State of Conservancy book 2005

Namibia's communal conservancies: a review of progress and challenges in 2005

Chapter 2: Natural Resources

The base of a rural economy

Natural resources - in particular wildlife - are at the core of conservancies for two important reasons: one social and historic, the other an economic factor. First, people recognised that wildlife numbers had drastically declined in communal areas, especially populations of such flagship animals as black rhinos and desert-adapted elephants in the north-west. That recognition came from both professional conservationists and local communities. More importantly, both groups saw a need to do something about the disappearance of wildlife, and it was from a meeting of those minds that CBNRM activities began in the early 1980s.

The second, economic factor led from the conclusion that wildlife-related enterprises could provide substantial incomes. Moreover, the benefits would be greater and realised more rapidly than those from many other resources or enterprises. This is especially true in communal areas where the chances of making a decent living are limited because of low rainfall, infertile soils and limited access to markets and services, among other constraints. Incomes from wildlife have indeed proved to be substantial, and many current developments in conservancies are driven by efforts to derive more revenue. Conservancies have boosted wildlife numbers in two main ways: by expanding areas under conservation management, and by managing and protecting wildlife populations so that they increase. Much of this chapter focuses on these developments, while a later section describes ways in which natural resources are now managed.

The coverage of conservancy areas

By the end of 2005 and in the seven years since the first communal conservancies were registered, an area of 105,038 square kilometres had been gazetted as communal conservancies. This amounts to 13% of Namibia's surface area. Adding this to the 16.5% within national parks and game reserves, and 6% in freehold conservancies, brings the total land surface in Namibia covered by management for various conservation and biodiversity objectives to 35%. About 35% of all communal land in Namibia fell within communal conservancies at the end of 2005.

Figure 5. Communal conservancies in relation to indices of: overall terrestrial diversity, plant diversity, overall terrestrial endemism and plant endemism in Namibia. Areas with the darkest colours have the greatest levels of diversity and endemism. The map of plant endemism also identifies localities, known as 'hot spots' where particular concentrations of endemic plants are found. These are shown as green stars.

The conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity is one of the key objectives of CBNRM, and the maps in Figure 5 provide an indication of how the placement of conservancies relates to the diversity of plant and animal life. The most notable contributions to the protection of biodiversity hot spots (areas of particular richness and conservation importance) are in north-eastern parts of Namibia. The Brandberg, an isolated zone of high diversity, lies within in the Tsiseb conservancy. Another important contribution that communal conservancies make is the expansion of areas under conservation management. Figure 6 illustrates the percentage of different vegetation types included in national parks and game reserves and the additional conservation coverage provided by communal conservancies.

Figure 6. Percentage of Namibian vegetation types under protection by parks, and communal conservancies and concession areas. This illustrates the added contribution that communal conservancies make towards improved habitat management in the country. The 'concessions' are the tourism concessions shown in Figure 2.

In contrast to patterns of overall biodiversity richness, concentrations of endemic species are greatest in the dry west and north-western regions (endemics are species that occur only or very largely in Namibia, and the country has a special responsibility for their conservation). The 23 conservancies in the arid Kunene and Erongo regions therefore make a valuable contribution to the conservation of these special plants and animals (Figure 5). A number of conservancies have included key species in their monitoring systems; large predators, Black Rhinos, Wattled Cranes, Blackfaced Impala, Roan and Sable Antelopes being examples.

Whilst riverine and riparian habitats are small in relation to the size of the entire country, most of these linear wetlands (both perennial and ephemeral) provide refuges for wildlife. This is especially true in the very arid areas of north-west Namibia where conservancies offer critical protection to these habitats (see the Wetland Habitat in Table 3). While riverine habitats in the wetter eastern part of the country are also important, they are not as well protected because settlements and roads have tended to develop along the river courses, even where these fall under conservancy management. Despite considerable discussion on the need to prioritise and zone these areas for conservation, only in one instance has this actually been implemented by a conservancy. This is in the Mayuni conservancy on the Kwando River.

Table 2. Percentages of Namibia's total surface area within communal and freehold conservancies, in concession areas, and in national parks and game reserves (top row) and equivalent percentages of different biomes conserved by these conservation management areas. Communal area conservancies contribute more to the protection of Nama Karoo and Broad-leafed savanna than do other types of conservation management. Communal and freehold conservancies make significant contributions to the conservation management of the Acacia savanna biome.

