PROFILE OF NYAE NYAE CONSERVANCY:
NAME: Nyae
Nyae Conservancy
NOMINEE
DESCRIPTION: Community-based Organization of Indigenous
Community
LOCATION: Nyae Nyae District,
SIZE: 907,000 Hectares
DATE OF
REGISTRATION:
INDIGENOUS
GROUP: Ju/’hoan
San
REGISTERED
MEMBERS: 770
(Representing approximately 2000 people)
NUMBER OF
VILLAGES: 36
villages distributed widely through the Conservancy
INITIATIVE DESCRIPTION
The Nyae Nyae Conservancy was the first
communal area conservancy registered in Namibia, being gazetted by the
Government of Namibia on May 9, 1997. It
is the home to the Ju/’hoan San people, a traditional “hunter/gatherer”
society, that is also one of Namibia’s most marginalised communities. Mobilisation around the conservancy concept
has provided the poor and destitute Ju/’hoan people an opportunity to
capitalize on their vast knowledge and skills in the management and utilisation
of their natural resources.
The Nyae Nyae Conservancy is different than
other communal area conservancies in that it is an umbrella organization that
also promotes and supports integrated development programmes in agriculture,
water development/management, and education, as well as wildlife management and
tourism. The Nyae Nyae Conservancy
represents approximately 2000 Ju/’hoan people in their struggle to maintain
their rights to their land and to develop their society in a culturally sensitive
manner.
The Conservancy is founded around a land-use
plan that has zoned specific conservancy areas for various land uses, including
wildlife/tourism management, settlement, and multiple-use between livestock and
wildlife. A Conservancy management plan
promotes specific management practices around the development of wildlife,
tourism, and water resources, while at the same time, promoting improved
livelihoods through the fostering of appropriate subsistence agricultural
systems (i.e., livestock production and small gardens). Reduction of conflict between people,
livestock, and wildlife is an increasingly more important focus of the
management plan.
The management plan also recognizes the need
to rebuild the wildlife resource base of the conservancy, which was at
historical lows in the mid-1990s. As a
consequence, a concentrated effort has been made to introduce select species of
valuable wildlife to augment the low densities of game resident to the
conservancy. This game re-introduction
effort commenced in 1999 and has been a resounding success.
While the Nyae Nyae Conservancy has been
visibly successful in many facets of its operation, it still faces serious
threats due to its low human resource capacity and a potential invasion of the
Conservancy’s key wildlife areas by livestock from neighbouring tribal
communities.
NYAE NAYE CONSERVANCY BIODIVERSITY IMPACTS:
As mentioned, the Nyae Nyae wildlife
populations were at historical lows in the mid-1990s. A major cause of the population decline was
settlement of people on wildlife water points, which vastly reduced the
availability of water to wildlife in the Nyae Nyae area. Since formation of the Conservancy, the
Ministry of Environment & Tourism (
The above efforts have resulted with the
re-establishment of viable populations of springbok and eland (historical
species no longer present prior to the introductions), while populations such
water dependent species as red hartebeest and kudu have more than doubled since
the mid-1990s. Other species
significantly benefiting from the improved management include the rare roan
antelope and elephant.
POVERTY REDUCTION:
The Ju/’hoan San people are one of the most
marginalized people in Namibia, if not all of southern Africa. As a traditional “hunter/gather” people, the
Ju/’hoan were (and remain) relegated to some of the harshest and remotest areas
of Namibia. This has resulted with the
Ju/’hoan San people having extremely low levels of literacy and employment
opportunities are rare in the remote environs of the Nyae Nyae
Conservancy. As a consequence,
employment rates for the Ju/’hoan San are very low and annual household incomes
are predominantly less than N$1,000/year (US$100).
The Namibia conservancy concept has allowed
the Ju/’hoan San to capitalise on a number of unique features of their culture
and traditional lands. First, the San
are highly regarded for their knowledge and skills related to living off of the
environment, and particularly for their tracking and hunting skills. Secondly, the large area in which they dwell
(in excess of 900,000 hectares) still retains viable populations of wildlife
(though game numbers were at historical lows in the mid-1990s) that have
tremendous potential to grow. And, thirdly, the Ju/’hoan San are superb artists
and craftspeople.
Given the above, the Ju/’hoan have been able to
develop viable enterprises in trophy hunting and handicrafts production that
have benefited large numbers of the conservancy’s members. Table One highlights the income (cash and
employment) the Nyae Nyae Conservancy has generated since 1998.
Table One. Cash and Employment Income Generated by The Nyae Nyae Conservancy Since 1998.
YEAR |
|
EMPLOYMENT INCOME |
TOTAL ANNUAL INCOME |
|
1998 |
N$122,000 |
N$105,835 |
N$227,835 |
|
1999 |
N$122,000 |
N$ 45,587 |
N$167,587 |
|
2000 |
N$250,000 |
N$ 51,000 |
N$301,000 |
|
2001 |
N$341,011 |
N$150,295 |
N$491,306 |
|
2002 (Projected) |
N$1,045,000 |
N$250,000 |
N$1,295,000 |
The Nyae Nyae Conservancy hunting concession has become more financially lucrative on an annual basis due to: 1) the decline of the Namibian Dollar (the contract is based in US Dollars); and 2) increased wildlife populations that have made the concession more viable and attractive. The profitability of the hunting concession has made it possible for the Conservancy to provide its 770 members with cash dividends in 1999 and 2001. During each of these years, between N$65,000 – 70,000 was distributed as a cash dividend, providing each member with N$70, which was then used as the member chose. Monitoring of this use indicates most dividends were spent on clothing for children, basic food commodities, and costs related to schooling of children.
In contrast to
the trophy hunting revenues, the conservancy also supports a prosperous
handicrafts industry. Craft sales are
currently producing a gross monthly return of almost N$20,000 to approximately
300 craft producers, with nearly all of these revenues going to
poverty-stricken women.
PARTNERSHIPS:
The Nyae Nyae Conservancy is supported
directly by a number of key partners including the Namibian NGO, Nyae Nyae
Development Foundation, the
SUSTAINABILITY:
In 2001, the Nyae Nyae Conservancy covered
approximately 50% of its annual operating and staff costs. However, the signing of a new,
highly-lucrative, 5-year hunting concession agreement (commencing in 2002) will
generate a guaranteed N$1,045,000/year in cash revenues for Nyae Nyae
Conservancy. Thus, the Nyae Nyae
Conservancy will be fully self-financing from 2002 onwards. This vast amount of revenue also, ironically,
makes one of Namibia’s most marginalized communities the stewards of Namibia’s
most financially lucrative conservancies.
Additional enterprises being developed
include: a Devils Claw project is being
piloted this year with the
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Nyae Nyae Conservancy
Atten: Kxao Moses =Oma
P.O. Box 45 Grootfontein