What We Do

Holistic thinking

To reduce human-wildlife conflict in Botswana, CLAWS focuses equally on

Wildlife research and technological innovations for conserving species
Community needs, such as safety and supporting livelihoods like traditional cattle herding

From the ground up

Started in 2014 as a small research program, we became a Botswana registered non-governmental organization in 2020 to balance the needs of wildlife and local livelihoods. With partners and communities and through our science-based projects, we develop and deploy innovative strategies that reduce conflict between people and predators.

We work to reduce wildlife conflict and promote human-lion coexistence using technology and tradition.

Where we work
Our working area covers the five villages along the northern edge of the Okavango Delta, Botswana, the contentious interface between the stunning, wildlife rich waterways and traditional, livestock focused communities. Conflict is rife, but there is hope for a better future.

These traditional villages lie in the heart of the world’s largest transboundary conservation area, the Kavango-Zambesi Transfontier Conservation Area. Stretching across 5 countries, the KAZA TFCA, larger than 500,000 km2, is hosts a great diversity of landscapes. It’s aim is to strengthen ecological connectivity between member countries and create opportunities to conserve natural resources across these large landscapes.

Though primarily restricted to protected areas within, KAZA TFCA represents the largest remaining stronghold for lions in Southern Africa. Our work aligns with the goals of KAZA to protect species, like lion, while at the same time improving livelihoods in this region.

Our Impacts

Lion populations are stabilizing—and we’re supporting local livelihoods to do it.

Since launching our Herding Program, which better protects local cattle and ensures participating farmers do not kill predators, we’ve seen a reduction in lion conflict. And these cattle and herds are healthier, too, thanks to expert veterinary care and “boma” and herder protection from predators.

It’s a win-win for safe, prosperous communities and thriving wildlife populations.

Further, the practice of lion poisoning has ceased entirely within our partner villages (see our journey). Overall, in the course of our engagement, killing has dropped from over 20 lions in 2013 to fewer than 3 individuals per year across the region since 2016.

With the adoption of better livestock husbandry techniques and through training and experience, we have also seen a vast improvement in the health of the cattle in the communal herd.

Being a herder was once the job of children and considered a low status job for adults. However, our trained herders are proud of their job: “I am very happy to have this job, because everything I learn here, all the skills I have been equipped with during training and herding, I can apply to my own herd. Knowing about the principles of sophisticated grazing management makes me feel good and safe at the same time”, says Dimbindo Kuyakenge, one of our trained herders. Similarly, Kelebogile Motshoi, our qualified eco-ranger and research assistant, successfully completed a year-long training course in regenerative land management at the Herding Academy in South Africa. She feels confident and highly motivated: “This job enables me to use and unfold my potential. I demonstrate my technical skills in herding management and this is much acknowledged by the team out here. At the same time, I am able to put money on the table when being home with my family.”

Yet, our efforts have not only improved livestock herd management. The vice chairman of the herding committee, Mr Mokwati Mongomba, is very satisfied with the communal boma as it keeps cattle away from interrupting plowing and eating their crops.

In fact, the communal herding program is being more and more acknowledged among communities in other neighboring villages and more farmers are expressing interest in joining the program. In 2022, we formed the second communal herd in Eretsha. The two herds now contain more than 700 cattle altogether from 28 livestock owners, covering more than half of the village cattle (approximately 1,400 head). At present, we have 11 trained herders/eco rangers and are supporting roughly 80 individuals in Eretsha so far. We wish to further support local communities through the development of an outreach program. We are also happy to experience minimal predator conflicts since the program has started.

So far, through the Lion Alert System over 20,000 automated alerts were sent to more than 200 recipients. Villagers who heeded the warnings on their mobile phone devices have reduced their conflict by 50%.

Lastly, having been chosen as a demonstration and pilot site under the Green Climate Fund (8-year program), our work has been recognized regionally, being a benchmark for the rest of the country. While implementing rotational grazing, we lessen the impacts of overgrazing, desertification and sequester carbon to fight climate change.

Vision

We envision a world with safe and prosperous local communities, living alongside thriving lion populations.

Our vision of a sustainable world embraces communities whose safety and livelihoods are not threatened, but enhanced. A world where traditional practices are honored and are strengthened by science to ensure that healthy ecosystems are sustained. A world where wildlife populations are stable, healthy and thriving. Where holistic practices engender partnerships with stakeholders that open opportunities for long-term financial, social and ecological sustainability. And where our partner communities are global role models for human and wildlife coexistence across the world.

Mission

We help people and predators thrive—together—by crafting solutions for reducing human-wildlife conflict in Southern Africa.

We do this by partnering with communities and scientists to find sustainable and lasting resolutions to human-wildlife conflict, for the benefit of people, wildlife and society. We design and implement solutions that help wildlife and local communities thrive- together. Community-based conservation is complex and requires integrated, holistic approaches. We incorporate local knowledge, the latest science and the ecological needs of a sustainable system to develop lasting solutions to the most pressing issues in human-wildlife conflict. In doing so, we are entrepreneurial problem-solvers who adapt our approach to the local circumstances of people and the environment to ensure that both can thrive on the landscape together.

Values

Our work is empowered by local knowledge, innovation and ecological sustainability. We ground our approach in these core values:

Compassion

Our lion work began from witnessing a place of desperation from local communities when it came to managing predators. We don’t forget that fear and desperation and work hard to help develop and deploy better, lasting solutions to human and predator conflict. We know that living with wildlife is a challenge and can be dangerous to lives and livelihoods and we put people and healthy communities at the core of our work.

Holism

The natural world, human communities and conservation techniques are inherently complex and interconnected. Instead of being inhibited by this web, we honor it and design both what we do and how we do it with complexity and interconnectedness in mind. For people and wildlife to thrive, we must consider and incorporate challenges and benefits in a holistic way. We also strive to incorporate curious thinking, collaboration and the integration of diverse perspectives in all that we do.

Listening

Our greatest opportunity is to listen deeply to others—indigenous communities and innovators in the fields of science. We see ourselves as facilitators and problem-solvers, connecting the dots and the opportunities, and acting in service to local communities and wildlife. We explore the available knowledge to develop, adapt and deploy approaches to each challenge.

Ingenuity

We work with communities that are suffering through devastating conflicts with wildlife and with wildlife populations on the brink of extinction. We don’t find success by treating just one of these issues—or by only addressing the symptoms of a problem—but rather by addressing the root cause, with ingenuity and heart. By incorporating the latest science and technology, indigenous knowledge, local skills, and an entrepreneurial spirit, we develop and deploy adaptive solutions to the greatest conservation challenges of our time.

Hope

Through it all, we believe in the power of all of us. We are working towards a world where people and wildlife not only coexist, but flourish. And we believe that it can—with good science, existing knowledge, new ideas, lots of people, learning from failure and the unwavering belief in a better tomorrow.

what we do

Holistic thinking

From the ground up

Our Impacts

Vision

Mission

Values

Our Location

Contact

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