Ecosystem Services

Lack of information on ecosystems services values and how they contribute to human wellbeing contributes to their degradation, and also, poor integration into policy and decision-making. Come join the Ecosystem Services (ES) programme multidisciplinary research team and contribute to scientific knowledge and sustainable policies on the management of ecosystems services in the Okavango Delta in Botswana and other wetlands by undertaking studies in ecological economics, political economy, ecology, human geography and anthropology in four thematic areas namely;

  • dynamics of ES,
  • economic valuation of ES,
  • human well-being and
  • institutions and governance of ES.

Current Projects

  1. Socio-economic and environmental impacts of Jatropha cultivation and biodiesel production in Botswana. 
  2. Mitigating the implementation gap in environmental initiatives through community engagement and public pedagogies.  
  3. Socio-cultural and institutional determinants of morbidity due to urogenital schistosomiasis in the Okavango Sub-District, Botswana.
  4. Access to social capital and household adaptation to flood variability in the Okavango Delta, Botswana.
  5. Group solidarity, social capital and indigenous approaches to fund mobilisation: how rural women sustain their livelihoods in the Okavango Delta, Botswana.
  6. Fossil Free Okavango Delta, Botswana.
  7. Tackling infections in Africa (TIBA), multi-country regional project.
  8. Book Project: Farmers and farming practices: Prospects and challenges
  9. Community Development Society (CDS) Literacy Project

Core Members

Name Position Department
Professor Oluwatoyin (Toyin) Dare Kolawole Professor Okavango Research Institute
Miss Dimpho Malebogo Matlhola Research Fellow Okavango Research Institute
Dr. Vincent Pagiwa Research Fellow-Public Health Okavango Research Institute
Prof. Olekae Tsompi Thakadu Associate Professor Okavango Research Institute

Selected Publications

Journal Articles

  1. Mbaiwa J.E., Motsholapheko M.R., Kgathi D.L. (2018). Tourism and energy use in lodges and camps in the Okavango Delta, Botswana International Journal of Tourism Policy, 8(1).*
     
  2. Motsholapheko, M. R., Mbaiwa, J. E., and Kgathi, D. L., Oladiran, T.  Access to grid electricity in Botswana: implications for energy transition in the Okavango Delta. Pula: Botswana Journal of African Studies. (In Press).
     
  3. Kolawole, I.O, Mbaiwa, Mbaiwa, J.E., Kgathi, D.L. & Mmopelwa, G. Local communities quality of life and support for tourism development: A structural equation analysis. Pula: Botswana Journal of African Studies (In press).
     
  4. Kolawole, O. I., Mbaiwa, J. E. Kgathi, D. L., and Mmopelwa, G. (2018). Local communities’ quality of life and support for tourism development: A Structural equation analysis. Pula: Botswana Journal of African studies, 32 (1).
     
  5. Gondo, R., Kolawole, O.D. and Mbaiwa, J.E. (2018). Dissonance in customary and statutory water management institutions: Issues of cultural diversity in the management of water resources in the Okavango Delta, Botswana, Environment, Development and Sustainability 1-19
     
  6. Gondo, R. and Kolawole, O.D. (2018). ‘Assessment of water management legislations:  A review of customary and statutory water legislations in the Okavango Delta, Botswana and Hurungwe District, Zimbabwe.’  Pula Botswana Journal of African studies, 32 (1) 32(1): 71-95.
     
  7. Thakadu, O. T., Ngwenya, B. N., Phaladze, N. A., & Bolaane, B. (2018). Sanitation and hygiene practices among primary school learners in Ngamiland district, Botswana. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/C. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2018.02.006
     
  8. Tiejen I, Ngwenya, B N., Fosto, G., Williams, G., Simonambango, S., Ngadjui, B., Anderson, R., Brumme, Z., Brockman. M., and Andrae-Marobela, K. (2018). The Croton megalobotrys Arg. Traditional medicine in HIV/AIDS management: Documentation of patient use, in vitro activation of latent HIV-1provirus, and isolation of active phorbol esters. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 211, 267-277.

  9. Ngwenya B. N. Thakadu O T., Phaladze N. A.  Bolaane B. (2018). Access to water and sanitation facilities in primary schools: A neglected educational crisis in Ngamiland district in Botswana Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/C 105: 231-238

  10. Kolawole, O.D., Motsholapheko, M.R., Ngwenya, B.N., Moses, A., Makebea, M.N., and Kaisara, M.T. (2018).  ‘Smallholder farmer’s responses to modern early warning on weather in the Okavango Delta, Botswana’, Journal of Sustainable Development 11(6), pp. 82-98.

  11. Noga, S.R., Kolawole, O.D., Thakadu, O.T. and Masunga, G. (2018). ‘Wildlife officials only care about animals’: Farmers’ perceptions of a Ministry-based extension delivery system in mitigating human-wildlife conflicts in the Okavango Delta, Botswana, Journal of Rural Studies 61, pp. 216-226 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2018.06.003

  12. Kolawole, O.D. and Olebile, K. (2018). Survival at a cost: how artisanal fishers perceive occupational hazards in the Okavango Delta, Botswana, South African Geographical Journal, pp. 1-21. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03736245.2018.1541019

  13. Gondo, R. and Kolawole, O.D. and Mbaiwa, J.E. (2018). Institutions and water governance in the Okavango Delta, Botswana, Chinese Journal of Population, Resources and Environment, pp. 1-12. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10042857.2018.1544752

In pursuit of academic excellence

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