Who we are

Communities

Namibia’s communal conservancies and community forests are self-governing entities legally recognised by the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT). Conservancies and community forests receive training and support from the Namibian Association of CBNRM Support Organisations (NACSO). Fisheries reserves are similar entities, legally recognised by the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources (MFMR) and supported by MFMR and NACSO partners.

Each conservancy, community forest and fisheries reserve has a constitution and elects a management committee. Conservancies, community forests and fisheries reserves work to conserve and protect the environment, and to earn revenue from the sustainable use of natural resources. There are also two community associations within national parks, which are managed like conservancies.

Eight regional conservancy associations in Erongo, Kavango, Kunene (two), the north-central areas, the south, Otjozondjupa and Zambezi act as representative umbrella organisations for conservancies in their areas.

» See an interactive map of Namibia’s conservancies

» See an interactive map of Namibia’s community forests

» See an interactive map of Namibia’s community associations

Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism

Our mission

The mission of the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism is to promote biodiversity conservation in the Namibian environment through the sustainable utilisation of natural resources and tourism development for the maximum social and economic benefit of our citizens.

Namibia has 20 state-run protected areas covering about 17 per cent of the country’s land surface. These include national parks with a wide variety of wildlife in habitats that range from desert, through savannah landscapes, to riverine areas.

The Ministry is also responsible for tourism concessions, where private sector operators and adjacent communal conservancies operate lodges, camps and tours, while conserving the natural environment and protecting its wildlife.

Three transfrontier conservation areas are facilitated jointly by the MEFT, in collaboration with partner countries, recognising that conservation and wildlife should have no boundaries.

The protected areas conserve biodiversity and ecosystem by protecting some of the country’s most important habitats and species of national and global significance. The country’s commitment to biodiversity conservation is reflected in the Constitution. Article 95 (1) provides the foundation for the formulation of policies, legislation and programmes aimed at safeguarding the country’s biodiversity and ecosystems for the benefit of current and future generations.

NACSO is a networking organisation that coordinates the work of its members in partnership with the MEFT and other government ministries.

Full and associate members give direct support to conservancies in the form of training, advice, technical and logistical support, and advocate for sustainable development and links to the tourism industry.

A list of partners and their contact details in community conservation is found on this site.

Working Groups

Three working groups provide technical expertise:

These are flexible constellations of NACSO members and partners that pool expertise and resources to provide effective support to conservancies which are gazetted and fall under the legal responsibility of the MEFT and the MFMR, respectively.

Donors

Community conservation in Namibia has been generously funded by many donors over the years, all of which are listed under Funding Partners – Past and Present. These donors include major national and international development agencies, as well as smaller donors supporting specific programmes.

Welcome to the State of Community Conservation in Namibia: a review of communal conservancies, community forests and other CBNRM activities.

THIS SITE is a picture of community conservation in Namibia.

To date there are 86 communal conservancies registered by the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) and 46 community forests registered by the Directorate of Forestry. Other initiatives include community fish reserves and government protected areas in which conservancies and community forests play a collaborative role.

Together, state protected areas and tourism concessions, communal conservancies and community forests make up over 38% of Namibia’s land area.

Our work is supported by international conservation organisations and governments.

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Acknowledgements

This website and the annual Community Conservation Report is very much a collaborative effort. Conservancies and other community conservation organisations gather data throughout the year. This is then returned to them in poster form and used in adaptive conservancy management. The data is also supplied to the NACSO working groups to enable evaluation and reporting on programme achievements and challenges at a national level. Although they are far too numerous to mention individually, all MEFT contributors and staff, community conservation organisations and their staff are gratefully acknowledged for their contributions to this site and the report. We would also like to thank all enterprises, private sector partners, NGOs and individuals who provide additional data and information.