Extended periods of drought in northwest Namibia have caused substantial declines in wildlife and livestock, threatening local livelihoods. This project focuses on local knowledge and spatial data to help understand factors affecting wildlife populations. The results will inform strategies aimed at helping wildlife and livelihoods recover after droughts, which can be supported by the Legacy Landscape Fund and others.
Community conservation efforts hit by drought, threatening local livelihoods
The hyper-arid Kunene region in northwestern Namibia is globally renowned for its landscapes and desert-adapted mega-fauna, including black rhinos, elephants, giraffes and lions. It has significant potential for tourism development, which could provide livelihoods to the semi-nomadic pastoralists who are among the nation’s poorest communities.
The region includes 38 self-governed communal conservancies (and four emerging conservancies) managed by local communities. The communities benefit from the sustainable use of natural resources through the provision of protein, employment, tourism income, investment and a sense of community pride and cohesion. Conservation has fostered community tolerance and the valuing of wildlife, resulting in improved wildlife numbers.
However, a decade-long drought has caused a significant decline in wildlife. In addition, the economic impacts of COVID-19 damaged people's livelihoods and increased human-wildlife conflict and habitat destruction.
Building capacity for using data to analyse wildlife population declines and devise recovery strategies
This project is developing community-science partnerships to collect data and build an open-access database of wildlife and associated environmental variables. The research will identify the main causal factors affecting the status, distribution, and health of wildlife populations in northwestern Namibia.
The project is developing the wildlife science and conservation capacity of conservancy managers, government conservation officials and local support NGOs, supporting them in analysing and using information to make informed decisions affecting wildlife, land use and livelihoods.
The project is improving climate resilience by developing management mechanisms that can help wildlife populations survive in current and likely future droughts.
The return of wildlife populations will support an improved wildlife economy and enhanced community livelihoods.