Conservation at scale
- 86 conservancies cover 20.2% of Namibia’s land
- 46 registered community forests cover a total area of almost 90,000 km2, with around 16,200 km2 outside of conservancy boundaries
- With both of the two community associations being in a national park, the total area of land under communal management in Namibia is 21.9%
- National parks and state-owned tourism concessions cover 17.6% of Namibia
- The total land under gazetted conservation management in Namibia is 39.5%
Community conservation, combined with state protected areas and tourism concession areas create large connected areas with intact habitats where wildlife can move freely. Privately owned conservancies on farmland account for 6.1% of Namibia. The total land available to wildlife is around 45.6% of Namibia.
Wildlife populations
Remarkable wildlife recoveries have taken place due to efforts by government, conservation NGOs and conservancies to minimise poaching and ensure the sustainable use of wildlife.
Namibia’s elephant population grew from around 7,600 to around 23,600 between 1995 and 2016 according to aerial survey data. Lions have increased in range and numbers. The black rhino population has increased from around 65 to the largest free-roaming population in the world. Precise numbers are not published.
Game counts indicate that springbok, gemsbok and mountain zebra populations increased over 10 times between 1982 and the early 2000s, then stabilised for a decade. Since 2012 a combination of factors has resulted in a reduction of game numbers in areas surveyed: drought, animals moving out of the survey areas, and suspected poaching.
The wildlife species richness map indicates the large wildlife species currently present in conservancies, as a percentage of those that were present in the past. A high score means that a large percentage of the species are still in the area.
Income and benefits to rural communities
Community conservation has shown that it can improve rural lives while contributing to biodiversity conservation, and is recognised as a national development strategy. Many conservancies are showing that conservation can generate a broad range of community and individual returns while covering their operational costs from their income. Returns are the total of income and benefits accruing to communities, conservancies and individuals as a result on community conservation. These have grown steadily since conservancies were formed.
In 2019 and 2020, global travel restrictions and closed borders had a huge impact on the ability of conservancies and their members to generate economic returns. The main sources of returns for communal conservancies relate to international arrivals, either directly or indirectly. Photographic tourism, conservation hunting, and craft industries are all reliant on international customers. Consequently, conservancy cash and in-kind benefits nearly halved. The impact would have been much greater without financial assistance from the Conservation Relief, Recovery, and Resilience Facility (CRRRF).
The total cash income and in-kind benefits generated in conservancies (including the Kyaramacan Association) grew from less than N$ 1 million in 1998 to over N$ 150 million in 2019 but shrank significantly in 2020 and 2021. This includes all directly measurable income and inkind benefits being generated, and can be divided into cash income to conservancies including the Kyaramacan Association (mostly through partnerships with private sector operators), cash income to residents from enterprises (mostly through employment and the sale of products), and as in-kind benefits to residents (mostly the distribution of harvested game meat). Relief grants are excluded.
2022: Community conservation at a glance
- Community conservation covers 182,384 km2 which is 59.6% of all communal land with an estimated 244,587 people residents (7,384 residents supported by the Kyaramacan Association live in Bwabwata National Park and 468 residents supported by ≠Aonin Community Association live in the Dorob and Namib Naukluft National Parks)
- Of this area, conservancies manage 166,179 km2 which comprises 20.2% of Namibia
- 86 registered conservancies
- 2 community associations
- 46 registered community forests
- 20 community fish reserves in 6 conservancies
- 19 concessions in national parks or on other state land held by 23 conservancies (some conservancies share concessions)
- 86 conservancies using the Event Book monitoring tool (82 registered, 4 emerging conservancies, Kyaramacan Association)
- 733 game guards working in conservancies
- 51 conservancies conducting annual game counts
- 74 conservancies with own use harvesting quotas
- 60 conservancies with a zonation plan
- 68 conservancy management plans in place
- 20 sustainable business and financial plans in place
- 69 annual financial reports presented
- 77 annual general meetings held
- 34% female management committee members
- 23% female staff members
- 38 conservancies directly involved with tourism activities
- 67 joint-venture tourism agreements with enterprises employing 866 full time and 22 part time/seasonal employees
- 44 conservation hunting concessions with 127 full time and 163 part time/seasonal employees
- 44 small/medium enterprises
- 989 conservancy representatives receiving allowances
- 1056 conservancy employees
- From 1990 to 2022 community conservation contributed about N$ 13.466 billion to Namibia’s net national income
- Community conservation facilitated 3,223 jobs
- Conservancies generated total cash income and in-kind benefits to rural communities of N$ 140,254,009. In 2022 this represented:
- Conservation hunting generated N$ 34,828,377 with 317,989 kg of game meat worth N$ 8,585,703 distributed to conservancy residents
- Tourism generated N$ 92,399,594
- Indigenous plants and other income generated N$ 1,270,597 and N$ 3,169,738 respectively
- N$ 19,562,954 in cash benefits was distributed to conservancy residents and used to support community projects
The sustainability of the programme
Community conservation can become fully sustainable and largely self-financing in the foreseeable future, provided that appropriate resources continue to be invested to entrench governance foundations, optimise returns, and mitigate threats and barriers to development.
