Prof. Lindsay Stringer L.Stringer@leeds.ac.uk

1. Workshop on the Economics of Land Degradation (ELD) • Sustainable Land Management in Kgalagadi Rangelands • 8th July 2014 Project overview Prof. Lindsay Stringer L.Stringer@leeds.ac.uk

2. Background • Research funded through the Economics Of Land Degradation(ELD) initiative: a global study on the economic benefits of land and land based ecosystems • Outlines economic valuation methods and scenarios, and identifies potential options and pathways to action that will aid decision-making on land use, investments, and management • Case study: Botswana’s Kalahari rangelands; Oct 2013 – June 2014 • Interdisciplinary, cross-continental collaboration: University of Leeds & Birmingham City University, UK & University of Botswana

3. Degradation & ecosystem services (ES) in Botswana’s rangelands • Rangeland systems are the main source of rural income & deliver various ES • Food (livestock, game, veld products) • Ground water • Building materials & fuelwood • Natural medicines (traditional) • Climate regulation • Soil erosion protection • Recreation and spiritual values • Dual threats of poverty & land degradation • Bush encroachment • Retreat of grass cover, reduced access to good quality grazing • Reactivation of previously stable dune fields • Reduced delivery of ES & economic returns

4. Project aim • Aim: To assess the costs, benefits and trade-offs associated with different land uses and management strategies in rangeland systems • Brings together economic, social & environmental dimensions • Uses primary empirical data along an east-west transect in SW Botswana covering: • Communal rangelands • Private cattle ranches • Private game farms & • Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs)

5. Study area • Kgalagadi District of Botswana’s Kalahari

6. Objectives To assess and outline the socio-economic and ecological characteristics of the study area To assess both farm and landscape scalepatterns of ecological changeincluding change to green vegetation biomass and wildlife distributions To identify the ES benefits provided by each land use, and discuss the costs and trade-offs associated with their delivery under different land uses and management To assess the trends in market prices (over the period 1975-2013) for the key provisioning ES extracted from the different land uses; and identify the major political and economic driversof particular land use and management strategies

7. Valuation methods • Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA)ranked alternative land use options by quantifying, scoring and weighting a range of quantitative and qualitative criteria • Integration of policy and price data analysis with 12 ecological assessments (piosphere based sampling approach and satellite data), 37 semi-structured interviews, literature review & secondary data analysis, and benefit transfer method

8. Project outputs • 3 reports: Economic valuation (Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis), Time-series analysis and Ecology report • 2 policy briefs • 2 peer-reviewed scientific journal papers:submitted to Journal of Environmental Management (Dec. 2013) and Ecological Economics (June 2014) • Leeds-hosted ELD project website: http://see.leeds.ac.uk/research/sri/eld/ • Policy workshop in Gaborone • Regular project Twitter updates

9. Policy workshop: key goals • Dissemination of project findings to policy makers from a range of sectors • Feedback and discussion about findings with input from policy audience • Identification of research gaps and elaboration of future research agenda • Many thanks for your participation