(3 Minutes Read)
A recent meeting with the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Natural Resources brought renewed scrutiny to Namibia’s trophy hunting policies, particularly the minimum fee set for elephant hunts.
Stakeholders argued that the current required minimum payment of N$293,080 (US$17,000) for a trophy elephant is significantly below its true market value. According to the committee’s report, they urged government to urgently revise this pricing structure so that communities receive a more equitable share of revenue from wildlife resources.
During the discussions, stakeholders highlighted a series of systemic challenges affecting conservancies. They stressed that chronic undervaluation of wildlife, weak oversight of concession holders, and outdated governance frameworks are limiting conservancies’ ability to benefit fully from natural resources. The absence of strong auditing mechanisms, they warned, allows concessionaires to under-declare income, ultimately depriving rural communities of fair financial returns.
The Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism reported that the fifteen conservancies operating in the Zambezi Region collectively generate more than N$30 million per year and support over 1,200 jobs. However, despite being allocated hunting quotas on a three-year cycle, many conservancies continue to face major operational constraints. Land disputes, overlapping traditional territories and encroachment by various users were cited as persistent obstacles to effective wildlife management.
The report further noted that many conservancy leaders lack the technical skills needed to negotiate fair contracts or manage concessions independently. As a result, communities remain heavily reliant on trophy hunting revenue, even though they often have limited capacity to meet concession requirements or to design and implement professional hunting plans.
Additionally, the meeting found that conservancies have struggled to diversify their income streams. Opportunities in tourism, value-addition industries and non-timber forest products—such as devil’s claw—remain largely untapped. Participants also identified outdated resource management systems, rising human–wildlife conflict and slow compensation procedures as significant challenges hindering progress.
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Governance problems within conservancies were also brought to the forefront. Issues such as nepotism, tribalism, poor leadership, and weak institutional management were all cited as contributing factors to underperformance. Environmental threats—including poaching, illegal mopane harvesting and deforestation—pose further risks to community forests, wildlife populations and broader biodiversity. Overall, stakeholders called for comprehensive reforms to ensure that conservancies can function effectively, benefit equitably from natural resources, and contribute sustainably to rural development.
