Namibia is the driest country in sub-Saharian Africa. It gained its Independence from South
Africa in 1990 and still suffers from an apartheid legacy. At Independence, 48% of the
available agricultural land had been allocated to the black homelands, which supported a
population of about 1.2 million, while 52% had been allocated as freehold land to white
commercial farmers. This dual tenure system remains in place.
Specific rules related to conservation are contained in the customary law of various groups in
Namibia. However, due to historic dislocations and the rural governance context, Namibia
does not have enduring territorial conservation practices as in other parts of Africa. Where
areas of land have been conserved as part of Chief’s hunting grounds, or due to sustainable
range management practices by semi-nomadic pastoralists, these have been incorporated into
formal State-owned protected areas or formal community conservation areas such as
conservancies and community forests. In some cases national parks have been proclaimed around areas of land managed by indigenous San and Khoi-san communities some of whom
still live inside these parks. In the Bwabwata National Park in the West Caprivi Strip the
Khwe community has formed its own association to co-manage a multiple use area with the
Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET). The association shares the income from a
trophy hunting concession with MET and is currently developing a tourism concession in the
park. The association employs its own game guards, who carry out joint anti-poaching patrols
with MET staff, as well as joint game counts and monitoring of natural resources.