By Wezi Tjaronda
GOBABIS
If the application for a proposed conservancy in Otjombinde is approved, this could be the first communal conservancy in Omaheke, a region renowned for its commercial cattle breeding.
The application will be submitted in two weeks.
This is one of the five emerging conservancies in the region, whose main pre-occupation is cattle farming.
The others are Omuramba ua Mbinda, Onguari, Eiseb and Aminuis. While Namibia has 50 registered communal conservancies, the Omaheke region has none so far.
A warden in the Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) sub-division in the Ministry of Environment and Tourism in the Omaheke region, Mbeutjiua Rikambura, told New Era on Tuesday the Otjombinde conservancy had reached an advanced stage.
It has 500 registered members, a conservancy committee, a constitution and boundaries.
The conservancy has also raised awareness among its members, which is one of the requirements before registration.
Although the other four emerging conservancies have registered members and conservancy committees, the outstanding issue is the boundaries.
Since the advent of the CBNRM programme in 1996, many conservancies derive benefits from the conservation of wildlife and natural resources that fall within their boundaries.
But the Omaheke region lagged behind because of a perception that it is meant for cattle only, has no tourist attractions and that all its wildlife were wiped out through poaching.
Yet, Rikambura said, the region has a variety of wildlife species left especially in the Eiseb areas. Some of the tourist attractions that would make the users of the Trans-Kalahari Highway stay in the region include salt pans in Aminuis, rock paintings between Gobabis and Leonardville, the old prison in Leonardville, the over 100 years’ old traditionally built houses in Otjinene, graves of victims of the Ovaherero Genocide, the Dorsland road and a number of monuments.
The Otjombinde conservancy will hold the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Dorsland road towards the end of the year.
Rikambura says one of the success stories of the emerging conservancy is a N$382 000 worth Bush Encroachment Management project that is being funded by the Global Environmental Facility’s Small Grants Programme.
The warden bemoaned lack of staff at the regional office, limited financial resources and lack of support from non-governmental organisations that offer technical and logistic support to conservancies.
“Because of this, the pace of implementation of conservancies in this region has been very slow,” he said.
Apart from economic benefits, conservancy members also benefit from game meat distribution and rangeland management and also strengthen the production of natural resources.