Before one can begin to grasp the complexities that confront a developing country in an arid region, one needs to understand that a set of fundamental issues drives this whole process. The purpose of this paper is to try and isolate what the author believes to be some of these fundamental driving forces. The case study that will be used has been carefully selected, as it illustrates these fundamental dynamics in a manner that could be described as being in a near text-book fashion. Botswana is an arid country. It is also a country that has been independent for a relatively short space of time. At independence in 1966 it was one of the poorest countries in the world. Today, some thirty years later, it has a strong and growing economy, a stable multiparty democracy, and it has become one of the only countries in Africa to contribute to the International Monetary Fund. In short, Botswana is an African success story. Yet there is every reason why this should not be the case. The climate is harsh and arid, and the population growth has reached a point where it is beginning to outstrip available water supply. Botswana could have been a failure instead. The question is therefore raised, can Botswana sustain this rate of development or will environmental collapse be its ultimate fate? This paper will explore what the author considers to be six critical strategic issues confronting the Okavango Delta, a 15 000 km 2 wetland system, which is the only significant surface water resource available in the otherwise arid country. It will also present the relevant theoretical aspects needed to make an informed analysis of the problems.