Okavango Delta

• Transboundary management of water resources
• Lack of wildlife monitoring programme
• Animal sanitation and diseases
• Mining exploration licenses overlapping with the buffer zone
• Management and governance
• Engagement of local communities and indigenous peoples
• Alien invasive species

Total amount granted to the property: USD 200,000 (USD 150,000 from the Flanders Funds-in-Trust (2017-2021) for the community management of protected areas for conservation (COMPACT) programme in cooperation with the UNDP GEF Small Grants Programme and USD 50,000 through the Flanders Funds-in-Trust (2019-2022) to the States Parties of Botswana, Angola, and Namibia to examine the feasibility of a transboundary extension of the property). Total amount planned to the property: USD 400,000 from the contribution of the Government of Norway to the World Heritage Fund.

On 19 March 2022, the State Party submitted a state of conservation report, available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1432/documents/, reporting the following:

• The Okavango Delta Management Plan (ODMP) 2021-2027, which addresses the Committee’s requests, was adopted. Community consultations during the ODMP review reported multifaceted environmental change affecting livelihoods, driven by climate change and other factors;
• The activities to control the invasive Salvinia molesta continue, focussing on biological control;
• The States Parties of Botswana, Angola and Namibia continue cooperation on the management of the shared Cubango-Okavango River Basin (CORB) through the Permanent Okavango River Basin Water Commission (OKACOM) and the steering committee to review the feasibility of the transboundary extension of the property;
• OKACOM has finalized its guidelines on the implementation of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on shared watercourses and the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) for the CORB was expected to be completed in May 2022;
• Mining operations outside the property are monitored, no prospecting licenses remain in the property and a company, Gcwihaba Resources (Pty) Ltd, with existing prospecting licenses within the buffer zone has agreed to relinquish them;
• The State Party acknowledges the concern over the oil exploration activities within the Okavango River basin and the need to ensure that further development of the project is subject to rigorous environmental and social impact assessments, which it commits to send for review by IUCN before approval;
• Efforts are made to rationalize the use of veterinary fences, commonly used to avoid disease transfer between wild and domestic animals and to prevent human-wildlife conflict. One Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the fences has been conducted, with an EIA for another sub-region underway;
• The construction of the Okavango River Bridge (Mohembo Bridge) was at a final stage. The original EIA predating the property’s World Heritage inscription is complemented with additional monitoring and a follow-up environmental audit, which continue to observe numerous non-conformities;
• The 2018 aerial wildlife survey results for northern Botswana indicate an increase of many populations including elephant but poaching remains a major threat to the property’s integrity, with rhino feared to go locally extinct at the current rate. Restored connectivity within the Kavango-Zambezi landscape is considered important to disperse the growing elephant population;
• Activities are ongoing to encourage water conservation, control pollution including through audits and quarterly monitoring of water quality, which remains good;
• Tourism industry has greatly suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic, adding poaching pressure, affecting tourism strategies, and reducing community benefits;
• The upgrade of Maun Water and Sanitation Networks, located outside the property and its buffer zone, is underway and undergone an EIA process.

In letters dated 1 February 2021, 23 April 2021, 19 October 2021, 14 April 2022 and 7 April 2023, the World Heritage Centre requested the State Party of Namibia to submit a copy of an EIA and an Environment Management Plan (EMP) for a seismic survey of a petroleum exploration license within the Okavango River basin, reportedly underway in addition to the existing two test well sites. The World Heritage Centre has also continued to receive various petitions and letters from civil society expressing concern over the advancement of the above oil exploration activities and alleging non-respect of Namibian law by the exploration company (ReconAfrica).

On 14 October 2022, the World Heritage Centre received a letter from the Canada based Tsodilo Resources Ltd mining company, stating that Gcwihaba Resources had not relinquished its mining licences in the buffer zone, as stated in the State Party report. In a letter dated 24 November 2022, the World Heritage Centre requested the State Party of Botswana to clarify this issue and provide information on other alleged new prospecting licences for iron-ore mining in both the property and its buffer zones. No response to these different letters was received at the time of writing this report.

The finalization of the property’s Management Plan 2021-2027 and the OKACOM guidelines on the implementation of the SADC Protocol on shared watercourses are welcomed. Further progress has also been made with the strengthened involvement of local communities and eradication of invasive alien species, both addressed in the new management plan as per the Committee’s past requests, as well as with the rationalisation of the use of veterinary fences and improving wastewater management.

While the results of the 2018 aerial wildlife survey indicate an increase of many wildlife populations, the reported increase in poaching is of significant concern. During the COVID-19 pandemic, more widespread poaching has been reported, in particular of elephants and rhino. It is recommended that a new survey is conducted as soon as possible to ascertain the status of wildlife populations and that efforts are undertaken to strengthen the efficiency of anti-poaching activities and to address illegal trafficking of ivory and rhino horn, including through parties’ commitments to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The threat of poaching and illegal wildlife trafficking needs also to be addressed in a regional context, with emphasis on preserving and restoring ecosystem connectivity. This could also allow a better dispersal of wildlife over a larger area and an effective way to address human wildlife conflicts, linked to high elephant densities in the more secure areas. Existing initiatives, such as the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area could be further strengthened.

The support from Flanders (Belgium) and Norway through the World Heritage Centre for these initiatives is also welcomed.

The advancement of the oil and gas exploration activities within the Okavango River Basin in Botswana and Namibia is of great concern given the significant risks the expansion of these activities and any eventual exploitation of reserves would pose to the interconnected water system and the ecosystem, and hence the property’s OUV. Despite the Committee’s request (Decision 44 COM 7B.80) recalled in past letters and the commitment of the States Parties of Botswana and Namibia to keep the World Heritage Centre informed of the further stages of the project, no information on the reportedly completed EIA and EMP for the on-going exploratory activities in Namibia has been shared. Recalling also Paragraphs 118bis and 172 of the Operational Guidelines, it is of utmost importance that any stage of the project is subject to rigorous and critical prior review, including through EIAs that correspond to international standards, including an assessment of social impacts and a review of potential impacts on the World Heritage property, in conformity with the new Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessment in a World Heritage context.

The confirmation by the State Party that no prospecting licenses remain in the property and major exploration licence for iron mining in the buffer zone was relinquished but received third party reports about additional licences being approved not only in the buffer zone but also inside the property. It is recommended that the Committee request the State Party to clarify urgently these questions and to recall its previous request to the State Party to terminate all prospecting activities within the property’s buffer zone.

An audit continued to note various non-conformities to national legislation and the EMP of the Okavango River Bridge, reportedly inaugurated in 2022, including the lack of ecological management and monitoring in the EMP. It is recommended that the property’s OUV should be explicitly referred to in the audit report’s recommended decommissioning and rehabilitation programme for the borrow pits to remedy any impact on the fragile wetland ecosystem. Implementing a major project of this scale with potential negative impact on the property’s OUV, the State Party is reminded of the Paragraph 118bis of the Operational Guidelines on the need to conduct appropriate impact assessments in the World Heritage context.