The Makgadikgadi ecosystem lies towards northeast Botswana, and the planning area of the Makgadikgadi Framework Management Plan (MFMP , which document constitutes the overarching ecosystem-level planning guide for this project) covers an area of 36, 452 km2 of richly endowed rangelands and wetlands. The MFMP boundary, delineated through a consultative process over several years, is meant to include ?the core pan and its villages?, also basing on contour lines and physical boundaries such as roads and veterinary fences; this area is much smaller than the Makgadikgadi Wetlands System (MWS), which is delineated by the watershed boundary of the river catchments, including the Nata River catchment in Zimbabwe where majority of the surface water into the salt pans emanates. This project will focus on the MFMP rather than the MWS. At least six main vegetation types are recognized: (1) saline grasslands; (2) shrubbed grasslands; (3) mixed mopane; (4) mixed acacia; (5) mixed combretum and (6) mixed terminalia, creating a mosaic of ecological systems. Largely as a result of the diversity and mosaic of habitat types, the MFMP area has global biological significance, as it supports the second largest flamingo population in Africa, and Botswana?s largest zebra and wildebeest migration route. Moreover, the site supports many threatened species, including large populations of at least ten globally threatened birds (IUCN Red Listed, most of which are dependent on sustainably managed rangelands). Out of the 43 plant species on the Botswana?s Red Data List , two are found in the MFMP area, Hoodia currorill sbsp lugardili (Vulnerable) and Panicum coloratum (Data Deficient, and endemic to the area). Other plants of conservation concern and tourist attraction value include Sesamothamnus lugardii, Adansonia digitata, Aloe litoralis, Salvadora persica. They all have restricted geographic distributions in Southern Africa, with some e.g. Adansonia digitata found in high densities in the MFMP area, and thus many tourists visit the area to see these unique trees.

Despite the importance of livestock and wildlife-based tourism (both of which rely on a healthy savannah) to the MFMP economy, the integrity of the savannah ecosystem has been declining over several decades. This is having an impact on the ability of the savannah to continue supplying agro-ecosystem goods and services for sustaining the livelihoods in the MFMP, and Botswana. As stated in the National Action Program (2006), range degradation is mostly due to depletion of palatable grass species and in some cases severe soil erosion due to poor vegetative cover. In the MFMP (and much of Botswana), the root causes of range degradation are the overstocking and overgrazing of livestock, and over-harvesting of natural resources. In the MFMP, agricultural income is complemented by the collection of veld products (e.g. thatching grass, wild fruits, medicinal plants etc.), basket-making, fishing and community-based tourism. However, some of these livelihood activities are contributing to ecosystem degradation due to the fact that they are being undertaken without due consideration for sustainability. This result in reduced livelihood options for the rural populace who depend on rangeland resources, and there is therefore a need for those actions that assist with (i) directly mitigating rangeland degradation; (ii) diversifying the economic opportunities of communities that rely on rangelands, and (iii) support to awareness-raising, decision-making and land-use planning, so that rangeland degradation is also addressed at the systemic level. We address all these three points, as articulated below.