This report identifies key rangeland ecosystem service benefits (food, fuel, construction material, ground water, genetic diversity, climate regulation, recreation and spiritual inspiration) in southern Botswana’s Kgalagadi District. It assesses the costs and trade-offs associated with ecosystem service delivery under: i) communal grazing, ii) private cattle ranching, iii) game ranching and in iv) Wildlife Management Areas. Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) is used to rank the four alternative land use options according to their abilities to deliver different categories of ecosystem services (i.e. provisioning, regulating and cultural categories), encompassing use- and non-use values and based on policy preferences. Overall ranking of each land use is ascertained through a combination of scoring (derived from ecosystem service delivery, identified through the use of a variety of indicators) and weighting (derived from policy analysis) of a range of quantitative and qualitative criteria. Data used to inform the MCDA include semi-structured interviews with land users and policy makers, market price data analyses, ecological assessments and literature reviews.
This resource is also available in English.
Forest cover in sub-Saharan Africa declined by nearly 10 per cent between 2000 and 2010. Of this loss, 75 per cent was caused by the conversion of forest to agriculture, largely for food production to serve rapidly growing domestic food demand.