Despite rapid socio-economic development in Kalahari
drylands, contemporary research suggests that biodiversity
remains important as a component of the complex portfolio
of livelihood strategies, as a real and perceived safety
net in times of stress, and a key factor of cultural identity.
The degree to which the spatially and temporally dynamic
nature of biodiversity in drylands influences livelihoods is,
however, little studied, particularly in socially complex
contemporary rural settlements. Greater understanding in
this area is required to allow better-informed design and
implementation of rural development, poverty alleviation
and conservation initiatives. This is particularly true in the
light of predicted increases in environmental dynamism
with climate change. An interdisciplinary approach was
used in two environmentally and socially distinct dryland
settlements in Botswana, to investigate the extent to which
the dynamic biodiverse setting influences contemporary
rural livelihoods. Results illustrate that biodiversity, particularly
its dynamics, is of critical contemporary importance
to rural settlement livelihoods, particularly in times
of inner settlement scarcity. Entitlements to biodiversity
dynamics were, however, bound up by complex settlement-specific
social, economic and political factors. Unless
such contextual within-settlement dynamics are understood,
the relative importance of biodiversity in rural
development and poverty alleviation strategies in contemporary
Kalahari drylands may be undermined.