Recent arguments have stated that the new livestock development policy will carry a high social cost, that the reality of range degradation in Botswana has been ignored, and that there is no basis for assuming that de-stocking would decrease the productivity of rangeland. This paper attempts to…

A useful debate is developing over carrying capacity and the degradation of communal rangelands in sub-Saharan Africa. With a few lonely exceptions, scientists and policy-makers have in the past claimed that degradation is universal and livestock productivity lowered because of overstocking on…

Paper attempts to dispel some of the confusion surrounding the application of the range degradation concept in Botswana. It has three objectives. First, to present the current thinking of range ecologists vis-a-vis range degradation. Second, to dismiss recent arguments that range degradation in…

Assesses the effect (balance or imbalance) of the present relationships between the natural resource base and human activities; examines the role of some potentially destabilising forces, i.e, international markets, government programmes and socio-economic stratification; and reviews government…

Extensive grazing is the predominant form of land use on at least a quarter of the world’s land surface, in which livestock are raised on food that comes mainly from rangelands. Extensive grazing differs from crop or forestry production, in which the produce remains in situ whilst growing.…

This document contains a collection of critical comments by experts working in the field of pastoralism with regard to several PDN papers.

This article suggests that communual rangeland management policies in Botswana and Zimbabwe are based on incorrect technical assumptions about the stability of semiarid rangelands, the nature of rangeland degradation, and the benefits of destocking. Consequently, inappropriate policies,…

This article discusses the zoning of 'Communual Areas' on tribal grazing land in Botswana, in which communities retain collective land rights.From the experience gained during six years of attempting to establish and operate communal grazing cells a number of conclusions can be drawn…

Botswana's meat export parastatal, the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC), has been much in the local news. Cattle suppliers have become accustomed to substantial annual producer price increases from this successful national industry, which has expanded increasingly into European markets. But…

Records the history of ILCA's involvement in Botswana between 1977 & 1981, w. emphasis on the monitoring of the operational aspects of the Tribal Grazing Land Policy, particularly regarding the implementation of the Second Livestock Development Project, and the monitoring of range,…