The challenge
Wildlife on communal land had been heavily poached, and local people gained nothing from it.
The case
A 1996 amendment to Namibia’s Nature Conservation Ordinance let communities on communal land form conservancies with rights over wildlife and tourism. The first four were registered in 1998; NACSO, the national support body, now reports 86 conservancies covering almost 20% of the country. Communities earn income from tourism lodges and trophy hunting. Wildlife recovered strongly in the northwest, Caprivi and Nyae Nyae, and rhino and elephant numbers rose. But a 2021 investigation that visited 29 conservancies reported declines in larger species, especially in the north, and argued that many residents gained little. Drought has also cut wildlife numbers in the northwest, and these findings remain disputed.
Why the results were mixed
Giving communities real rights and income turned local people into protectors of wildlife, but benefits are uneven and the model depends on tourism and hunting revenue holding up.
Sources
- NACSO. Conservation and conservancies.
- Daily Maverick (2021). Namibia’s community wildlife conservation system has come off the rails, investigation shows.
- ODI. Namibia: community-based wildlife conservation.
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