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第4回公開セミナー"A Biography of Moremi Game Reserve in the Okavango Delta, Botswana: People, Wildlife and Conservation in Africa"

講演者:

Maitseo M. M. Bolaane博士(ボツワナ大学歴史学科〈ボツワナ〉/国立民族学博物館)


日時: 2011年7月19日(火)19:00~21:00
場所: 東京外国語大学本郷サテライト7階会議室

今回は1950年代から60年代にかけてのボツワナ北部における野生動物保護のポリティクスについて,ボツワナ大学歴史学科のMaitseo Bolaane先生にご講演いただきました。講演では、オカヴァンゴ・デルタに位置するモレミ野生動物保護区が設置されるにあたり,ローカル・コミュニティーはいかに関与したのか、アフリカにおけるその歴史経緯の特殊性をふまえてご説明いただきました。質疑応答では観光開発事業との関係性や地域住民の意識の変化等について活発な議論がおこなわれました。


講演報告要旨
This presentation is about the politics of wildlife conservation and local management in northern Botswana in the 1950s and 1960s. It concerns the formation of the Moremi Game Reserve in the Okavango Delta on land controlled by the BaTawana in the region of Ngamiland.
The presentation focuses on the people directly involved in setting up a Fauna Conservation Society and establishing the game reserve and on the political context of the early 1960s. It attempts to analyse the complex relations around the formation of this major game reserve. In particular it explores the role of local African communities and their involvement in the establishment of the game reserve. The key actors in the foundation of Botswana's Okavango/Moremi game reserve in the 1960s were not state officials but BaTawana chiefs and a network of hunters and adventurers turned conservationists. Although the Protectorate Government of Bechuanaland had founded game reserves elsewhere, such as in the Chobe area and the Central Kalahari region, they were opposed to the Ngamiland Fauna Conservation Society and the Moremi Game Reserve. The official plan for Moremi involved tsetse control for the development of the cattle industry, combined with revenue from safari hunting licenses and export fees. It was a group of reformed hunters acting in conjunction with BaTawana elite who were responsible for changing the approach to wildlife preservation in Ngamiland. This was probably one of the few wildlife sanctuaries in southern Africa created through the initiative of an African chiefdom on their own land and this therefore distinguishes it from many other national parks in Africa. This fact may suggest that some re-examination of the history of other parks would be valuable.
This study explores the perspectives, actions and social networks of the group of wildlife enthusiasts who decided to create a Game Reserve in the Okavango Delta and emphasises the exceptionality of the Botswana context: not only had African leaders maintained rights to use and manage wildlife but there was an exceptional degree of cultural exchange between white settlers and the Tawana elite. The initiative was conceived as a means of protecting wildlife from the depredations of illegal South African hunting parties and ensuring future local use.
Moremi Game Reserve is the protected area within the Okavango Delta, and as such it is of enormous scientific and environmental importance. The Okavango Delta itself has been designated one of Ramsar's core wetland of international importance and is considered highly significant, both from the stand point of its geomorphology and hydrology and its biological richness. That the environment of the Okavango is unique in the world is recognised nationally (Okavango Delta Ramsar Site Common Vision 2016, 2006) and internationally.
When it was created in March 1963, the main objective of the Okavango project was to provide a total shield for the fauna inhabiting the area and at the same time to develop a tourist attraction which would possibly earn revenue for further game preservation projects. This strategy was sanctioned by the BaTawana Tribal Council and the kgotla, to whom the territory belonged. The name Moremi [BaTawana Royal name] stood for cultural heritage as well as the BaTawana's reinforcement of control of the Okavango landscape and political dominance in the region.

*当報告の内容は、それぞれの著者の著作物です。Copyrighted materials of the authors.