Country Comments

Botswana is currently sustainable, however its population has steadily been growing at about 50,000 citizens a year to the point that the renewable natural resources that it possesses will soon not be enough to support its numbers.

Botswana is a signatory to the Gaborone Declaration for Sustainability in Africa which is a commitment to a new model of development that, for the first time, takes into account the role of natural capital in development by bringing the value of natural resources from the periphery to the center of all economic decision-making. About 38% of Botswana’s total area is devoted to national parks, reserves and wildlife management areas.

In the past 50 years Botswana has seen fertility decline from 7 children per mother to an average of 3 today. There is a complex range of factors for the decline: economic growth and development of health care and education infrastructure, proactive maternal and child health and family planning services.

Girls who remain in school tend to marry later in life, be more employable, be financially independent and have fewer children - a win for the health and welfare of the women, children and nature of Botswana.