Torra Conservancy
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Empowered lives. Resilient nations. TORRA CONSERVANCY Namibia Equator Initiative Case Studies Local sustainable development solutions for people, nature, and resilient communities UNDP EQUATOR INITIATIVE CASE STUDY SERIES Local and indigenous communities across the world are advancing innovative sustainable development solutions that work for people and for nature. Few publications or case studies tell the full story of how such initiatives evolve, the breadth of their impacts, or how they change over time. Fewer still have undertaken to tell these stories with community practitioners themselves guiding the narrative. To mark its 10-year anniversary, the Equator Initiative aims to fill this gap. The following case study is one in a growing series that details the work of Equator Prize winners – vetted and peer-reviewed best practices in community-based environmental conservation and sustainable livelihoods. These cases are intended to inspire the policy dialogue needed to take local success to scale, to improve the global knowledge base on local environment and development solutions, and to serve as models for replication. Case studies are best viewed and understood with reference to ‘The Power of Local Action: Lessons from 10 Years of the Equator Prize’, a compendium of lessons learned and policy guidance that draws from the case material. Click on the map to visit the Equator Initiative’s searchable case study database. Editors Editor-in-Chief: Joseph Corcoran Managing Editor: Oliver Hughes Contributing Editors: Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Erin Lewis, Whitney Wilding Contributing Writers Edayatu Abieodun Lamptey, Erin Atwell, Toni Blackman, Jonathan Clay, Joseph Corcoran, Larissa Currado, Sarah Gordon, Oliver Hughes, Wen-Juan Jiang, Sonal Kanabar, Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Rachael Lader, Patrick Lee, Erin Lewis, Jona Liebl, Mengning Ma, Mary McGraw, Gabriele Orlandi, Juliana Quaresma, Peter Schecter, Martin Sommerschuh, Whitney Wilding, Luna Wu Design Oliver Hughes, Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Amy Korngiebel, Kimberly Koserowski, Erin Lewis, John Mulqueen, Lorena de la Parra, Brandon Payne, Mariajosé Satizábal G. Acknowledgements The Equator Initiative acknowledges with gratitude the Torra Conservancy, and especially the inputs and guidance of Sue Snyman (Wilderness Safaris), Ketji Jermain (Community Liaison, Wilderness Safaris), and Lena Florry (Area Manager, Wilderness Safaris). All photo credits courtesy of Torra Conservancy and Wilderness Safaris. © Wilderness Safaris (page 9, top left, top right, bottom right; page 10); © Dana Allen (cover page; pages 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9, bottom left; 11); © Mike Myers (page 12). Maps courtesy of CIA World Factbook and Wikipedia. Suggested Citation United Nations Development Programme. 2012. Torra Conservancy, Namibia. Equator Initiative Case Study Series. New York, NY. TORRA CONSERVANCY Namibia PROJECT SUMMARY KEY FACTS Torra Conservancy, located on communal lands in the Kunene region of northwest Namibia, is home to more than EQUATOR PRIZE WINNER: 2004 1,200 residents, living in small settlements scattered across the 3,493-km2 territory. In 1995, the conservancy began a FOUNDED: 1996 search for investors to develop an ecotourism enterprise in the territory, represented by the Ward 11 Residents’ LOCATION: Northwest Namibia Association Trust in negotiations. An eco-lodge was constructed in partnership with Wilderness Safaris Namibia, BENEFICIARIES: Over 1,000 conservancy members a private tourism operator, the first joint-venture agreement of its kind in Namibia. BIODIVERSITY: 350,000-ha community conservancy Wilderness Safaris Namibia operates and maintains Damaraland Camp as a profitable ecotourism enterprise. Since its opening in 1996, the camp has been staffed mainly by local community members and, since 2002, managed by conservancy residents. Jobs at Damaraland Camp provide income for 23 full-time employees and managers, while Torra Conservancy also generates revenues through rent received from Wilderness Safari Namibia. TABLE OF CONTENTS Background and Context 4 Key Activities and Innovations 6 Biodiversity Impacts 8 Socioeconomic Impacts 8 Policy Impacts 10 Sustainability 11 Replication 11 Partners 12 3 Background and Context Torra Conservancy is located in the vast arid landscape of northwest firearms were more widely available; weapons which eventually Namibia. The conservancy is responsible for the oversight and made their way into the hands of ivory poachers. This had predictably management of around 350,000 hectares of spectacular and negative consequences for many wildlife species, particularly larger ecologically unique terrain, and is the setting for a pioneering