Open AccessPower dynamics and new directions in the recent evolution of CBNRM in Botswana
Author(s) -
Cassidy Lin
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
conservation science and practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2578-4854
DOI - 10.1111/csp2.205
Subject(s) - government (linguistics) , stewardship (theology) , business , natural resource , natural resource management , wildlife , control (management) , public relations , resource management (computing) , environmental resource management , public administration , political science , economics , management , ecology , computer science , politics , law , biology , computer network , philosophy , linguistics
Abstract Recently, the limited control of Botswana's community conservation organizations, or trusts, over resources has been further eroded. Community trusts now exist solely to disburse funds allocated by central government. The absence of any rights to control access to or use of their resources suggests the complete collapse of Botswana's original community‐based natural resources management (CBNRM) model. This collapse could facilitate fresh approaches that return to the original intentions currently lost behind the CBNRM acronym. Access and control can be more clearly framed through broader environmental stewardship frameworks that include moving below the homogenized community identity to specific resource user groups; broadening the conservation focus beyond monetized wildlife to include other resources and ecosystem processes; and establishing formal conservation agreements separately for specific resources, with the trust coordinating adherence to the rights and responsibilities held by individual users on the one hand, and government or public agencies on the other.