Climate change policy in a world of uncertainty: changing environment, knowledge, and tourism in Botswana

Abstract

Tourism is an important economic sector in the Global South. It is however vulnerable to the risks and variations associated with global climate change. The paper qualitatively investigates how issues surrounding uncertainty in the climate change discourse have influenced policy makers’ response to climate change in Botswana’s tourism sector. The analysis of the empirical data derived from in-depth interviews demonstrates that some policy makers remain skeptical about climate change and its impacts on tourism despite growing evidence from regional scientific research and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Constraints that hamper progress in policy response measures include inadequate knowledge of, and the extent to which, climate science can be trusted.