The expansion of areas under conservation management is one benefit of communal conservancies, particularly so in regions and habitats where there are no formal protected areas. Another major benefit is the fact that many conservancies lie next to other conservation areas, thus enlarging conservation management areas to create more connectivity, more open systems and broader corridors (Figure 7). Most obviously, the connections between these areas allow animals to move more freely and extensively. Another important contribution is that conflict across the borders of national parks is considerably reduced by having comparable land uses adjacent to the parks. The best linkages are in the north-west where conservancies and tourism concession areas now form the entire eastern boundary of the Skeleton Coast National Park and western border of the Etosha National Park. (see Figure 2).

Figure 7. Increasing percentages of the boundary length of all national parks and game reserves lying adjacent to registered communal conservancies and tourism concession areas between 1995 and 2005. Twenty-seven of the 44 registered conservancies are either adjacent to or in key corridors between protected areas.

Table 3. The percentage of various wetland habitats in Namibia under some form of conservation protection. This illustrates the key role that conservancies play in protecting and managing these critical and rare habitats in arid Namibia. (Note: The rivers were considered to be linear habitats and the percentage of them protected was estimated as being the linear proportion of the main river course that fell in one of the conservation categories. Estimates for other wetland habitats were based on the percentage of their total areas falling in one of the conservation area categories.)

Conservancies in the north-east are also expanding along the Kwando/Linyanti River, creating a band of managed areas that incorporate the Mamili and Mudumu National Parks. Significantly, all the landholders in this area recently formed a co-management forum known as the Mudumu North Complex. This institutional structure consists of management representatives from MET (representing east Bwabwata and Mudumu National Park), the three registered conservancies (Kwandu, Mashi and Mayuni) the forest reserve and all the remaining communal lands in the area that are currently registering as either conservancies or community forests. The forum also has strong representation from supporting stakeholders, including the Ministry of Agriculture, Water & Forestry, Namibian Police, Namibian Defence Force, traditional authorities, NGOs and local government. There are already signs of improvement in anti-poaching patrolling, land-use planning, monitoring, fire management and communication between participants. The forum also secured donations of game which were released in Mudumu and Mayuni. This initiative has attracted additional resources and the attention of donors. It has also increased opportunities for transfrontier work in neighbouring Zambia, Botswana and Angola. The need to create linkages with conservation areas across national borders is critical in the Caprivi since it is such a narrow strip within a broad area occupied by many wide-ranging species. This is highly relevant within Namibia's SADC commitment to enhance sustainable development through regional cooperation, such as in the Kavango-Zambezi transfrontier development initiative.

Wildlife populations

Figure 8. Wildlife numbers in northwest Namibia have increased dramatically over the past 20 years. Population estimates between the 1980s and 1990s were derived from aerial surveys (left hand y axis) while the more recent figures are density estimates from vehicle surveys (number of animals recorded per 100 kilometres travelled, right hand y axis).

The success of the approach taken by communities and their conservancies is evident in the remarkable recovery and increase of wildlife populations. Nowhere is this more evident than in Kunene where wildlife had been reduced to small numbers through hunting and poor rainfall by the early 1980s, which is when communities began expressing their desire to have populations rebuilt. It is estimated that there were only 250 elephants and 65 black rhinos in the north-west in the early 1980s, and that populations of other large mammals had dropped by 60-90% since the early 1970s.

Two sets of information show how wildlife numbers have increased in the north-west. The first comes from aerial surveys. This shows that elephant numbers more than doubled, while Springbok, Oryx and Mountain Zebra populations increased over 10 times between 1982 and 2000 (Figure 8). Independent estimates from the monitoring of individual Black Rhinos suggest that they have more than doubled over the past 30 years. A second set of data was collected from extensive vehicle surveys over the past six years. In this short period, numbers of Springbok, Mountain Zebra and Oryx more than tripled, while the frequency of Giraffe and Ostrich sightings rose between 1.5 and 2.5 times.

Much of the growth described here for the north-west has been due to the reduction and virtual cessation of illegal hunting or poaching, and the steps taken by conservancies to manage conflicts between human and wildlife. Although other factors - in particular the series of recent good rainfall years - have contributed to population growth, this increase would not have occurred had it not been for reduced hunting and strong local management by conservancies.

