Three conservancies in Namibia and their joint venture partner are trying to fight off a mine that threatens wildlife and community welfare because it will ruin tourism.

The blurb for an editorial in The Namibian newspaper on 9 November read: "From Kavango to Kunene, down south across the breadth and width of Namibia, the scramble for the country's mineral, oil and energy sources is in overdrive."

The article ended: "Government officials have turned Namibia into an unsustainable El Dorado with a vicious cycle of short-term searches for riches dishing out mining exploration licences to a select few."

As you read this, graders, excavators and tipper trucks are hacking a road through three conservancies famous for their conservation of endangered, desert-adapted black rhino. It will provide access to an area licensed for the development of an opencast mine for low-value tin.

The conservancies concerned are Uibasen Twyfelfontein, Doro !Nawas and Sorris Sorris. Between 2018 and 2023, they signed agreements with Ultimate Safaris to develop tourist infrastructure, including several luxury camps focusing primarily on black rhino tracking activities.

This is estimated to earn the conservancies more than $16.6-million in cash during the 20-year tenure of the agreements, but does not include the value of employment, conservation and community development efforts and contributions to the local value chains...