ABSTRACT
The Okavango Delta changes constantly. Fire, flooding, droughts, animal migration and seasonal fluxes in the abundance and availability of plant and animal products characterize this dynamic ecosystem. It requires exceptional knowledge and adaptations for humans to subsist here permanently. The Basarwa people have evolved a body of knowledge and practices about ecosystems and their function to enable them to deal with constant change in ecosystems. These include a nomadic lifestyle, flexible livelihood strategies, a heavy reliance on social capital, such as customs and traditional institutions, and adaptive ecosystem management, such as the deliberate use of fire to enhance wildlife habitat, selective and opportunistic harvesting methods, and lifestyles that are independent of financial capital. The Basarwa's nomadic lifestyles have more recently been replaced by sedentary lifestyles in rural settlements, under government-sponsored betterment schemes and land and conservation policies that undermined their traditional ways. This has placed considerable constraints on their ability to cope with social and ecological change.