The Community Conservation Fund of Namibia (CCFN) was established in 2017 with two arms:
- An endowment fund to cover operating costs and minimum support packages to conservancy operations
- A sinking fund to be used for conservation projects
The fund was created with donor support, and will be continuously replenished by income from investments and continued donor support based upon conservation performance.
For convenience, all of the data presented as figures and tables used in the State of Community Conservation Report are gathered together in one page and indexed below with quick links.
Many figures provide cumulative information over the years, such as the figure showing Total returns to conservancies and members. The growth in returns is shown from 1998, when conservancy formation began, until the present year.
Other figures, such as Sources of returns, show a snapshot for the reported year.
All figures and tables used in the State of Community Conservation Report
Click on any heading to see the relevant figures and tables.
Conservation areas
| Section | Detail/Title | Type | URL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conservation areas | Conservation areas in Namibia: overview | Map | » go to map |
| Communities | Communal conservancies | Map | » go to map |
| Communities | Community forests | Map | » go to map |
| MEFT | State-run protected areas and JV lodge concessions | Map | » go to map |
| The expansion of structured natural resource management across Namibia | Structured natural resource management in 1990 and present | Maps | » go to map |
| Community conservation partners | Registered conservancies | Table | » go to table |
| Community conservation partners | Registered community forests | Table | » go to table |
| Community conservation cover | The area covered by conservancies and community forests and the estimated number of people living in conservancies | Figure | » go to figure |
| People Living in Conservancies | Population density per square kilometre | Map | » go to map |
| People Living in Conservancies | Area and percentage of communal land covered by conservancies per region. Estimated number of people and percentage of communal area residents in conservancies per region | Table | » go to table |
| Contiguous areas | The contiguous areas under sustainable natural resource management including state protected areas, freehold and communal conservancies and community forests, conservation/concessions, private reserves | Map | » go to map |
| Contiguous areas | Area (km2) in state protected areas, community conservation/concessions, private reserves | Table | » go to table |
| Conservation at scale | Community conservation, state protected areas and tourism concession areas | Map | » go to map |
| Increase in shared boundaries in Namibia | The percentage of state protected area boundaries in communal areas shared with conservancies, concession areas and community forests | Figure | » go to figure |
| Conservation complexes | Mudumu Complex Protected Landscape Conservation Area | Map | » go to map |
| Transboundary Conservation Areas | Transboundary linkages created with the Iona/Skeleton Coast Park, the |Ai-|Ais/Richtersveld Transfrontier Conservation Area and the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area | Map | » go to map |
| Transboundary Conservation Areas | The Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area | Map | » go to map |
| Transboundary Conservation Areas | Conservancies and national parks east of the Kwando River, including emerging conservancies | Map | » go to map |
| Transboundary Conservation Areas | Wildlife corridors in KAZA | Map | » go to map |
| Transboundary Conservation Areas | The Skeleton Coast/Iona Transfrontier Conservation Area | Map | » go to map |
| Transboundary Forums | Transboundary Natural Resource Management Forums | Map | » go to map |
Namibia's Environment
| Section | Detail/Title | Type | URL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Biomes and Habitats for Wildlife | Conservancies, community forests, state protected areas, tourism concessions and freehold conservancies in relation to areas of high biodiversity and endemism | Map | » go to map |
| Biomes and Habitats for Wildlife | Portions of habitats and biomes covered by each conservation category, as well as the total percentage of such areas protected | Table | » go to table |
| Species richness | The large wildlife species currently present in conservancies, as a percentage of those that were present in the past | Map | » go to map |
| Wildlife population health | The percentage of all large wildlife species that historically occurred, which currently have a healthy population in a particular conservancy | Map | » go to map |
| Elephant range | Elephant range in relation to conservancies at present | Map | » go to map |
| Lion range expansion | Range expansion of ‘desert’ lions since 1995 | Map | » go to map |
Natural Resource Management
| Section | Detail/Title | Type | URL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conservancy management zones | A zonation map for Mashi Conservancy | Map | » go to map |
Wildlife Populations
| Section | Detail/Title | Type | URL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elephant range | Elephant range in relation to conservancies at present | Map | » go to map |
| Lion range expansion | Range expansion of ‘desert’ lions since 1995 | Map | » go to map |
| Game counts | Namibia's north-west game count | Map | » go to map |
| Game counts | North East game count | Map | » go to map |
| Wildlife Populations in the North-West | Total estimated populations of 3 indicator species: gemsbok, springbok and zebra, from aerial censuses prior to the year 2000 and number of animals seen per 100 kilometres during the annual North-West Game Count | Figures | » go to figures |
