Communal conservancies in Namibia: starting point for biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation?

Communal Conservancies are a key and integrated part of a broader community-based Natural Resources Management Programme in Namibia since 1998. Conservancies were developed with wildlife as a focus because it provides access to resources previously denied to local communities and offers opportunities for people in rural areas to improve their livelihoods through the sustainable use of wildlife, trophy hunting and meat. This concept is based on the assumption that people will protect their natural resources and use them sustainably as long as they benefit from them. Based on approaches of the Political Ecology this study analyses the rapid growth and spatial spread of the conservancies, their income sources, the patterns and problems of the management and distribution of benefits as a key challenge for the success of the programme and the roles of different actors engaged in the conservancy programme. Safari-tourism and trophy hunting are the main sources of monetary and non-monetary benefits. Joint ventures in particular are more and more important for generating incomes. But up to now in all conservancies benefits are too small to improve the livelihoods of the people and to initiate regional development. Compared to the benefits, the costs of biodiversity conservation are high; many people suffer seriously from massive damage caused by the great and increasing number of protected wild animals. Additionally the opportunity costs of wildlife conservation are a heavy burden for the population: large areas occupied by wildlife cannot be used for agriculture and settlement. Thus it is doubtful that tourism will generate enough income to satisfy the expectations of the people and to compensate for the costs of biodiversity conservation. Most probably biodiversity and wildlife conservation in particular will be successful in the future only if it will be subsidized permanently by foreign donors and the international community.