Populations of Springbok and Oryx appear to have now stabilised in north-western Namibia There have been no mass mortalities or poaching to account for this, and harvest quotas have been so small in relation to the total populations that they are also unlikely to have had any effect. In fact, the biggest declines were recorded in the Palmwag concession area where no harvesting took place. What appears to be happening is that the carrying capacity in the conservancy areas for these species has been reached and animals are moving up into the mountains (which are not surveyed) and expanding their range eastwards outside the survey areas.

There has also been significant recovery of wildlife populations in the large Nyae Nyae Conservancy in the east of the country (Figure 9). While this recovery has been aided by the introduction of about 2,114 animals since 1999, the latest population estimates confirm that current population growth is also due to the breeding of existing and reintroduced populations.

Figure 9. Population estimates of Oryx, Kudu, Blue Wildebeest, Elephant, Hartebeest and Ostrich in the Nyae Nyae Conservancy as derived from three aerial censuses conducted over a ten-year period. 'Other species' consist of Buffalo, Eland, Giraffe, Roan, Springbok and Warthog.

In addition to the growing populations in north-western Namibia and Nyae Nyae, there are good anecdotal accounts of how wildlife numbers and ranges are expanding elsewhere. For example, it is widely agreed that Buffalo, Elephants and Zebra are now much more abundant on the eastern floodplains in Caprivi. Increasing frequencies of 'problem animal' incidents (see below) are doubtless a consequence of both larger numbers of animals and reduced persecution by people. Wildlife now often mixes freely with domestic stock in Kunene, where Elephants have been recorded drinking and eating vegetables and crops grown next to homesteads.

A total of 2,913 animals were introduced between 1999 and 2005 to the following conservancies: Nyae Nyae (2,114 animals), Uukwaluudhi (301), Salambala (308), ?Khoadi-// Hôas (50), Mayuni (26), Ehirovipuka (36), Oskop (48) and Tsiseb (30 animals). The animals comprised of the following 12 species: Springbok (723 animals), Red Hartebeest (569), Oryx (428), Kudu (379), Eland (313), Impala (259), Blue Wildebeest (154), Burchell's Zebra (32), Black-faced Impala (31), Ostrich (11), Giraffe (10) and Black Rhino (4 animals). Some of the translocations also made it possible to re-introduce species that had become locally extinct, for example, Giraffe, Black-faced Impala, Burchell's Zebra, Blue Wildebeest and Black Rhino, and thus conservancies have helped reinstate the range of these species into their former historical ranges.

Figure 10. Frequencies of sightings (y axis) of large predators by Community Rangers in the East Caprivi and North West conservancies between 2002 and 2005. Sightings of Jackal increased in both areas as well.

The total value of the introductions was in excess of N$8 million. Many of these animals were donated by the MET and freehold farmers. The cost of purchasing, capturing and transporting the animals has largely been borne by funds provided by support agencies (in particular, WWF), the MET and private farm owners. This represents a significant investment which has immediate financial and livelihood benefits. The introductions also provide for capital appreciation because game species can breed at rates of between 10 and 25% per annum, which may directly translate into compounded growth on the initial investment.

The status of large predators can be a useful indicator of the health of underlying wildlife populations. In east Caprivi, where game count data is not particularly reliable due to methodological difficulties in dense woodlands, sightings of Leopard and Wild Dog have increased (Figure 10). Hyaenas have been stable whilst Lion have declined somewhat, probably due to action following human wildlife conflict. Similar trends for large predators have been noted in conservancies in Kunene. It is not known if the fewer sightings of Lion and Hyaena in the last year are significant or not. Living with wildlife, however, often carries a cost. Increased human populations and expanded ranges and populations of animals in Namibia's communal conservancies have resulted in significant and frequent conflicts between people and animals (Table 4).

Table 4. The number of incidents of human-wildlife caused by all species in all conservancies in Namibia over the past three years. These data reflect incidents in only those conservancies using the 'Event Book' monitoring system and thus do not reflect all such incidents in the country.

A total of 3,194 problem incidents were reported countrywide in conservancies during 2005. The majority were caused by Elephants (23%), Hyaena (17%), Jackal (10%), Leopard (10%), Cheetah (9%), Bush Pigs (6%), Hippopotamus (5%), Crocodile (5%), various antelope (5%), Lion (4%), Baboon (2%), Porcupine (2%) and Caracal (1%). The greatest number of reports came from Kwandu (588 problems), Orupupa (263, an emerging conservancy in Kunene and Omusati) and Balyerwa (169 incidents, an emerging conservancy in East Caprivi).

