Community-based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) in Namibia –

the Conservancy programme

BackgroundPrior to 1996, rural communities on communal land in Namibia had no rights

over wildlife:

• All wildlife was State property and was generally poorly managed• Local communities often suffered extensive losses as a result of wildlife• Hunting and poaching was rife and wildlife populations were declining• In contrast, commercial farmers have been entitled to utilise wildlife on their land

and, thereby, benefit from it since 1975.

In 1996, the Government of the Republic of Namibia introduced legislation to grant legal rights to rural communities over the management and

utilisation of their natural resources, giving communal area residents the same rights over wildlife and tourism as freehold farmers

This resulted in the development of Namibia’s

Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) Programme

CBNRM in Namibia

“Conservancies empower local people to make their own decisions about their own resources, while enabling them to benefit from these resources. Conservancies should be seen as creating an institutional infrastructure in helping to diversify rural economies. Through the conservancy system, my government has created an environment and an opportunity for natural resource based industries to develop”

Dr Sam Nujoma, President of the Republic of Namibia

These objectives are achieved through the formation of Conservancies…

The CBNRM Programme is a joint venture between government, non-governmental institutions, communities, community-based organisations, the private sector and development partners which aims to:

promote wise and sustainable use of natural resources and encourage biodiversity conservation

devolve rights over and responsibilities for wildlife and tourism to rural communities, creating enterprise and income generation opportunities

encourage and assist communities to acquire skills to manage their area sustainably and actively pilot their own future

A registered conservancy, on behalf of the community it represents,

acquires new rights and responsibilities with regard to the

consumptive and non-consumptive use and management of wildlife:

Consumptive uses include: use of game for trophy hunting, consumption, commercial sale for meat or capture for live sale

Non-consumptive uses include: tourism ventures such as community-based tourism enterprises and joint venture agreements with private sector entrepreneurs

Rights of conservancies

1. Mapping of conservancy boundaries – clearly defined boundaries that are not in dispute with neighbouring communities

2. A committee – which is representative of conservancy members, to make decisions and facilitate communication to members, neighbours, partners, donors and investors

3. Development of a constitution – approved by members, including approaches on benefit sharing, employment of staff (to effect Natural Resource Management)

4. Management plans – including land-use planning – requires the acquisition of base information

But first… the conservancy must be registered and gazetted.

Legal requirements of conservancies:

5. Monitoring and management – to facilitate adaptive management

Mapping of conservancy boundariesBoundaries are a legal requirement for registration:

Each conservancy must have a defined boundary that has been agreed by its neighbours

Committee and constitutionLegislation requires:

Through the committee the community decides, for example:

How to manage and distribute conservancy-generated income in a democratic and equitable manner

How to use their wildlife resources (e.g. trophy hunting, live sale, meat)

How the management body should be structured

Exactly how to manage different resources in the conservancy

A committee representative of conservancy members.

A constitution that addresses sustainable use of resources and benefit sharing.

How representation and decision-making should be achieved

Management plans are required to manage at least three things:

• the conservancy as an institution, with its membership, committee, staff, equipment, money, benefit sharing as well as communications between everyone

Management plans

• the natural resources such as wildlife, water, and rangelands. Including, for example, quota setting, game water points, game introductions, problem animal management

• the enterprises that result from the use of natural resources, such as tourism, trophy hunting and sales of craft.

Land-use planning

Competing land use activities take place within conservancies (for example, farming, wildlife, settlement, mining). Consequently, land-use planning is a key need.

Appropriate tools are also needed to communicate the plans to residents, government and investors.

Development of land use plans and zonation maps through participatory mapping.

Lodge sites for development

One of the most basic requirements for managingthe wildlife in the region is a tool that will tell conservancies:

1. how many animals there are

Year 1 Year 10

2. where they are and how they move around the region

3. population trends of the various species over time

Example: annual game countsTo determine wildlife numbers, trends and distributions…

Undertaking

N/W Namibia

5 million ha

Reporting

Gemsbok Distribution

Springbok Population

??

??

??

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Populations estimated

using spatial analyses

Distributions mapped

Planning

Count zones

Route maps

Zonations derived from

satellite images

Routes planned from orthophotos

GIS generated planning maps

Date Species East SouthGrid Cell

Notes

Monitoring also includes, for example, monitoring incidents of poaching, problem animals, trophy hunting, fishing

MONTHS

Trend over MONTHSEventually a map showing where each

incident occurred

Use 2kmX2km Grid (hand drawn or GIS)

Trend over YEARS

Where are conservancies in Namibia?

