Introduction

Transnational natural heritage sites transcend national boundaries of two or more countries. The effective management of these sites requires close collaboration and cooperation between States Parties. Some of these natural heritage sites are Ramsar sitesFootnote 1 and World Heritage sites. In addition, some of the transnational natural heritage sites are river systems; most countries have put in place agreements and structures for the effective management of these. With time, parts or the whole of these transnational river systems have been inscribed as World Heritage sites, not only because of their hydrological values but also due to other values such as biodiversity, biological and geomorphological processes, cultural and aesthetic values.

The inscription onto the World Heritage List of a part of a heritage site in one country creates gaps and complexities in its management, as the other parts do not have World Heritage protection and the State Parties are not bound by the requirements of the World Heritage Convention. This is the case for the Okavango Delta World Heritage Site in Botswana, which is part of the Cubango-Okavango River Basin managed under the Permanent Okavango River Basin Agreement of 1994, which focuses mainly on the hydrological values of the natural site. However, it is important to note that such agreements have been effective in ensuring the management of these river systems and therefore provide a platform for the introduction of other international agreements.

Location and description of the Cubango-Okavango River Basin and the Okavango Delta World Heritage Site

The Cubango-Okavango River rises in the headwaters of the Cuito and Cubango rivers in the highland plateau of Angola. The topographic extent of the Cubango-Okavango River Basin comprises approximately 700,000 km2 but derives its principal flow from 120,000 km2 of sub-humid and semi-arid rangeland in the Cuando Cubango Province of Angola. The basin is drained by the Cubango (referred to as Kavango in Namibia and Okavango in Botswana), Cutato, Cuchi, Cuelei, Cuebe, Cueio, Cuatir, Luassingua, Longa, Cuiriri and Cuito rivers and the Okavango Delta. Flowing from the Angolan highlands, the Cubango-Okavango forms the boundary of Namibia and Angola, and on this stretch is joined by the main tributary, the Cuito, before flowing through the panhandle as it enters Botswana and spilling into the Cubango-Okavango Delta, or Fan, in Botswana. The outflow from the delta forms a set of evaporation pans in the Kalahari Desert, principally the Makgadikgadi Pans fed by the Boteti River (OKACOM, 2011, p. 5) (Figure 1).

Figure 1.
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Map showing the origins of the Cubango-Okavango River Basin. Source: Okavango Delta Nomination Dossier, 2013. (The names and boundaries shown and the designations used on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations).

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The Cubango-Okavango River Basin is internationally important for its biodiversity and biological productivity. The Okavango Delta is the best known feature of the river basin and is one of the largest Ramsar sites in the world (Figure 2). With its location, variety of habitats and resulting biodiversity, it is globally one of the unique areas for biodiversity conservation. The wetland environment of the delta provides a staging post for birds migrating to Southern Africa during the boreal winter and is a storehouse of globally significant biodiversity. The Cubango-Okavango River Basin has national, regional and – importantly – global environmental value. The basin supports predominantly rural communities, most often located either adjacent to the river or along roads (OKACOM, 2011, p. 5).

Figure 2.
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Okavango Delta map showing World Heritage boundaries. Source: Okavango Delta Nomination Dossier, 2013. (The names and boundaries shown and the designations used on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations).

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The Okavango Delta – the Botswanan part of the Cubango-Okavango River Basin – is a Ramsar site (1997) and a World Heritage site (2014). It was inscribed under criteria (vii), (ix) and (x) for its unique hydrological, biological and geomorphological processes, biodiversity and aesthetic natural beauty. The Namibian part of the Cubango-Okavango River Basin is a Ramsar site (2013) – the Okavango Bwabwata Ramsar Site. The site covers the lower Okavango River, part of the Okavango Delta Panhandle and permanently or temporarily flooded marshes and floodplains bordered by riparian forest and open woodland. Parts of the southern boundary of the site are contiguous with the northern boundary of the Okavango Delta Ramsar Site in Botswana (RIS, Namibia, 2014). The Namibian part of the Cubango-Okavango River Basin is also on the country’s World Heritage Tentative List (2016), which means it is recognized as having the potential to be a World Heritage site. This is based on the same criteria as the Okavango Delta World Heritage Site in Botswana. Currently, Angola’s part of the river basin has no Ramsar or World Heritage status. A coordinated effort is therefore needed to ensure the same level of protection for the whole river basin, and for effective management of the transnational natural site.

