Mr Leonard Tonateni Shihomeka

 


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The growth in community-based tourism

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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...
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Namibia: Community-based natural resource management protects natural areas

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  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...
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THE COST OF CONSERVATION TO FARMERS

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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...
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