November 2007

Etosha Centenary Celebrations

Springboard SPAN Activities

Namibia is marking the centenary year of the Etosha National Park—which was once the largest conservation area in the world—with year-long celebrations to generate positive publicity for the park and increase appreciation of the role that protected areas and parks play in Namibia’s economy, development, and heritage.One of the most conservation conscious countries in the world, Namibia is the only country to address conservation concerns in its constitution.

Although Namibia has already given protected area status to 13.8 percent of its terrestrial area, with private reserves and commercial hunting farms extending wildlife management to another 10-20 percent of the country’s private land, there are weaknesses in the country’s Protected Areas systems, including the fragmentation of wildlife populations in small-sized Protected Areas, negative visitor impacts, poaching, alien species invasion, bush fires, and over-extraction of water and biological resources.

Another problem is the state-managed Protected Areas, conservancies and private reserves currently operate as a patchwork, rather than an integrated system. This diminishes their considerable conservation potential.

The GEF/UNDP Strengthening the Protected Area Network (SPAN) project is working to improve management effectiveness across Namibia’s extensive network of protected areas. It is helping address these threats and fill gaps in the national system by helping establish three new protected areas: the 2.6 million ha Sperrgebiet National Park, and the smaller Kunene (665,600 ha) and Mangetti (48,000 ha) contractual parks.

The SPAN project has also been active in existing protected areas. At the Ai-Ais–Richtersveld Transfrontier Park, famous for its hotsprings, the project has helped construct new park infrastructure and organize training workshops. It has helped survey new boundaries for the Bwabwata National Park, which will include areas along the Kwando River, highly important for wildlife migration.

SPAN reach goes beyond protected areas to legislation, policies and regulations that encourage sustainable management of Namibia’s natural resources, protect biodiversity, and contribute to equitable economic and social development. Although still in its first year of operation, the project has already provided technical and financial support to the drafting and consultation of three new Protected Areas policy initiatives.

In addition, SPAN has helped develop a draft Human Wildlife Conflict Management (HWCM) policy, a standardized HWC reporting format and, after extensive consultation with stakeholders and communities, a National Policy on Protected Areas, Neighbors and Resident People. Moreover, the project seeks to identify and fill gaps of under-representation in the national network, and establish long-term financial mechanisms for protected areas.

In terms of capacity building, the SPAN project has developed a training plan for the Directorate of Parks and Wildlife Management and conducted courses on carnivore immobilization and GIS training. Other specialized training and capacity-building courses have been created for field staff along with the inauguration of staff award and Park Innovation Grant schemes. SPAN’s future plans include raising funding for long-term diploma and degree courses and establishing a Friends of Namibian Protected Areas Society to get private citizens and businesses involved.

Two of Namibia’s highest development priorities are poverty reduction and responding to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The government recognizes that protected areas can contribute significantly to the attainment of these and other, broader social and economic objectives. An important part of the SPAN project is to work with the government agencies and NGOs to establish sound park-neighbor relationships and ensure that benefits arising from tourism and other Protected Areas resources are shared equitably with local communities. This will provide more diverse, sustainable and conservation-compatible livelihoods for people in and around the parks and create an environment where people and wildlife can exist in harmony.