Current management of the Cubango-Okavango River Basin

The Cubango-Okavango River Basin is managed through OKACOM, established in 1994 by the ‘Agreement between the Governments of the Republic of Angola, the Republic of Botswana and the Republic of Namibia on the Establishment of a Permanent Okavango River Basin Water Commission’ (OKACOM, 2011, p. 107). The 1994 OKACOM Agreement commits the three member states to promoting coordinated and environmentally sustainable regional water resources development, while addressing the legitimate social and economic needs of each of the riparian states. Under this agreement, OKACOM is mandated to advise the party states on sustainable long-term yield, reasonable demand, conservation criteria, development of water resources, prevention of pollution and other matters pertaining to the management of the Cubango Okavango River Basin. The role of OKACOM is to anticipate and reduce the unintended, unacceptable and often unnecessary impacts that occur as a result of uncontrolled resource development (OKACOM, 2011, p. 6). To do so, it has developed a coherent approach to managing the river basin, which is based on equitable allocation, sustainable utilization, and sound environmental management and sharing of benefits. OKACOM advises the three riparian states on the best possible use of the river’s natural resources.

In April 2007, the three States Parties concluded the ‘Agreement between the Governments of the Republic of Angola, the Republic of Botswana and the Republic of Namibia on the Organizational structure of OKACOM’ (the OKACOM Structure Agreement), which establishes the organs of OKACOM as the Commission, the Okavango Basin Steering Committee (OBSC) and the Secretariat (OKACOM, 2011, p. 107) (Figure 3). The Commission is the principal organ responsible for defining and guiding the development policy and the general supervision of OKACOM’s activities. The Commission consists of the three national delegations, each comprising three commissioners appointed by their respective countries. The commissioners are representatives of relevant government departments who attend to OKACOM matters as part of their departmental functions, but do not work on OKACOM matters on a full-time basis (OKACOM, 2011, p. 108).

Figure 3.
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OKACOM organizational structure diagram. Source: OKACOM, 2011.

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The OBSC is the technical advisory body to the commission, whereas the secretariat is responsible for providing administrative, financial and general secretarial services to OKACOM (OKACOM, 2011, p. 107). Article 7 (n) of the OKACOM Structure Agreement permits the commission to establish ad hoc working groups or specific temporary or permanent committees. Three task forces have subsequently been established, namely the Biodiversity Task Force, the Hydrology Task Force and the Institutional Task Force (OKACOM, 2011, p. 108).

The Cubango-Okavango River Basin remains one of the basins least affected by human activity on the African Continent. In its present near-pristine condition, the river provides significant ecosystem benefits and, if managed appropriately, can continue to do so. However, mounting socio-economic activity on the basin in the riparian countries of Angola, Botswana and Namibia could change its present character and there is therefore a critical need to establish sustainable management of its resources. The riparian countries recognize that economic and social development within the basin is essential but that this also needs to be balanced against conservation of the natural environment and ecosystem services currently provided. This requires basin-wide understanding, agreement on the basin’s problems and issues, and a blueprint for a development pathway guided by an adaptive process (OKACOM, 2011, p. 5). It is against this background that with the formation of OKACOM in 1994, the Global Environmental Facility’s (GEF) Environmental Protection and Sustainable Management of the Cubango-Okavango River Basin (EPSMO) Project was introduced. A preliminary transnational diagnostic analysis (TDA) was completed in 1998 and the EPSMO Project was later developed through a GEF PDF-B grant and formally launched in 2004 (OKACOM, 2011, p. 6).

The long-term objective of the EPSMO Project was to achieve global environmental benefits through collaborative management of the naturally integrated land and water resources of the Cubango-Okavango River Basin (OKACOM, 2011, p. 19). The specific objectives of the project were to:

  • Enhance the depth, accuracy and accessibility of the existing knowledge base of basin characteristics and conditions and identify the principal threats to the transnational water resources of the Cubango-Okavango River Basin through a TDA.

  • Develop and implement, through a structured process, a sustainable and cost-effective programme of policy, as well as legal and institutional reforms and investments to mitigate the identified threats to the basins linked land and water system through the Strategic Action Programme and finally assist the three riparian nations in their efforts to improve their capacity to collectively manage the basin (OKACOM, 2011, p. 19).