Figure 11. A comparison of human wildlife conflict incidents (y axis) caused by all species in Kunene (left) and east Caprivi (right) conservancies between 2001 and 2005. Note how the type of damage differs between the two regions. Most incidents reported as 'other' consist of damage caused to water supply facilities. Reliable data for 2001 and 2002 in Kunene were not available.

The type of damage experienced by communities varies a good deal between conservancies (Figure 11). Crop damage is much more prevalent in Caprivi, although elephants also frequently destroy small vegetable gardens in some of the north-western conservancies. Most livestock losses and damage to boreholes and other water installations occur in north-western Namibia, while most human lives are lost to crocodiles in the Caprivi. Conservancies, the MET and NGOs are developing innovative ways to deal with the increase in human/wildlife conflict. These are described in the next section. Interestingly, the trend in damage caused by problem animals differed markedly between two neighbouring conservancies, both situated on the banks of the Kwando River (Figure 12). Most incidents in these conservancies relate to crop damage, especially during the late summer months of March, April and May when millet, maize and sorghum are well grown. Whilst Kwandu (the conservancy with the highest frequency of incidents in Namibia) continued to register increasing incidents over the years, its immediate neighbour, Mayuni, recorded a dramatic decline in crop damage between 2003 and 2004.

Figure 12. Changing trends in the number of incidents of crop damage (y axis) by wildlife in two neighbouring conservancies in east Caprivi between 2001 and 2005. The reduction in incidents in Mayuni Conservancy was probably due to the implementation of its zonation plan, which led to the relocation of people away from the Kwando River floodplains. While this case study needs further investigation, it suggests that the implementation of land-use plans is a key strategy for reducing incidents of wildlife damage.

Managing natural resources

Sound management is needed for natural resources to be used on a sustainable and economically beneficial basis. Planning, managing, monitoring and evaluation are thus core and key aspects of conservancy activities. The involvement of community members in natural resource management is also important, and participation has grown steadily and rapidly. At the end of 2005, for instance, 23 (or over half of all) conservancies had taken over responsibility for the management and supervision of natural resource management staff. Fourteen conservancies pay their staff from conservancy-generated funds, and thus no longer rely on donor support.

Conservancies have seen a variety of management and monitoring systems implemented over these years. Indeed, adaptive management has been critical as the conservancy system evolved. MET and staff of NGOs have been the main and collaborative supporters of conservancies. For example, the Natural Resources Working Group has worked closely with field-based MET and NGO staff to assist in technical aspects of natural resource monitoring and management.

There are two main components to natural resource management. The first is staffing, and many people are now formally employed by conservancies to help manage natural resources. Most employees are called Community or Conservancy Game Guards, Community Rangers or Environmental Shepherds, and they are the local agents responsible for natural resource monitoring. In some areas women are employed as Community Resources Monitors to monitor plant resources (such as plant foods, and palms and dye plants used for baskets). They fall under - and report to - the conservancy committees or equivalent local structures.

A suite of tools aimed at collecting and disseminating information to assist in making management decisions forms the second component to the management of natural resources. A conservancy mapping service, implemented by MET and NGOs, has been developed to support and generate maps. These start with the establishment and mapping of conservancy boundaries as a fundamental first step to publicly proclaim the existence of a registered conservancy and the rights that go with conservancy formation. The mapping support then moves on to generating maps that show important local features and landmarks, all information of use for management planning and monitoring. The entire mapping process is participatory, community members being supported and trained to gather relevant data that results in maps with local relevance and ownership.

