By Benjamin Wickham
WINDHOEK, March 14 — Namibia has seen an increase in rhino poaching figures in 2022, with the highest number of losses occurring in Etosha National Park. Although no rhinos were killed on communal land, a successful conservancy is currently seeing its rhinos driven away by blasting and other activity at a copper mine that was approved by the environment minister in the area. The //Huab Conservancy is planning to sue the environment minister, stating that the displacement of the resident black rhinos is threatening the conservation program and revenue from tourism.
The //Huab Conservancy is located in the Kunene region in the country’s northwest and is one of 13 community conservancies registered under Namibia’s Community-Based Natural Resources Management program. The CBNRM initiative was established in the late 1990s to give local communities legal rights over the management of their land and its natural resources.
In February, the //Huab Conservancy’s Management Committee criticized Minister Pohamba Shifeta for granting an environmental clearance certificate (ECC) to the copper mine, stating that “rhinos, local jobs, and our conservancy have been imperilled by this groundless, uninformed, and reckless decision.” The mine has prompted the local population of black rhinos (Diceros bicornis) to migrate, which has had a negative impact on the community’s income as well as the conservation program it runs.
According to Andrew Malherbe, chief operating officer of Save the Rhino Trust (SRT), the rhino population in the western Kunene region is considered a key-1 population by IUCN, meaning it has over 100 individuals. Malherbe also noted that despite the absence of fences in community conservancies, poaching levels have remained low in Kunene due to comprehensive coverage of the landscape by patrol teams, initiatives run by SRT, and the CBNRM framework. He also mentioned that the region has a very low population density, making it difficult for poaching groups from outside the region to enter undetected.
Namibia’s CBNRM program has received global recognition for its effectiveness in recovering populations of threatened wildlife, including black rhinos. Despite persistent weaknesses in governance structures and unequal power dynamics between communities and private sector partners operating within conservancies, it has proven more effective against poaching than other measures.
Many community conservancies, including the //Huab Conservancy, have set up joint-venture partnerships with private tourism companies to generate income. The //Huab Conservancy signed an agreement with tour operator Ultimate Safaris in 2016, allowing the company to run a tourist campsite specializing in black rhino tracking on foot and receiving a share of the profits in return. However, due to the blasting and other disturbances caused by the mine, the rhinos have started to move away, threatening the success of the joint venture.
Ultimate Safaris recently closed its campsite in the area, in which it had invested N$7 million ($470,000), and stated that it supports the conservancy’s legal action against the environment minister. The //Huab Conservancy’s dispute highlights weaknesses in the ministry’s exercise of environmental regulation, and its success or failure may have implications for the future of community conservancies and conservation programs in Namibia. – Namibia Daily News