OKACOM, through the EPSMO Project, embarked on a TDA of the basin between 2008 and 2010. The TDA is a scientific assessment of the shared management issues and problems, both existing and emerging, of the Cubango-Okavango River Basin. For priority issues, the analysis identified the scale and distribution of the potential environmental and socio-economic impacts at national, regional and global levels. Through an analysis of the root causes, it identified potential remedial and/or preventive actions (OKACOM, 2011, p. 6). Since the Cubango-Okavango River Basin is still in near-pristine condition, OKACOM embarked on a unique TDA that looked forward to assess the positive and negative implications of possible future water resources developments. These were then addressed in the Strategic Action Programme (SAP) for the basin (OKACOM, 2011, p. 16).

The SAP for the basin builds on the knowledge collected by the TDA to work towards defining an acceptable development space in the Cubango-Okavango basin. The SAP is a basin-wide policy framework document for the Cubango-Okavango River system basin that lays down the principles for the development of the basin and improvement of the livelihoods of its people through the cooperative management of the basin and its shared water resources. The contents of the SAP are supported by and in accordance with their national development plans and the National Action Plans (NAPs) for their part of the basin that have been developed in parallel with the SAP. Implementation of the SAP is the individual responsibility of the basin states as components of the NAPs, and collectively as part of OKACOM. Therefore, the overarching objective of the SAP is to promote and strengthen the integrated, sustainable management, use and development of the Cubango-Okavango Basin at national and transnational levels according to internationally recognized best practices, in order to protect biodiversity, improve the livelihoods of basin communities and the development of basin states (OKACOM, 2011, p. 16).

The TDA identified four emerging areas of concern in the basin and four underlying driving factors. The SAP is therefore a coordinated management response to the problems posed by these driving factors and priority areas of concern (Table 1). The NAP is a critical tool for implementation of SAP priority actions at national level, and for the integration of transnational and basin concerns into national legislative, policy and budget decision-making processes. The NAPs represent an awareness of and commitment to enhanced sustainable management of water resources by the basin states. Like the SAP, the NAPs will be implemented over two separate five-year periods and will be reviewed every five years. The first period of implementation started in 2011 and ended in 2016; hence, they are due for review. Since the implementation started, basin states have been implementing projects and programmes as per their NAPs and as part of OKACOM; projects aligned to the SAP have been implemented at basin level through partnerships or support by organizations such as SAREP and UNDP GEF.

Table 1. Transnational diagnostic analysis: Emerging areas of concern and driving factors
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State Party initiatives – World Heritage status

It is important to note that the three basin states have ratified the UNESCO 1972 Convention on the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, thereby demonstrating their commitment to ensuring the protection of their natural and cultural heritage of Outstanding Universal Value. However, the countries have different priorities and plans in terms of which heritage sites to nominate, hence the need for continued dialogue and cooperation in ensuring mutual understanding regarding the need to provide the Cubango-Okavango River Basin with World Heritage status. As indicated above, Botswana and Namibia are a step ahead, with Botswana’s Okavango Delta inscribed in June 2014, and the Namibian part put onto the Tentative List in 2016, while Angola is still to decide. However, given the importance the three basin states accord to the river basin, talks have already started to work towards the nomination of the Angolan and Namibian parts of the basin. A meeting between the three riparian states, the World Heritage Centre Africa Unit and IUCN to discuss cooperation in the protection of the river basin was held during the 42nd session of the World Heritage Committee in Manama in 2018. The initiative of the basin states is receiving the support of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre Africa Unit and the IUCN. The first technical transnational meeting was hosted by Botswana in Maun from 3 to 4 June 2019, supported by the UNESCO Flanders Fund-in-Trust and the Government of Botswana through the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism (Department of National Museums and Monuments). It was at this meeting that the three States Parties, together with their partners and stakeholders, engaged to devise a tripartite action plan for the protection of the Cubango-Okavango River Basin. The action plan involved the establishment of a steering committee to drive the process, the development of TORs for the steering committee and the development of an action plan. The committee comprises two representatives from the three States Parties, representatives from UNESCO World Heritage Centre, the IUCN, the AWHF, the KAZA Secretariat and OKACOM Secretariat. Through consultations with the Ambassador of Angola and the High Commissioner of Botswana to Namibia, they had indicated the need to be part of the committee. It was agreed at this meeting that Botswana would serve as the secretariat for the project/committee, and the first meeting for the steering committee was held in Kasane, from 26 to 27 February 2020. The meeting developed the TORs and action plan for the committee. Implementation of the action plan is ongoing and some progress has been made, although the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the process.

