Securing critical habitat in southern Botswana

The Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) and Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (KTP) and the intervening Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) form critical habitat for lions and encompass a population of at least 1,475 individuals. The WMAs in between CKGR and KTP are threatened by human development and lions are further threatened by human-lion conflict. Kalahari Research and Conservation, in conjunction with Cheetah Conservation Botswana, have developed a project designed to support land use planning to prevent loss of critical habitat in the WMAs, to increase wildlife management capacity in those areas and to tackle human-lion conflict. A second grant was issued to Kalahari Research & Conservation in 2020 to establish a ‘performance payments’ program, whereby communities will be rewarded for managing livestock in a manner conducive to wildlife conservation.