Wezi Tjaronda
11 August 2008
Windhoek — The Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) has called for the broadening of conservancy membership to accommodate broader communities.
This, according to Minister of Environment and Tourism, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, will strengthen the Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) programme, as not only a biodiversity but also a rural development programme.
"We need to ensure that the MET and all other investments deliver real and tangible results, which not only benefit the beneficiary conservancies but broader communities, thus making conservancy model, as a rural development programme," Nandi-Ndaitwah said on Friday when she presided over the Integrated Community Based Ecosystem Management (ICEMA) grant signing agreement.
Nandi-Ndaitwah said she wanted to see the broadening of conservancy membership to include inhabitants of a given geographical area.
She also urged communal areas conservancies to cultivate multiple sources of support for them to become financially independent.
"All conservancies are urged not to become reliant on single donor sources but to seek a range of support with the objective of financial independence and sustainability as primary goals," she said.
With financial assistance from the Global Environmental Facility and the French GEF, the ministry through ICEMA has set aside N$5.2 million for 16 conservancies to implement programmes in biodiversity and income generation.
The first four conservancies, namely Sheya Shuushona, Kasika, Impalila and NaJaqna signed their grant agreements with the ministry last Friday. The funds will be used for direct operational activities as well as for technical assistance to provide practical site level support.
Lack of funds to carry out activities is one of the challenges that the conservancies face, according to the chairman of Sheya Shuushona Conservancy, Sakeus Shikongo, who spoke on behalf of the conservancies.
Kasika and Impalila conservancies in the extreme north-east have seen an increase in numbers of wildlife over the years and want to capitalise on their strategic location in the regional tourism hub.
The NaJaqna conservancy, which relies on natural resources has made progress in developing sustainable natural resource harvesting enterprises.
Apart from stocking their area with wildlife, the conservancy members earn significant amounts of money from harvesting Devil's Claw.
The Sheya Shuushona conservancy, a neighbour of the Etosha National Park wants to exploit its comparative advantage of being close to the park. The conservancy has carried out a tourism options study, which will capitalise on opportunities offered by the strategic location.
Sheya Shuushona received the largest grant of N$440402, Impalila received N$318800, while Kasika and Na#jaqna received N$308000 and N$282192 respectively.
Nandi-Ndaitwah said people depended on biodiversity for their livelihood, which the integrated ecosystems approach made provision for its sustainable use.
She said donor support enabled the ministry to strengthen institutional capacity and active participation in the development and implementation of the CBNRM programme.
Since the introduction of conservancies in 1998, Shikongo said livelihoods of communities have changed for the better.
Some conservancies have achieved a number of things including development of constitutions, distribution of wildlife tourism and have developed tourism enterprises.
However, conservancies face a host of challenges, among them limited capacity to negotiate joint ventures, lack of funds for conservancy activities and relocation of people to pave way for development.
The other problem facing conservancies is that the youth are leaving in search of paid work.
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