WILD BW: THE BOTSWANA: GREEN VALUE CHAIN DEVELOPMENT FOR JOB CREATION PROGRAMME. NOT ALL THAT’S GREEN IS GOLD.
Oshinka Tsiang
Yesterday, a European Union sponsored program entitled the Botswana Green Value Chain Development for Job Creation programme was launched in Gaborone. The program involves, the Ministries of Trade, Environment and Tourism, and Lands and Agriculture. According to a statement by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Trade and Entrepreneurship, Joel Ramaphoi the focus of the program is on ecotourism and horticulture value chains. Across both sectors, he said, the program will apply an integrated and system’s based support approach. Some of the steps to achieve this include targeted capacity development through a training of trainers to enhance local capacity and sustainability, and strengthening of business support organisations and ecosystem actors. According to Ramaphoi, the project will also provide tailored policy and regulatory support. This will involve “identifying regulatory bottlenecks, enhancing standards compliance, and aligning trade-related measures with international commitments and evolving market requirements.” The EU is investing 7.9 million Euros, (P130 million) in the project. The local implementers are, Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Nationality Immigration and Gender Affairs, Botswana Horticulture Council, Botswana Tourism Organisation, Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CIDA), Ministry of Trade and Industry, Botswana Investment and Trade Center, Women in Business Association, Ministry of Land and Agriculture and Exporters and Manufacturers Association of Botswana. So clearly a multi stakeholder affair. It is expected that a Project Management Unit will be established in Gaborone shortly. Evidently this project is expected to greatly benefit Botswana’s diversification drive and more importantly create jobs and enable access to international markets. The expectation is that the details will become clearer as the project takes root. Suffice it to say, this is purely a green economy project on steroids. The number and kind of players alone and the urgency with which it is being driven tells you it is one of those projects that are meant to align with the 2030 agenda, the Sustainable Development Goals. In fact the EU Ambassador to Botswana Petra Pereyra speaking at the launch declared, “It aligns with Botswana’s key strategic plans, including Vision 2036, the Botswana Economic Transformation Programme (BETP), the 12th National Development Plan, as well as with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.” It is one of those projects that will demand strict compliance with relevant international commitments that Botswana is party to in order to benefit from international markets. It is a project, while it is not clear how many jobs it will generate, is quite likely going to demand a change in many of our regulations spanning areas such as land use, diversity, carbon emission restrictions, etc. While the focus is on the expected benefits of this project as per the speeches, the bigger picture needs to be highlighted, concerning the green economy. It’s obviously something that many countries, especially in Europe, are heavily invested in. But many challenges are emerging, which thanks to our connected world, even some of us in these parts of the world are aware of. The green agenda is not really the silver bullet that the world has been made to understand it to be. In my opinion it must be embraced with a lot of caution. If you take the issue of carbon emission issues for example which posits that cattle contribute significantly to global warming, you begin to see that the green economy and by extension the green value chain development is incompatible with our major product. Beef. It falls to logic that where we have been producing beef for international markets, especially to the EU, we may need to replace with horticultural products. Where we have been using land mainly for pastoral farming, we may need to convert it to wildlife habitat for tourism purposes. This is not farfetched. If you have been following this column you will have realized that there has been a flurry of activities in partnership with either the EU or individual European countries, focusing on conservation, the environment, biodiversity, tourism and related issues. On the ground we have projects such as herding for health which seeks to transform communal cattle farming, the recently launched Kalahari Trans Frontier Park Project, also sponsored by the EU and the recently launched Botswana National Ecosystem Assessment now being work shopped around the country. These, while seemingly separate activities point to the same objective of the rapid greening of Botswana’s economy. While there is no doubt that much can be gained from this, a blind adoption of this agenda could prove to be problematic in the long run. We have seen how heavy dependence on a single commodity such as diamonds without the concomitant development of the value chain locally can do. The results are there for all to see. We have also seen how our dependence on the dictates of the EU market has held our beef industry and by extension, our livelihoods to ransom. The current foot and mouth disease outbreak is proof of that if any was needed. What I am saying is that, as we adopt this project, it is critical that we understand the long term implications going forward. We need to understand that access to the markets will not come easy. Participation in the green economy value chain will demand strict compliance with globalized regulations. Global market forces and sensitivities will dictate both production and use at local levels. These aspects by themselves are not negative. But we must be alive to the diminishing choices in terms of products that we really need for livelihoods such as our traditional crops. It must also be noted that there is an emerging push back in the developed countries against aggressive greening of economies. The shifting global power dynamics are compelling a rethink where cost of living has been greatly impacted by the pursuit of the green agenda. In Europe green politics is rapidly losing its shine. So let us tread very very carefully. In one aspect Pereyra is right, “we stand at a critical moment in time and history. In a world that is increasingly fragmented and uncertain, we need more dialogue and cooperation.” We may be party to the green agenda, but we need to be prepared to rethink some key decisions to protect our capacity to maneuver before it is too late.
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