Trophy hunting reliance threatens sustainability of conservancies, report warns

Namibia’s northern conservancies face renewed scrutiny over heavy reliance on trophy hunting, with a parliamentary report warning that weak governance and limited diversification are limiting community benefits and sustainability.

A report by the parliamentary standing committee on natural resources found that conservancies in the Zambezi and Kavango regions remain heavily dependent on trophy hunting, with little progress in expanding into tourism, non-timber forest products or other income-generating activities.

Last year’s visit assessed the performance of conservancies under the Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) programme and their impact on conservation, rural development and poverty reduction.

According to the committee’s findings, conservancies in these areas remain at a basic level of development, with insufficient capacity to meet concession standards or to develop and implement professional hunting plans.

The report noted that a majority of conservancies derive most of their income from trophy hunting, which limits community benefits due to weak concession management expertise.

“The conservancies have not sufficiently aligned themselves with new economic opportunities and products available on the market,” the report noted.

Sustainability undermined 

The parliamentarians highlighted that conservancies continue to operate under outdated management frameworks and have not adapted to changing environmental and economic realities. Governance structures are undermined by nepotism, tribalism and weak management capacity, they warned.

Moreover, strategic areas such as concession management, wildlife utilisation and the broader tourism value chain were identified as urgently needing attention.

The report also pointed to persistent challenges, including escalating human-wildlife conflict, slow and inadequate compensation systems, encroachment, land-use conflicts, poaching and illegal timber harvesting.

“These challenges are undermining conservation objectives,” the report warned, adding that outdated frameworks for management, communication, and conflict mitigation have made it difficult for conservancies to adjust to new realities.

Potential remains 

To secure their future, the committee urged conservancies to strengthen governance, embrace innovation and diversify income sources.

It recommended exploring other economic activities such as sustainable forestry, ecotourism, value-added resource processing and cultivation of high-value plants like the devil’s claw.

The report added that, despite current challenges, conservancies still hold the potential to promote self-reliance, enhance social cohesion and drive local economic growth.