The Event Book System is a management tool that has been developed and introduced over the past five years. It is a simple, but rigorous monitoring system that promotes conservancy involvement in the design, planning and implementation of natural resource monitoring, such that each conservancy decides what resources it needs to monitor (bearing in mind some issues on which conservancies are obliged to report to MET). The resources or themes identified may include problem animals, poaching, rainfall, vegetation, predators and bush fires, for example. For each topic selected for monitoring, there is a complete system that begins with data collection, goes through monthly reporting and ends with long-term reporting. Every year an annual 'audit' of the system is conducted during which the data are collated and compiled into a conservancy's Annual Natural Resource Report. The report is sent to the MET and provided to NACSO to update its monitoring databases. At the end of 2005, the Event Book system was functioning in 35 conservancies and being expanded to include other natural resources such as fish, forestry and veld products. The basic concepts have also being applied to the monitoring of some small enterprises, such as community camp sites and craft sales. In addition to day-to-day monitoring with the Event Book system, most conservancies conduct periodic game censuses. The biggest of these is in the north-west where a road-based game count has been conducted annually over the past four years (see Figure 8.) Some 5 million hectares are covered during the count, which includes all the conservancies and tourism concessions in that area as well as the Skeleton Coast National Park. The count is undertaken as a joint exercise between conservancy staff and members, and MET and NGO staff. The road counts have now been expanded to conservancies (and protected areas) in the south of Namibia. Conservancies in other parts of Namibia now also undertake annual game counts but using methods appropriate to local conditions. For example, Nyae Nyae conducts an annual moonlight water point count, while the conservancies in the north east do foot counts. All these census methods are intended to contribute and work synergistically with other census methods (for example, the aerial censuses conducted by the MET). A quota setting system (or tool) is currently being piloted. It starts off by generating suggested quotas from existing data sets (game census, event book data, harvest returns, and stocking rates of different species that are desirable at a national level). The next and most crucial step is presenting the quota recommendations to each conservancy. Through a participatory process that uses local knowledge, reviews the community's vision for each species' population in conjunction with quota recommendations, an appropriate harvest strategy is devised. This concludes with the community deciding on final harvest quotas and how the harvest should be utilized (meat or trophy hunting and/or live capture and sale). All these aspects are then later formalized by the MET before the quotas are marketed by the conservancies.

A comprehensive computer-based information system containing all conservancy and associated protected area information has been developed over the past six years. It is known as CONINFO, and is essentially a formalized and shared directory structure containing various databases, reports, maps, documents, posters, materials, manuals and decision support tools that conservancy support agents may require. The whole information system is freely available to all stakeholders. Recently efforts have focussed on the development of a user interface to facilitate access to the various data sets. Many of the results presented in this book were compiled from CONINFO.

A number of approaches are being used to manage conflicts between people and wildlife. Nine conservancies in Caprivi and Kunene are testing phase two of a pilot scheme - the Human-Animal Conflict Conservancy Self Insurance scheme (HACCSI) - that aims to insure individual conservancy members against stock losses. In this second phase, most conservancies are now paying 50% of claims from own income and are taking the lead in running this process. A Problem Animal Management strategy (PAM) worked out for each conservancy forms a key component of the scheme. The strategies attempt to link rights and responsibilities; for example, Caprivian stock that has not been kraaled at night or that is killed inside a national park may not be claimed. A review panel, consisting of representatives of MET, conservancy committees, traditional authorities and the facilitating NGO (IRDNC) monitors the process. Phase three will be testing a crop damage scheme in one Caprivi conservancy. Notably, the numbers of stock losses that qualify for HACCSI payout are fewer than anticipated in most conservancies. The pilot is revealing strengths and weaknesses of the scheme, thus allowing the process to be improved at each phase.

Other ways of reducing human-wildlife conflict include the use of electric fencing or special repellents to keep wildlife away from fields and gardens, keeping livestock in predator secure bomas at night, and protecting water pumping equipment with mechanical barricades. Generating income or other benefits from wildlife is central to these solutions because they require capital and active management. But human activities in communal areas (farming and settlement patterns, for example) often work against deriving income from wildlife, which means that conservancies have to find long-term solutions that allow competing land uses to coexist. One solution is to zone conservancies so that different land uses are allocated to different areas. Some communities have already zoned their conservancies in this manner, but a major limitation to effective management is the fact that conservancy committees do not have legal powers to enforce the zones. Some committees are now conferring with traditional leaders to make zonation more enforceable. In future, they will also need to work with Communal Land Boards to implement land use planning.

Although wildlife remains a prominent focus of natural resource use and management, many conservancies are actively managing other natural resources. Increasingly, conservancies are monitoring a larger suite of resources such as plant foods (melon seed, mangetti nuts, and marula oil), palm, fish, honey, rangeland, and livestock. This integrated approach was piloted in ?Khoadi-//Hôas where the conservancy committee and local farmers union jointly and regularly bring together service providers, line ministry representatives and other stakeholders to coordinate the delivery of services and support. Conservancies and emerging conservancies throughout Namibia are now beginning to apply integrated resource management most specifically for wildlife, rangelands, fisheries, water, trees and other natural resources.

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