The tourism industry has been identified as an industry to diversify the economy away from capital-intensive and vulnerable diamond mining sector. In Botswana, the industry is mainly concentrated around the Okavango Delta. The Okavango Delta is endowed with a vast variety of natural resources. The area is thus home for many tourism facilities, and thriving businesses for many engaged in the tourism industry, be it individuals and multinational corporations. However, there seems to be a dichotomy between the considerable presence of the tourism industry in this area and the benefit of individual households from tourism. The sector has largely failed to make significant contributions to rural development in Botswana, particularly in the Okavango Delta where it is concentrated. The failure is attributed to factors such as the weak linkages of tourism with the domestic economy, and the conflict between tourism and the agricultural sector. Generally, the Okavango Delta has experienced negative natural resource dynamics, increasing competition and conflict over natural resources, biodiversity loss and some cases of natural resource depletion. There is an imminent need to develop and implement approaches to ensure the balance between conservation of natural resources in and around the Okavango Delta and sustainable use of resources for socio-economic benefits of rural communities in the delta in the midst of inherent conflicts. The attainment of a mutually beneficial balance is dependent on the establishment of quick access and occupancy rights and the creation of a robust institutional environment with the core aim of helping to attain sustainable land use. The aim of this study is, therefore, to develop and propose a sustainable institutional framework that will allow for the coexistence of both tourism and agriculture in Botswana, using the Okavango Delta as a case study. The study adopted frameworks of two bodies of knowledge, namely; the New Institutional Economics (NIE) and sustainable tourism theories. Through literature, this study made a distinction between ‘institutions’ and organisations. Essentially, institutions are rules of the game while organisations as players of or in the game played. This study adopts the ‘rule of the game.

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