Payment scheme in Botswana pays communities to coexist with wildlife

Two remote villages on the edge of Botswana's Okavango Delta—Gogomoga and Tsutsubega, each with fewer than 500 residents—have installed camera traps and begun receiving quarterly payments from the Harmony with Wildlife program for photographs of elephants, lions, and other wildlife. The program has paid 57,600 Botswana pula (around $4,175) so far in 2026, mostly for elephant and spotted hyena sightings.