An important outcome of the meeting was that Angola and Namibia identified potential areas that could form part of the transnational extension. Angola has made progress in preparing its Natural Heritage Tentative List. They have identified two potential sites for the transnational extension: Luengue-Luiana National Park in Cuando Cubango Provence and Torre de Aqua-Water Tower in Moxico Provence. Namibia has identified the Mahango Wildlife Core Area, which is a part of the Bwabwata National Park, part of the river basin to the Panhandle as the potential site for transnational extension. The Mahango Wildlife Core Area is a Ramsar site and it is on the World Heritage Tentative List for Namibia.

Future transnational management considerations for the Cubango-Okavango River Basin

Future transnational management considerations for the Cubango-Okavango River Basin should consider the key findings of the TDA, as it provides a scientific analysis of the issues and concerns at national, regional and global level. One of the key technical findings of the TDA is that the Cubango-Okavango River is a floodplain-driven system, with floodplains that sustain the river in the dry season and store floodwaters that would otherwise increase flooding downstream. The Cuito River is key to the functioning of the whole lower river system because of its strong year-round flow, its wet-season storage of floodwaters on vast floodplains and the gradual release of water back into the river in the dry season. The riverine ecosystems and associated structures of people along the lower Cubango-Okavango River, the Okavango Delta and the outflowing Thamalakane and Boteti rivers are sustained largely by the annual flow regime of the Cuito. If these ecosystems and structures are taken into consideration at basin level, water resources development along the Cuito or intervention in the functioning of its floodplains should be modest and undertaken with caution (OKACOM, 2011, p. 28). It is with this in mind that future transnational management considerations should consider the protection of the source of the river basin or the Angolan part of the basin at international level, both at Ramsar and World Heritage level, as it is critical for the continued existence and functioning of the whole river basin.

The other key finding to consider is that the most significant constraints for the effective sustainable management of the basin lie in the institutional framework. These constraints have been identified as largely of a structural nature, namely the fragmentation of management responsibilities across different line-function ministries, the lack of intersectoral planning, limited coordination between different spheres of government, weak institutional structures at local level, a lack of skills, management capacity and resources for integrated planning and effective monitoring, implementation and enforcement. Managing a transnational World Heritage property with multiple designations requires dedicated resources and strong institutions at local, national and transnational levels.

In addition, it is important to consider that OKACOM was established as a platform for cooperation, coordination and information among the three basin states with respect to water resource management. It is clear that it has a central role to play in the management of the basin, especially as there are no established basin-wide cooperation mechanisms in other natural resources management fields, such as land use and biodiversity (OKACOM, 2011, p. 30). It is therefore critical that future transnational management interventions consider the diverse nature of the resources of the basin and widen the cooperation mechanisms or mandate of OKACOM to accommodate these, especially the cultural resources of the basin. According to the TDA, the river contains sacred and cultural sites for the people of all three countries, and while these are of great importance for riparian communities, no formal studies have been undertaken on the location and significance of these sites along the river (OKACOM, 2011, p. 69).

Lastly, integrated resource management cannot be undertaken effectively without considering issues of land management and other natural resource-use aspects. However, this need is not yet reflected in the composition of national delegations of all countries to OKACOM and/or to the OBSC. Given the importance of agriculture and energy issues, forestry and wildlife and other sectors such as cultural heritage and tourism, increasing the diversity of sectors represented in the different organs of OKACOM would allow greater consideration of and coordination between sectors (OKACOM, 2011, p. 30). Given the cultural significance of wetlands and river systems, there is a need to consider the sacred, spiritual and cultural significance of the Cubango-Okavango River Basin to its people; there is a need to represent the heritage sector in the different organs of OKACOM if we are to nominate the whole river basin as a World Heritage site. The basin states, through OKACOM, should also consider embracing regional and international agreements/conventions that govern or apply to the different sectors of the diverse resources of the river basin.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the current management system of the Cubango-Okavango River Basin has laid a strong foundation for future integrated resource management of the basin. It has brought together different stakeholders from the three riparian states in the management of the river basin. However, effective management of the basin requires an integrated approach that will consider the inclusion of land management issues and other uses of natural resources, such as agriculture, forestry, energy, culture, tourism and the regional and international protocols and agreements that govern them.