The Sustainable Wildlife Management Community Conservancies

SWM Programme improves wildlife sustainability in KaZa

Thirteen Community Conservancies (CCs) in the Kavango-Zambezi (KaZa) landscape in northeast Namibia are currently benefiting from various interventions stemming from the Sustainable Wildlife Management Community Conservancy Project (SWM-CC) under the SWM Programme launched last year.

The SWM Programme, in collaboration with the Government of Namibia, through the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT), is seeking to address threats from unsustainable levels of wildlife hunting, closure of habitats, and fragmentation, which prevent animals from reaching the resources they need to survive, as well as the poaching of animals because of human-wildlife conflicts.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is leading the project’s implementation along with technical support from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Namibia, MEFT, Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

Diversifying livelihoods

“The SWM-CC project is seeking to reconcile the challenges of wildlife conservation with those of food security in a set of key socio-ecosystems including forest, wetland, and savannah,” said Manon Mispiratceguy, FAO’s Field Assistant Coordinator under the SWM Programme.

According to Mispiratceguy, the SWM-CC project has so far implemented a wide range of activities aimed at promoting the sustainable and legal exploitation of resilient animal populations by indigenous rural populations, while increasing and diversifying the protein supply for the benefit of rural and urban populations.

Through the project’s interventions, 75 women received training on poultry production across targeted community conservancies (CCs), with the top 30 participants identified set to receive further training and capacity building this year.

Furthermore, plans are underway to support selected farmers to improve small-scale horticulture production through innovative and organic approaches in the target CCs.

The SWM-CC project will also seek to identify and address issues relating to the lack of market access for small-scale farmers who produce livestock, poultry, and horticulture products.

This, according to Mispiratceguy, is all in a bid to ensure the availability of alternative sources of protein to promote food and nutrition security and the sustainable consumption of wild meat.

Community ownership

The SWM-CC project has other key interventions aimed toward the sustainable management of wildlife species such as the construction of crocodile enclosures and lion-proof kraals in Bamunu and Wuparo CCs spearheaded by Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation (IRDNC).

Most of these predator-proof kraals were set up in the Namibian section of the Kwando Wildlife Dispersal Areas (WDA). The kraals were constructed in partnership with local livestock farmers in Kwando WDA to protect livestock, mostly cattle, in human-wildlife conflict hotspots.

Farmers were responsible for providing all the poles needed for constructing the kraals while the respective conservancies and the SWM project provided the fencing, equipment, skilled labour, and training.

“By supporting farmers’ involvement in the construction process, the farmer becomes more invested in the upkeep and long-term maintenance of the kraal,” says Pauline Lindeque, Wildlife and Landscape Programme Director, WWF Namibia.

According to her, the most significant impact of the lion-proof kraals is evident in three conservancies that were hotspots of human-wildlife conflict namely: Kabulabula, Nakabolelwa and Salambala, where attacks on livestock by lions have declined by between 90% and 98%.

Reducing human-wildlife conflict

Lindeque further highlighted that the strategic placement of crocodile fences in areas of the river where people and livestock access water has greatly improved safety by reducing incidences of human-wildlife conflict.

“Crocodiles regularly account for the loss of life or injury of humans, as well as livestock, this particular intervention is trying to mitigate these destructive incidents,” she noted.

The SWM-CC project activities form part of a EURO 3.5 million project financing by the French Development Agency (AFD) channelled through the SWM Programme to improve sustainable wildlife management and food security in the Kavango-Zambezi Trans Frontier Conservation Area (KaZa TFCA) in both Namibia and Botswana.