game. Elephant populations in the Kunene region, for instance, community-based approach to wildlife management and dropped from an estimated 1,200 in 1970 to only 250 in 1982. Over ecotourism that has resulted in significant increases in endemic that same period, the number of black rhinos dropped from 300 to animal populations and simultaneously improved the livelihoods of 65. Similar declines in populations of giraffe, zebra, springbok, oryx local communities. and other species were observed. The majority of the conservancy falls in the Khorixas constituency of From a socioeconomic perspective, the relocated Riemvasmaak the Kunene region, with the northern section falling in the Sesfontein population found it very difficult to make ends meet in the constituency. The territory under community management forms a inhospitable landscape. There were little to no available jobs, significant percentage of land managed for conservation purposes transportation was limited, and the basis of the economy was between the Kunene and Orange rivers. The conservancy name, cattle, goat and sheep livestock. Even those venturing into small- Torra, translates to ‘red rock’ and references the red basalt rock that scale agriculture and the cultivation of fruit and vegetable gardens covers much of the land surface. The region is extremely dry, with were confronted with incursions by elephants and predator species annual rainfalls as low as 50 millimeters along much of Namibia’s such as lions and cheetahs. Elephants would raid gardens, damage Skeleton Coast. property, destroy water installations, and on occasion cause injury or death to local residents. The majority of residents in Torra originated from the Riemvasmaak community in South Africa. They were forcibly removed from their It was against this context that a wildlife guard system was initiated lands in 1973 and 1974 by the South African administration during by a Namibian NGO, Integrated Rural Development and Nature apartheid. A good number of residents are also Damara people, Conservation (IRDNC), in partnership with local communities, to while others still are more recent immigrants. A little more than reclaim wildlife populations and local livelihoods. The guard system 1,200 people live in settlements scattered across Torra Conservancy. involved traditional elders appointing community members as de The majority of settlements are located along the road from Khorixas facto wildlife extension officers, a form of customary ‘deputizing’ to Palmwag, the largest of which is Bergsig. Even in this ‘capital’ of which conferred authority to combat poaching and monitor the territory, there are only a few small shops and community service populations of endemic animals. The model proved remarkably centers. successful at reducing incidents of poaching and increasing wildlife abundance. This locally-evolved and locally-directed system became Project catalysts: poaching, drought and poverty a cornerstone of Namibia’s Community-Based Natural Resource Management Program (CBNRM), today recognized around the world In the early 1980s, communities in Namibia were witnessing rapid for its efficacy and the successful devolution of authority. declines in wildlife populations due to poaching and droughts, the latter having intensified in frequency and length over the previous In 1996, Namibia passed legislation that recognized the boundaries two decades. The complexion and scale of poaching also changed of approved conservancies and granted conditional rights to the in the 1970s. The liberation war being waged in Namibia meant that area’s residents to enter into entrepreneurial ventures in ecotourism 4 and sustainable hunting. Previously, tenure uncertainty meant many Governance and organizational structure local residents felt susceptible to eviction from their lands by either government or outside parties. With legal protections in place, The conservancy is overseen and administered by a seven-person communities were able to undertake alternative livelihood plans Management Committee. The committee is elected by the 450 and make long-term investments in land use planning. With greater conservancy members every five years and overseas the safari camp certainty and newfound empowerment, the communities in the as well as the protection of wildlife through a team of game guards. area which would become the Torra Conservancy became the first Financial decisions on how ecotourism revenues are distributed in Namibia to enter into a joint venture with a private enterprise. In and invested are also made by the committee after consultation 1996, in partnership with Wilderness Safaris Namibia, the community with the conservancy’s forty communities. The majority of decisions opened Damaraland Camp: a luxury tented lodge for safaris that has are guided by information obtained through field