Community Based Natural Resource Management in Namibia

Edel Monteiro and Natalie Mady

 

Keywords: Social Justice, Environmental Sustainability, green and brown agendas, community participation, conservation

 

Introduction

Namibia is one of few countries in the world to specifically address habitat conservation and the protection of natural resources in their constitution (WWF, 2013). The creation of Community Forests and Communal Conservancies are two core strategies of the Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) program supported by the Namibian Government. As a part of this case study we will evaluate both the Communal Conservancies and the Community Forest initiatives in terms of their ability to deliver both ecological and social benefits. We will be using Dobson’s (2003) framework that questions the compatibility between environmental sustainability and social justice and requires that we make clear ‘what is to be preserved’ and what ‘principle of distribution’ of justice is being used.

Applying Dobson’s framework to this particular case-study seems appropriate given that NACSO’s (Namibian Association of Community-Based Natural Resource Management Support Organisations) stated aim is to give equal weightage to social and ecological considerations. More precisely, they have included natural resource conservation, rural development and local capacity building in their management strategy (NACSO, 2013). It is also crucial to note that a delegation of officials including the Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism of Botswana had visited the country to learn how to replicate Namibia’s model in their own country, stating that what impressed them was the ability of this model to alleviate poverty through acting for sustainability (The Villager, 2011). Given its significance, we will seek to reveal whether the CBNRM program achieved its goals on both environmental and social fronts. We will firstly describe the background of both the Community Forests and Communal Conservancies programs before closely analysing their impacts.

Communal Conservancies

Conservancies are legally-recognized, geographically-defined areas that have been formed by communities who have united to manage and benefit from wildlife and other natural resources. These cash and in-kind benefits have fostered a greater appreciation of the value of wildlife and stimulated communities to incorporate wildlife conservation practices into daily livelihood strategies (Weaver and Peterson, 2008).  By mid-2007, a total of 50 communal conservancies had formed, covering approximately 11.8 million hectares and engaging close to 230,000 community members, representing over 14.42% of the country’s landmass and 12.21% of its population. (Weaver and Peterson, 2008)

Community Forests

A Community Forest is an area in the communal lands of Namibia for which local communities have obtained the rights to manage forests, woodlands and other types of natural vegetation according to the provisions of the Forest Act No. 12 of 2001(Mbpaha, n.d.). It is implemented by the Directorate of Forestry (DoF) under the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry (MAWF) in co-operation with the German Development Service (DED) and the German Development Bank (KfW). Since 1996, 32 Community Forests have been declared and gazetted over a total area of 301 952 hectares (Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, n.d.).

The Critique

Using Dobson’s Framework, the table below has been complied in an attempt to verify if Environmental Sustainability and Social Justice were compatible in this specific case.  For this exercise when referring to social justice we will be relying on David Millers definition which articulates that “social justice deals with the distribution of good (advantages) and bad(disadvantages) in society with a focus on distributive process of justice based on the principle of need” (Miller, 2001). This principle of justice will be contrasted against three concepts that help address the question ‘what is to be sustained?’ i.e. critical natural capital, biodiversity and the value of nature:

Governance Challenges within local institutions (conservancies/forest committees):

In addition to conflicts that take place between the goals of environmental sustainability and social justice, there are other issues that were observed, specifically in term of governance of the program. Major decisions were often taken by committees without involving members. There were also reports of corruption with large sums of money being unaccounted for while large proportion of funds generated were being spent of operational costs with little being left for community benefit (Namibian Sun, 2013). In a study assessing change in the distribution of power through the implementation of CBNRM in Nambia, Schiffer (2004) found that though power had moved from central authorities to local authorities, this created a gap between the local authorities and the larger community, with attempts at monopolisation of power locally.

 

CITE THIS ARTICLE 

Monteiro, E. and Mady, N. (2014). Community Based Natural Resource Management in Namibia | UCL Encyclopaedia of Political Ecology. [online] Available at: https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/esd/community-based-natural-resource-management-in-namibia-2/

 

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