Parliamentary Committee visits Namibian Community Conservancies

TNRF and Ujamaa Community Resource Trust took 10 members of the Parliamentary Natural Resource and Environment Committee to Namibia on a study tour to visit the community conservancies in Kunene between 20-28th November 2006. The objective of the study tour was to provide an opportunity for the Committee to see how Community-based Natural Resource Management can be successful in terms of conserving natural resources and substantially contributing to rural development and local livelihoods. Namibia's community conservancies are a leading global example of best practice in CBNRM, and although not without their challenges, they are a source of rich insight and inspiration for CBNRM in Tanzania. A key attribute of the conservancies is that they have been brought about through parnterships between rural communities, NGOs, the private sector and government. The Namibian Government and the Namibian Parliament strongly support these partnerships. The Tanzanian Parliamentary Natural Resource and Environment Committee was extremely impressed how these partnerships have resulted in substantial progress over a relatively short period of time (just over a decade) resulting in a burgeoning initiative with over 50 conservancies now well established and some 40 more in the process of being established by communities. The Chairman of the Tanzanian Committee called the conservancies 'impressive' and said that enabling policies and laws in Tanzania were key to achieving results such as those in Namibia. In this regard, TNRF will keep you updated on the progress of the new wildlife legislation, and its passage through parliament in early 2007, as soon as we have more information. Another important issue is the progress of the pilot Wildlife Management Area (WMA) review currently underway. WMAs are Tanzania's version of community conservancies, but to date only 4 have been authorised, and little revenue has thus far been generated for communities. In this regard, there are many insights to be drawn from CBNRM in Namibia and elsewhere in Africa. The Namibian study tour was made possible through the generosity of the Bradley Fund for the Environment, the Sigrid Rausing Trust and Norwegian People's Aid. The Namibian Association of CBNRM Organisations (NASCO) kindly arranged the itinerary and logistics. Thank you to everyone for making this great experience possible!