Namibia gazettes new conservancy

Namibia will as from today officially boast with 83 conservancies in the country as a new conservancy will be added in the Kavango West Region. The new conservancy, called the Maurus Nekauro Conservancy, is located in the Musese area of the region. According to the deputy environment minister Tommy Nambahu the conservancy will be gazetted by the Ministry of Justice today as approved by the environment ministry, and this will bring the total number of conservancies to 83 in the country.Registered conservancies in Namibia benefit thousands of rural communities through employment, cash income, social projects and in-kind benefits.Over the years, returns to conservancies have increased steadily from just over half a million Namibian dollars in 1998 to over N$102 million in 2015.During 2015, community conservation generated about N$102 million in returns for local communities and facilitated 5 116 jobs. The report says that of the total N$102 million, tourism generated N$53.6 million while consumptive wildlife use (which includes hunting and live game sales) generated about N$45 million. Indigenous natural products generated N$1.8 million and miscellaneous items (including items such as interest) generated N$1.6 million. According to the report conservancy residents earned a total cash income of N$46.8 million from enterprise wages, of which N$28 million was from joint-venture tourism, N$12.8 million was from conservancies, N$4.1 million from conservation hunting and N$1.8 million from SMEs. Conservancy residents earned a cash income of N$1 million from indigenous plants and slightly more than N$1 million from crafts. More than N$8.9 million in cash was distributed to conservancy residents and used to support community projects.Nambahu, who was speaking at the opening of the North East Conservancy Regional Chairperson Forum, said Namibia has gained a worldwide reputation for its innovative approaches of linking conservation to poverty alleviation through the conservancy programme and pro-poor tourism initiatives. “This programme will continue to provide communities with incentives to manage and conserve their areas and natural resources to unlock the enormous tourism development opportunities and benefits from the use of wildlife.”He further highlighted the valuable contribution that conservancies in the Zambezi, Kavango East and Kavango West regions continue to make in improving the livelihood of communities.According to him, in the Zambezi Region the Bamunu Conservancy has erected a transformer to provide electricity to all the villages in the conservancy. Other conservancies such Sobbe, Wuparo, Sikunga, Mayuni and Kwandu have also followed this example, but not completed it for all villages yet.Nambahu said Bamunu Conservancy also purchased a tractor to support communities in agricultural crop production. Lusese Conservancy has just completed the construction of a school hostel to accommodate 50 boys and girls at Lusese Combined School. “We are also aware that most conservancies in this region contribute to scholarships of their members to further their studies at institutions of higher learning.”In the Kavango East Region, the George Mukoya Conservancy has contributed to the purchase of goats for communities to venture into small livestock farming. “They have also put up a pipeline to provide clean drinking water to communities as well as a vegetable garden for communities.” Mudumu Nyangana conservancy also put up a water pump for community use as well as a vegetable garden. “There are many examples and all this is because of the wild animals like elephants, buffaloes, lions and many others that we conserve and sustainably utilise,” said Nambahu. He added that conservancies are not meant to replace existing land uses or livelihood activities in communal areas, but are meant to provide additional economic opportunities.According to him local communities can decide the extent to which they integrate wildlife, forestry, tourism, fisheries, water and other natural resources into their livelihood activities provided they are guided by policy directives of the government, and hence the need to have a sustainable conservancy programme.“We should continue to develop our conservancies as a sustainable conservation and tourism development programme from which our rural communities can derive equitable social and economic benefits. Our emphasis should be to create long term sustainability, good governance and proper management for our conservancy programme, for the benefits of our people.” ELLANIE SMIT

Namibia gazettes new conservancy

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-14

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Namibia gazettes new conservancy

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-14

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