The Namibian
Absalom Shigwedha
Windhoek

AT the end of last year, Namibia's 50 registered communal conservancies, which cover 14,4 per cent of the country's land surface, generated more than N$39,1 million.

Presenting the State of the Conservancy Report in Windhoek last week, Anna Davis, a monitoring and evaluation specialist with the Namibian Association of Community-Based Natural Resource Management Support Organisation (Nacso), said much of the revenue came from tourism joint-venture agreements conservancies have in their areas.

She said these contributed about N$14,35 million By the end of last year, N$20,5 million was generated in cash income, while N$7 million was earned as non-cash or income to conservancies, an example being fresh meat from trophy hunting donated to conservancies.

A further N$11,4 million was generated through CBRNM activities outside conservancies.

Davis said that by the end of 2007, 835 full-time and 6 227 part-time jobs had been created and conservancies themselves has created and founded 463 conservancy management jobs.

Twenty-six had formal business plans while 18 had finalised their HIV-AIDS policies.

A total of 42 annual general meetings took place and of these 23 held elections to choose new committees.

Davis reported that in 2007, CBNRM had contributed approximately N$223 million to the net national income.

However, she said this progress was not achieved without challenges.

Conservancies still needed to improve their management and the flow of benefits to the conservancy members.

Mitigating human wildlife conflicts was another major challenge facing conservancies.

Today, parks and protected areas cover 16,5 per cent of Namibia's land surface, commercial conservancies 6,1 per cent, while concessions and community forests cover 1,3 per cent.

Together with the 14,4 per cent for communal conservancies, this gives a total of 38 per cent of Namibia under some form of conservation management.

Communal conservancies are being established through Namibia's CBRNM programme of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET), which was launched in 1998.

In May, two additional conservancies were gazetted: the Ovitoto conservancy in the Otjozondjupa Region and the !Han/awab conservancy in Karas.

The programme is aimed at sustainable natural resource management and rural poverty reduction as well as at creating jobs for the rural poor.

Fifteen of the conservancies (including) the Torra and Nyae-Nyae are now financially independent, generating sustainable and annual revenues greater than incurred annual operating costs.

A number of conservancies were able to produce good results with the assistance of the MET and related non-governmental organisations, including the the LIFE Project of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), who with others, provided funding to conservancies.

The LIFE Project was largely funded by the United States Agency for International Development (Usaid) while WWF-US is a key support provider.

The LIFE Project started in 1993 and will end on 30 June 2008. CBRNM service organisations working together with the LIFE Project included the MET and Nacso (an umbrella organisation of 13 non-governmental organisations) and the University of Namibia.

'BE PROUD' Speaking at the occasion, Environment Deputy Minister Leon Jooste commended the LIFE Project, saying it had developed and established a practical natural resource monitoring system which could easily and effectively be implemented by conservancy members.

"This system allows them to visualise their data which ultimately facilitates in making informed management decisions," said Jooste.

He said it had been adapted and adopted for use in parks and was being used by many other countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.

Namibia, he said, had more than enough reasons to be extremely proud of what he described as arguably the most effective CRNRM programme in the world today. The event also included the launch of a 26-minute documentary DVD entitled 'By the People, For The People - Communities and Conservation in Namibia', documenting how the CBNRM programme has preserved the bounty and beauty of Namibia while empowering her people and strengthen communities.

Produced by Quiet Storm Film Productions, the DVD features conservationists such as Beavan Munali of the Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation (IRNDC), Chief Tambwe Mayuni of Mayuni conservancy in Caprivi, King Josia Shikongo Taapopi of Uukwaluudhi, Dorothy Wamunyima of Every River Has It's People of Namibia Nature Foundation, IRNDC's Garth Owen Smith, Flip Stander of the Desert Lion Project, and Parks and Wildlife Management Deputy Director Colgar Sikopo, applauding what the CBRNM programme has achieved.

American Ambassador to Namibia, Dennise Mathieu, said the American people were proud that Usaid had assisted Namibian communities to organise themselves as conservancies to better take care of and gain from their wildlife and other natural resources.

She said 15 years of Usaid support to Namibia might sound like a long time, but, in reality, it was a relatively short time for the many benefits the CBRNM programme had achieved.

"After watching the video, seeing the pictures and learning from the speakers about just how much all of the partners have achieved in the lifespan of Namibian Independence, you should be proud," said Mathieu.

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