Community Conservation Namibia

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Significant differences exist between conservancies. There are vast differences in size (the biggest conservancies are more than 200 times as large as the smallest), as well as in the number of residents (ranging from several hundred to more than 30,000). Topography, rainfall and natural habitat, proximity to urban centres, land-use activities and other factors all influence the quantity and quality of natural resources available in a given area.

There are also large differences in the degrees of conservancy development, based on when a conservancy was registered, the level of commitment of the people involved, the availability of transport, electricity and water infrastructure, and the amount of technical support available.

The chart shows the number of conservancies (including the Kyaramacan Association) earning cash, divided into incremental categories. The earning potential varies greatly due to factors like size of conservancy, wildlife populations, and location relative to tourist routes. The "No cash income" category includes conservancies for which no financial data has been received.
Benefit flows in conservancies. A schematic diagram showing income flows from tourism and conservation hunting to communities. The size of the arrows is in proportion to the size of income flows, based on average figures for conservancies in 2011-2013. Figure adapted from Naidoo et al. (2016). Complementary benefits of tourism and hunting to communal conservancies in Namibia. Conservation Biology. 30:628-638

As the number of conservancies has grown, their development potential has also been taken into consideration. The first four conservancies, and most that followed shortly afterwards, had considerable potential for conservation hunting, which yielded immediate income. In scenic areas with growing wildlife populations, tourism joint-ventures began to develop, bringing benefits to rival and even overtake hunting. However, many newer conservancies do not offer a strong wildlife base or scenic attractions, nor have they had time to develop strong management capacity.

Private sector involvement varies significantly from one area to the next, influenced by location, accessibility and tourism or conservation hunting potential. All of these factors result in great differences in the potential to generate cash income and in-kind benefits.

The rise in returns generated through conservancies

YearTotal cash income to conservancies (N$)Total cash income to conservancy residents (N$)Total in-kind benefits to conservancy residents (N$)Total returns (cash income and in-kind benefits) to conservancy residents (N$)Number of conservancies (includes Kyaramacan Association)Number of conservancies generating cash income or in-kind benefitsAverage total returns per conservancy generating cash income or in-kind benefits
1998326,378241,78494,116662,27843220,759
1999662,119302,073607,4081,571,60095314,320
2000626,874434,649969,4722,030,995105406,199
20011,439,3421,267,361746,3643,453,0671510345,307
20023,221,5781,866,4821,557,4326,645,4921512553,791
20034,252,3193,009,5861,095,0608,356,9652916522,310
20044,096,6563,348,4861,706,3449,151,4863123397,891
20055,177,6585,038,3483,627,79713,843,8034428494,422
20068,797,1175,709,1024,881,66919,387,8885137523,997
200711,770,9758,822,7086,893,69427,487,3775141670,424
200814,184,18211,866,1756,472,47332,522,8305441793,240
200912,937,29613,096,6829,022,12835,056,1066044796,730
201016,807,42514,391,9818,452,75039,652,1566049809,228
201121,535,60814,885,92610,056,96546,478,4996753876,953
201225,261,88220,088,25810,669,93856,020,07878561,000,359
201331,564,93124,896,34211,701,79068,163,06380651,048,663
201435,290,10137,832,73912,988,10086,110,94083631,366,840
201546,724,19037,802,02017,656,835102,183,04583701,459,758
201649,637,43942,946,79918,648,519111,232,75783631,765,599
201755,903,13855,684,61521,236,480132,824,23384691,924,989
201861,004,10065,009,93921,443,695147,457,73487662,234,208
201964,567,94670,614,58520,474,302155,656,83387652,394,721
202032,858,42635,036,66414,566,70482,461,79487621,330,029
202143,153,40333,848,53815,512,83792,514,77887641,340,794
202270,321,32552,766,93017,165,754140,254,00987642,191,469

Cash income to conservancies includes fees paid to conservancies by tourism and hunting operators and others; cash income to conservancy residents is wages paid by those operators to residents and other cash payments to residents. Wages paid by conservancies to residents are not included under cash income to residents in order to avoid double-counting this income.

Financial viability

Not all conservancies generate cash income, either because they have not yet developed sufficient income generation capacity, or they have little potential to generate income from hunting or tourism. However, their conservation value to Namibia may be significant, providing protected wildlife habitat that very often is spatially linked to other conservancies or conservation landscapes. The provision of management and technical support to these conservancies is an important consideration for the future.

Despite its semi-desert location, Palmwag Lodge lies at the intersection of two main tourist routes and a tourism concession with free-ranging black rhino

Conservancy income earning power

 

 20182019202020212022
Number of total conservancies (including 2 Associations)8787878788
Number of reporting conservancies6665626964
% of reporting conservancies in 1st category (earning less than N$ 100,000)3231323534
% of reporting conservancies in 2nd category (earning between N$ 100,000 – N$ 999,999)3328423925
% of reporting conservancies in 3rd category (earning N$ 1,000,000 or more)3542262641

Despite the decrease in the number of conservancies that reported this year, there is a significant increase in the number of conservancies earning N$ 1,000,000 or more – looking only at the number of conservancies that reported, the number of conservancies earning more than N$ 1,000,000 increased by 15% from 2021-2022.

The middle categories of conservancies earning N$100,000 – N$999,999 shrank significantly recording only 16 (25%) conservancies out of 64 that reported in that category. This is significant because over the past ten years there has been fair (close to equal) distribution of conservancies in the three categories (earning less than N$100,000, earning N$100,000 – N$999,999 and earning N$1,000,000 and over), while this year the scale tilted more towards the last category of conservancies earning N$ 1,000,000 recorded as 26 (41%) of reporting conservancies. The first category of conservancies earning less than N$ 100,000 was recorded as 22 (34%) of reporting conservancies. The continued support of the CRRRF plus the recovery of tourism in 2022 has likely pushed some conservancies from the middle to the last category.

CategoryAmount (N$) 2022%Amount (N$) 2021%Amount (N$) 2020%Amount (N$) 2019%
JV Tourism (includes all cash income to conservancies and members)90,898,39053.752,871,5814646,453,57948.296,895,37661.8
Conservation Hunting (includes all cash income and meat to conservancies and members)36,603,24321.628,407,56524.726,988,4052839,598,19525.2
Grants28,964,10017.123,199,85820.213,838,38414.47,249,9494.6
Game Harvesting, PAC, Live Sales6,810,8374.06,812,1345.94,646,025 44.86,363,2014.1
Miscellaneous3,169,7381.91,658,8051.41,944,56922,155,3771.4
Indigenous Plant Products1,270,5970.81,029,1910.91,482,1601.51,974,2391.3
Crafts  708,9000.6917,80611,420,4960.9
Community-Based Tourism (local / conservancy run enterprises, such as campsites, traditional villages, etc.)1,501,2040.9257,6020.229,25001,195,6600.8
Total­169,218,109100114,945,63610096,300,178100156,852,493100

Sources of returns to conservancies and their members from 2019 to 2022. The total amount of returns in 2022
is higher than that in 2019 but includes almost three times as much funding in grants