Namibia
Empowering communities to manage their natural resources
Featured Story
-
Brighter Future for Communities and Wildlife
World’s largest transboundary conservation area strengthens economies and preserves animal habitats. Read more
Latest News
- ocean shores
- woodland savannas
- lush floodplains
- picturesque deserts
- The Central Plateau
- The coastal Namib Desert
- The Kalahari Desert
- The Kavango and Caprivi regions
With empowerment from the government, the people of Namibia have rights to manage wildlife through communal conservancies. This is a community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) model that is being duplicated around the world. Namibia was also the first country in Africa to incorporate conservation into its constitution.
Much of the land is not suitable for farming; so many conservancy communities receive economic, social and environmental benefits by managing wildlife and attracting tourists from around the world to view them in their natural habitats.
WWF works with government officials and national organizations to designate and manage large tracts of land for wildlife conservation and tourism. Today, there is a direct relationship between the health of wildlife populations and the prosperity of local communities. As a result, poaching is no longer socially acceptable and there are now restored populations of lions, cheetahs, black rhinos, zebras and other native species.
Threats: Main threats include: widespread unemployment, competing land uses, the health of the global economy and its impact on international tourism, and the threat of wildlife trade in the surrounding region. These all put the growth of the conservation achievements achieved to date at risk. Learn more
Species: Plankton-rich waters support an extraordinary array of marine biodiversity, including southern right whales. Further inland populations of lion, springbok, oryx, Hartmann’s zebra and black-faced impala are all increasing. Namibia also boasts the largest free-roaming population of black rhino in Africa and the largest cheetah population in the world. Learn more
People: The population of 2.5 million people makes up 13 native groups that speak 24 different languages. Poverty remains widespread, but the communal conservancy movement is expanding economic development by linking conservation to poverty alleviation through the sustainable use of natural resources. Learn more
Related Global Markets
-
Balancing Human Needs & Wildlife
In this video, John Kasaona paints a picture of how Namibia evolved into one of the world's shining examples of community-based natural resource management.
-
Adopt a Meerkat
Make a symbolic meerkat adoption to help save some of the world's most endangered animals from extinction and support WWF's conservation efforts.
