos, giraffe, zebra, impala, and wildebeest frequent the site, along with diverse species of wading birds. The profusion of wildlife and the pristine setting draw tourists from around the world.
Regional stakeholders are working on a management plan that will lay out a road map for future economic development. Botswana, which traditionally relied on a cattle economy, is exploring ways to both protect and capitalize on its wildlife with a tourism-based economy. An innovative system of community-based organizations allows local communities to benefit directly from the wildlife tourism industry. This approach has dramatically decreased poaching in the region, but has led to questions about how to manage elephant populations sustainably.
The models were an outcome of a partnership between the University of Florida and the University of Botswana’s Harry Oppenhemier Research Center (HOORC). UF, with its strong tradition in both wetland and systems ecology, has provided modeling expertise to the HOORC. In return, the Okavango delta field experience has given UF students to imagine what a wetland system may look like before dredging, filling, and channelization activities transform it. This was an eye-opening experience for students from a state where a multi-billion dollar Everglades restoration project is struggling with how to manage a wetland that has been completely altered by human activities.
The University of Florida IGERT will return to the Okavango Delta region with a new group of students this summer to continue work with local communities and University of Botswana researchers.
Adaptive Management: Wise Use of Water, Wetlands & Watersheds
is an NSF-funded IGERT program at the University of Florida