A further 14 % of Namibia is protected under the state Protected Areas network, and 5 % is within conservancies on freehold land

Over 95,000 rural people live within conservancies; around 40% of them are conservancy members

Around 78,000 km2, representing 9 % of Namibia, now falls within communal area conservancies

Indicators & monitoring• Conservancy-level monitoring can indicate

trends over time, and also over larger areas – local, national and regional

• Several approaches are in place e.g. North-West game count, event book (annual audit)

Monitoring examplesProblem animal damage. Caprivi

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

2000

2001 2002 2003

Other damage

Livestock attack

Human attack

Crop damage

Tsiseb. Number of snares and traps

0

5

10

15

20

25

2001 2002 2003

Animals hunted for meat. Khoadi Hoas

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

2001 2002 2003

Zebra, Mountain

Springbok

Kudu

Gemsbok

Torra. Number of poaching incidents

0

1

2

3

4

5

2001 2002 2003

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

140000

160000

Wild

life

nu

mb

ers

1982 1986 1990 1998 2001 2002 2003

Years

Wildlife numbers in the north-west of Namibia

Elephant

Mountain Zebra

Oryx

Springbok

Problem animal damage

Changes between2003 and 2004

Changes in Springbokdensities in the North-Westbetween 2000 and 2004

Institutional aspectsAnnual audits record, for every conservancy each year, progress in many areas:

These can be compiled to provide a national overview:

Base maps

Committees Representing Diverse Communities

>60 Communities mobilized into representative governance bodies

Advocacy on Conservation Policies/Legislation

* Conservancy Association(s)

Understanding and facilitating CBNRMtraining for MET wardens & rangers from allregions.

Community meeting

Conservancy quarterly planning workshop.

Gabes Geigub, MET warden based inWindhoek at the understanding & facilitatingCBNRM training at Harmony Centre.

…”What our people want is to be involved in the decision-making process and to actively participate in decisions, which will ultimately affect them. They then will take ownership of these decisions and ensure that they are successfully implemented.” (extract from the Statement by his Excellency President Sam Nujoma on Sept. 26th, 1998)

Community Camp Sites

•Develop a central Reservation office

•Standardize sites

•Quality control

•Develop ‘tourism routes’

Joint-Venture Lodges

• Joint-Venture Agreements

• Identifying new locations

Marketing & Harvesting of Veldt Products

& Craft production

Reintroduction & Marketing of Game

• Create the right environment

• Have wildlife monitoring systems in place

• Build and maintain releasing facilities

Marketing of Trophy Hunting

•Wildlife Management Plan

•Quota Application & Approval

•Hunting Concession Approval

•Trophy Quality Monitoring

Incomes have risen from nothing in 1994 to over N$14 million in 2003.

The graph divides the income into three categories: cash payments to conservancies, non-cash or in-kind incomes to conservancies, and incomes to CBNRM activities outside conservancies. Information prior to 1998 did not allow for income to be divided into these three categories.

Conservancy incomes

Sources of income during 2003

All incomes are as cash except those listed as ‘Use of own game’ and ‘Meat distribution’.

Source of income Value in NSPercentage

of all income

Miscellaneous $118,000 1%

Interest earned $181,353 2%

Use of own game $196,834 2%

Game sales $211,749 3%

Craft sales $374,278 4%

Campsite fees $416,568 5%

Meat distribution $470,014 6%

Trophy hunting $2,529,436 30%

Joint venture tourism $3,901,627 46%

TOTAL $8,399,859 100%

Incomes earned by conservancies from joint venture tourism and trophy hunting, respectively, increased about nine- and five-fold between 1999 and 2003.

Incomes vary greatly between conservancies, both in terms of how much they earn and the sources of revenue. The histograms show how incomes have changed over the years in each area, while the pie diagrams show the different sources of income for each conservancy during 2003. Information is shown for a sample of conservancies

About N$6,353,000 of funds earned by conservancies was spent in 2003. Proportions of this money allocated to different categories of spending in all conservancies are shown in the pie diagram, while the histograms show patterns of spending for a sample of conservancies. Private sector and conservancy jobs are pooled in the histograms.

Estimates of economic benefits resulting from the CBNRM programme between 1990 and 2003, shown by the columns of annual values of net national income (NNI) and increasing wildlife stocks in north-west Namibia. The shaded area is the value of investment or spending each year on CBNRM. All values are adjusted for inflation and changing foreign exchange rates to be equivalent to the value of Namibia dollars (N$) in 2003.

ConclusionsCBNRM and conservancies are an ideal mechanism to promote rural development

because they:

• bring new and potentially large sources of income to poor rural people

• are excellent entry points for all forms of rural development because of the institutional mechanisms already in place

• are excellent entry points for integrated land and natural resource management initiatives

• promote good governance and democracy at local levels

• offer entry points for capacity-building, empowerment and skills transfer

• deliver real OUTCOMES to local and national development objectives.