Management

The wildlife resources of Namibia are important for biodiversity conservation, tourism and hunting. Namibia supports a wealth of wildlife which, together with its open spaces and wilderness characteristics, makes it an attractive tourist destination. Furthermore, the wildlife sector supports a healthy game industry.

Today, about 40% of the total area in Namibia is used for commercial livestock breeding, 40% are communal areas and 20% are National Parks and restricted areas. It is estimated that commercial farmlands provide the habitat for 90% of the cheetah population and about 80% of the exploitable larger game species. Thus, the commercial farmland has an important role to play in sustainable wildlife management and conservation.

Due to climate changes and human impact, the carrying capacity for livestock has been reduced. This, together with falling prices on the world market has led to decreasing revenues from livestock breeding. As a result, the wildlife sector is gaining economic importance. Many commercial farmers have substituted their losses in the livestock sector by consumptive and non-consumptive use of wildlife.

In recognition of dwindling wildlife resources and the economic potential of sustainable use of natural resources, commercial farmers have voluntarily started to constitute conservancies, which are defined as "groups of farms on which neighbouring landowners have pooled their resources for the purpose of conserving and utilising wildlife on their combined properties" (MET, 1995). This provides an excellent opportunity for our work, as many wildlife species migrate over large areas and can only be sustainably managed if their entire home range is adequately considered.


The Ministry of Environment and Tourism has initiated a comprehensive and consultative policy drafting and reforming processes on the subject of wildlife production and utilisation in Namibia. These policies will form the basis of new legislation and replace the outdated Nature Conservation Ordinance 4 of 1975. The proposed policy framework is considered an important step towards enabling an environmental policy for sustainable wildlife management.

The Government is committed to supporting registered conservancies in their efforts to meet rural development, sustainable utilisation and resource recovery objectives. It intents to provide strong incentives for the formation of conservancies. By the same token, the new policy requires that all conservancies submit management plans.