Namibian Conservation and Wildlife

Tourism within communal conservancies is a dynamic and growing sector of the national tourism industry, helping to distinguish Namibia as a destination committed to conservation and community-development objectives. The potential for community-based tourism was enabled by the Namibian government’s visionary amendment of the Nature Conservation Act of 1975, which in1996 returned rights over resource use and management of tourism to communities by enabling the establishment of conservancies.              Damaraland camp is jointly owned by Wilderness Safaris and Torra Conservancy At the heart of tourism in communal conservancies are joint venture partnerships with private sector business partners that develop and manage lodges. These relationships are formalised through the creation of joint venture (JV) agreements. These partnerships are critical to the growth and development of the tourism sector and the local economy. They reflect the concept of Natur...

Coexisting with wild animals can be costly, especially those animals that kill livestock or damage crops. Occasionally even human lives are lost to wildlife, which can generate fear and anger among the affected communities. Although conflict with wildlife can never be fully resolved, it must be managed and mitigated as much as possible within the CBNRM framework. To this end, MEFT, NACSO and partners work with conservancies on ways to prevent conflict (e.g. predator-proof livestock enclosures, using chilli deterrents around crop fields) and assist farmers who have experienced losses. The Event Book monitoring system is critical to determining trends in conflict and identifying hotspots in each conservancy, thus guiding the implementation of mitigation measures. Prompt reporting of conflict incidents (within 24 hours) is further required for farmers to receive assistance through the Human-wildlife Conflict Self-Reliance Scheme. Payments through this scheme are intended to offset the cos...

Combatting wildlife crime, particularly at a regional level, requires a multi-agency approach and the imperative of sharing information across a trusted coalition of law enforcement agencies. Several major combatting wildlife crime projects are being implemented by the MEFT, NGO partners and communities across Namibia. Significant results have been recorded including: The number of known poached rhinos has decreased since 2018. Arrests of poachers, especially pre-emptive arrests, have increased. In 2021, there was zero-poaching rate of black rhinos in the north-west area of Namibia. In 2021, 64,404 vehicle and foot kilometres were recorded in the NW rhino landscape and a total person-day effort of 10,724 days was logged during rhino patrols. The collaborative nature of rhino conservation in the north-west continues to act as a deterrent to poachers. In 2021, partners who worked towards combatting wildlife crime found creative ways to continue their assigned activities, leading to a hi...

  In former times, when farmers had few rights to use wildlife, wild animals were seen as little more than a threat to livestock, crops and infrastructure, as well as community safety. Thus, conservation management took place within protected areas only. In 1967 the commercial rights over wildlife and indigenous plants were given to Namibia’s commercial farmers. The implementation of these rights resulted in wildlife being utilised and valued (“What pays that stays”) by the private sector. People in communal areas received the same rights much later (1996-2001) when policies were adopted to promote community-based natural resource management (CBNRM). Since then the wildlife sector was also driven into a rapid growth on communal land. In addition to community-based tourism, a large number of commercial farmers established free-hold conservancies and tourism enterprises on private lands, too. In contrast to community-based tourism, commercial conservancies are not supported by the go...