| |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
| |
Namibia Holiday & Travel - Parks & Reserves - Conservancies |
|
| |
|
|
| |
National Parks |
Conservancies |
Private Reserves |
Transfrontier Parks
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
A conservancy is defined as a legally protected area belonging to a group of bona fide land occupiers who have pooled their resources to practise co-operative management based on a sustainable utilisation strategy. The objective is to promote the conservation of natural resources and wildlife, where conservation means the management of human utilisation of organisms or ecosystems to ensure that such utilisation is of a sustainable nature. Conservation also includes the protection, maintenance, rehabilitation, restoration and enhancement of the populations of ecosystems. The ultimate objective is to reinstate the original biodiversity of the area and to share resources amongst all members of the conservancy.
The interest to develop conservancies in Namibia began in the early 1990s, shortly after Namibia became independent, as farmers were becoming increasingly concerned about the ever-increasing pressure exerted on wildlife through different methods of utilisation by some farmers. Since most game species range freely between farms, some individual farmers were over-utilising this community resource for personal gain. It became apparent that the only way the utilisation of this game could be controlled would be through co-operative game management and co-ordinated utilisation. As a result, self-controlled, self-regulated areas for community wildlife were envisioned and the conservancy movement was born.
In the late 1990s legislation on conservancies in Namibia was amended to include conservancies in communal areas. This provided communal conservancies the rights of use/ownership over the game in their area if they complied with the Ordinance, thus making the use/ownership of game available to many more Namibians. The first conservancy – the Nyae Nyae Conservancy in the Tsumkwe environs in Bushmanland – was gazetted on 16 February 1998. There are currently 52 registered communal conservancies in Namibia.
To streamline the conservancy movement in Namibia, an umbrella organisation, CANAM (Conservancy Association of Namibia), was established to co-ordinate and liaise conservancy efforts and to act as a lobby group in the interest of conservancies and conservation with the relevant ministries.
For further information on conservancies, see the 2006/2007 edition of Conservation and the Environment in Namibia published by Venture Publications (Website: www.travelnews.com.na).
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Topics: |
|
| |
|
|
| |
Conservancies on commercial farmland
A commercial-land conservancy consists of a group of commercial farms on which neighbouring landowners have pooled their resources and which is acknowledged as wildlife management units by the authorities. Members practise normal farming activities and operations in combination with wildlife conservation. These conservancies are managed and operated by members through a management committee.
read more >
|
| |
 |
| |
|
|
| |
Communal conservancies
In the eighteen years since independence, Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) in Namibia has grown from a few, small pilot projects to one of the country’s major development programmes.
read more >
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| |
 Community forests
As the most arid country south of the Sahara, Namibia isn’t commonly associated with woodlands, forests and forest management.
read more >
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