| North-West Predator Sightings | Sightings index from the Event Book monitoring system | Figure | » go to figure |
| Wildlife Populations in the North-East | Number of animals seen per 100 kilometres | Figures | » go to figures |
| North-East Predator Sightings | Sightings index from the Event Book monitoring system | Figure | » go to figure |
| Wildlife populations | Species richness | Map | » go to map |
| Wildlife population health | The percentage of all large wildlife species that historically occurred, which currently have a healthy population in a particular conservancy | Map | » go to map |
| Wildlife translocations into conservancies | Numbers of animals of different species translocated to registered conservancies and four conservancy complexes | Table | » go to table |
Human-Wildlife conflict
| Section | Detail/Title | Type | URL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poverty map | The poverty map of Namibia as determined by the 2015 Poverty Mapping Report, overlaid with the 2016 boundaries of Namibia’s communal conservancies | Map | » go to map |
| Number of incidents as reported by conservancies | Number of incidents per year of each type (livestock attack, crop damage, other damage, human attack) as reported by conservancies | Figure | » go to figure |
| Problem causing species in all conservancies | Problem causing species | Figure | » go to figure |
| Recorded incidents of human-wildlife conflict | Average and total numbers of human attacks, livestock attacks, crop damage incidents and other damage incidents per conservancy | Table | » go to table |
| Species causing the bulk of HWC | Number of conflict incidents per species in the Zambezi Region | Figure | » go to figure |
| Species causing the bulk of HWC | Number of conflict incidents per species in Erongo-Kunene | Figure | » go to figure |
| Lion range expansion | Range expansion of ‘desert’ lions since 1995 | Figure | » go to map |
Conservancy Governance and Management
| Section | Detail/Title | Type | URL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conservation management performance ratings | Conservation management performance ratings | Map | » go to map |
| Conservancy institutional compliance | Conservancy institutional compliance | Map | » go to map |
| Conservancy management zones | A zonation map for Mashi Conservancy | Map | » go to map |
| Conservation complexes | Mudumu Complex Protected Landscape Conservation Area | Map | » go to map |
Livelihoods, costs and benefits
| Section | Detail/Title | Type | URL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total returns to conservancies and members | The total cash income and in-kind benefits generated in conservancies (including the Kyaramacan Association) | Figure | » go to figure |
| The earning power of conservancies | The number of conservancies earning cash, divided into incremental categories (including the Kyaramacan Association). | Figure | » go to figure |
| The rise in returns generated through conservancies | Cash income and in-kind benefits to conservancies and conservancy residents; number of conservancies and number generating cash income or in-kind benefits; average total returns per conservancy generating cash income or in-kind benefits | Table | » go to table |
| The complementary roles of sustainable consumptive wildlife use and joint-venture tourism operations | Returns from toursism and sustainable wildlife use, cash income to conservancies and households, and in-kind benefits to households | Figures | » go to figures |
| Reliance on conservation hunting and photographic tourism | Map showing which conservancies depend mostly on tourism income to cover their running costs, and which rely mostly on conservation hunting and game harvesting | Map | » go to map |
| The importance of consumptive wildlife use income | Income generated through sustainable consumptive wildlife use for selected conservancies | Map | » go to map |
| The importance of consumptive wildlife use income | The status of cash income under a hypothetical scenario of a hunting ban | Map | » go to map |
| Costs and benefits (2019 data) | Payments to households from private sector partnerships and community enterprises | Figure | » go to figure |
| Costs and benefits (2019 data) | Conservancy spending and in-kind benefits going to households | Figure | » go to figure |
| Costs and benefits (2019 data) | Conservancy spending on running costs and infrastructure | Figure | » go to figure |
Namibia’s Economy and Development
| Section | Detail/Title | Type | URL |
|---|---|---|---|
| The National Economy | Estimates of the national economic returns from CBNRM compared to economic investment costs | Figure | » go to figure |
| The economic efficiency of CBNRM | Economic rates of return and net present values | Table | » go to table |
| National Development | Contributions to Namibia’s fifth National Development Plan by CBNRM | Table | » go to table |
| Community conservation partners | Government Agencies | Table | » go to table |
| Community conservation partners | NACSO Secretariat | Table | » go to table |
| Community conservation partners | NACSO Members | Table | » go to table |
| Community conservation partners | NACSO Associate Members | Table | » go to table |
| Community conservation partners | NACSO Working Groups | Table | » go to table |
| Community conservation partners | Funding Partners – Past and Present | Table | » go to table |
| Community conservation partners | Conservation Hunting Partners | Table | » go to table |
| Community conservation partners | Tourism Joint Venture Partners | Table | » go to table |
