By Staff Reporter
WINDHOEK
Cabinet recently approved the draft policy on Tourism and Wildlife Concessions on State Land, which will see the parks and wildlife resources contributing to rural development, employment creation and economic growth.
Concessions are a means of providing access for tourists to parts of Namibia’s protected areas that are ordinarily not accessible, to diversify the range of hunting opportunities on offer and generate additional revenue for the state in a sustainable way from Namibia’s indigenous plant and wildlife resources.
Concessions provide an opportunity for business development and the economic empowerment of formerly disadvantaged Namibians through access to tourism, hunting and industries based on wild plants and animal resources.
The policy for the first time targets such empowerment through improving the access of formerly disadvantaged Namibians to these industries and that of rural communities who are neighbours to the parks and residents in the parks.
The Ministry of Environment and Tourism is already administering existing long and short-term tourism concessions. In the new future, new initiatives that have never been implemented will see the light of day. The policy makes provision for four types of concessions, namely, tourism, plant materials, trophy hunting and other uses of wildlife.
The aims of concessions are to enhance the conservation of biodiversity and the maintenance of the ecological integrity of proclaimed protected areas and other state land, to enhance the ability of the environment ministry to effectively manage proclaimed protected areas and wildlife resources on state land where applicable, and to improve the economic value of proclaimed protected areas and wildlife resources on state land, and the generation of revenue.
They also promote economic empowerment of the formerly disadvantaged and provide support for the development of capacity skills and access to capital for all Namibians that meet the requirements.
A statement of cabinet decisions made available recently said the authorisation allows for the provision of services to the public when the state is not in a position or does not want to provide such services itself.
The relevant legislation, which is being used at present, does not provide guidance on the method or criteria to be used when granting concessions, which resulted in some problems due to lack of standardisation in procedure and concession agreements and insufficient monitoring of compliance with applicable terms and conditions.
The concession policy was developed to serve as a basis of the new legal provisions concerning concessions that will be proposed as part of future parks and the Wildlife Management Bill, which will replace current legislation.
The new policy establishes a transparent and objective process for the awarding of concessions and provides comprehensive guidelines for its implementation.