An Exploration of the Adaptive Capacity of Community-Based Organizations in Northern Botswana in Response to a Hunting Ban

Trophy hunting serves as a large economic sector in several African countries and has been considered important for wildlife conservation and local rural development. In many parts of Africa, local communities’ attitudes and decisions can affect the fate of conservation efforts outside of protected areas and it is thought that benefits from trophy hunting tourism can influence pro-conservation behavior at local scales. In Botswana, recent mandates, such as a 2014 nation-wide hunting ban and a 2019 lifting of the ban, have disrupted the relationships between wildlife conservation and rural livelihoods, resulting in adverse economic, social, and ecological impacts at various scales. I applied the adaptive cycle model, which tracks changes in social-ecological systems over-time, to better understand how trophy hunting tourism and its absence influence communities’ perception of wildlife conservation, their use of natural resources, and their overall capacity to function and thrive. I assessed Botswana’s trophy hunting system through the adaptive cycle model’s four phases of growth (r), conservation (k), release (), and reorganization (). This study conducted 54 semi-structured interviews to assess how a ban on hunting has shaped the adaptive capacity of three community-based organizations (CBOs). Key factors outlining the communities’ adaptive capacities emerged. The lifting of the hunting ban in 2019 presents an opportunity for a system-wide transformation if the state government chooses to incorporate communities’ critiques on hunting, such as the lack of community-based ownership in the trophy hunting industry and implementing strategies to allocate greater funds to local economic diversification. This study improves policy and decision makers’ foundational and conceptual understanding of adaptive capacity of Northern Botswana’s community-based organizations and the role that trophy hunting tourism plays in fostering or inhibiting those qualities. Results can help decision makers create policies or processes that support the adaptive capacity of CBOs in future times of crisis.