Resource information
Community-based natural resource
management is an important strategy to conserve and
sustainably use biodiversity and wildlife in Namibia. The
authors examine the extent to which conservancies have been
successful in meeting their primary goal of improving the
lives of rural households. They evaluate the benefits of
community conservancies in Namibia by asking three
questions: Do conservancies increase household welfare? Are
conservancies pro-poor? And, do participants in
conservancies gain more relative to those who choose not to
participate? The authors base their analyses on a 2002
survey covering seven conservancies and 1,192 households.
The results suggest that community conservancies have a
positive impact on household welfare. This impact is
poverty-neutral in some regions and pro-poor in others.
Further, welfare benefits from conservancies appear to be
somewhat evenly distributed between participant and
nonparticipant households.
