Our History

The Women for Conservation Association was created by women representatives from 30 legally registered communal conservancies. These conservancies which are home to these women, were created to provide rights to communities to manage natural resources while deriving benefits.

Spanning over an area of 43 889 sq.km, these Kunene conservancies support one of the last free-ranging populations of critically endangered black rhinos, as well other high value species such as desert adapted elephants.

Women of this association, United in One Voice, are guiding and supporting each other and all women in their communities and conservancies, making their voices heard and participating in discussions and decision-making especially related to conservation, so that all men, women, and children in their areas are benefitting from wise and sustainable development.

The Ombonde Peoples’ Landscape (OPL) was conceived by the Ehirovipuka and Omatendeka conservancies during 2016, when they had their first series of community meetings. The OPL is a first step in developing the greater vision which is the Kunene People’s Landscape (KPL). It is a progressive new type of protected area – an African way of linking conservation of wildlife to enhanced quality of life of the communities who co-manage and live around the wildlife and tourism area they have chosen to protect. What makes the OPL different from conventional national parks is that it builds on and enhances community ownership of wildlife and valuable natural resources - the key to the success of community-based conservation in Namibia - as it will be a genuine partnership between communal conservancies and the government.

Garth Owen-Smith is awarded the Prince William Award for Conservation in Africa from the Tusk Trust in recognition of his lifetime contribution alongside Dr. Margaret Jacobsohn to the restoration and conservation of wildlife in Namibia.

IRDNC activates Kunene traditional leaders, conservancy committees and members, and with SRT, the Conservancy Rhino Ranger Project and MET all playing interlocking roles, Kunene rhino poaching seems to be under control although extreme vigilance is maintained. Etosha National Park becomes a target for major rhino poaching. The Namibian Government declares the rhino poaching a national crisis. Though elephants are not critically endangered in Namibia, they too are under threat; it is estimated that over 100 elephants have been poached in the Zambezi Region in the past year alone.

Rhino poaching accelerates in tourism concession areas in Kunene where no conservancy members live. IRDNC launches a renewed community-based approach to this crisis.

Colin Nott resigns from IRDNC. John Kasaona takes on role of Executive Director and Karine Nuulimba becomes Programme Director.

With IRDNC support, the Opuwo Processing Facility and the Visitors Center is officially opened. The processing of plant resin to produce essential oils is an important step in adding further value to the raw materials and earning additional income for harvesters.

The National CBNRM Policy is launched by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism. The policy creates the needed framework for a more integrated approach to community-based natural resource management.

By the end of 2013, there are 79 registered conservancies and 32 registered community forests in Namibia, covering at least 163,396 km² and generating N$72.2 (U$6.1 million) income.

The commercial viability of new plant species has been tested and further analyses is planned to fully assess the potential for diversifying livelihoods with indigenous plant products.

After two decades of dormancy, more than 30 elephants are poached in the Caprivi (now Zambezi) Region. Most of the elephants are killed inside national parks.

First rhino poached in Kunene Region in nearly two decades. Quick action by community members from Anabeb Conservancy ensures an arrest and recovery of the horns. The poacher is only convicted in 2014, getting seven years.

IRDNC’s founding directors, Garth Owen-Smith and Margaret Jacobsohn, retire and the IRDNC Board of Trustees appoints three co-directors; Colin Nott (responsible for agriculture), John Kasaona (responsible for conservancy support in the Kunene Region) and Karine Nuulimba (responsible for the Zambezi Region).

Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe sign a treaty that marks the official launch of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA-TFCA), the largest TFCA in the world, covering nearly 520,000km².

66 registered conservancies generate almost N$50 million (USD $4.2 million) in revenue.

59 registered conservancies and 13 registered community forests generate N$42.5 million (USD$3.5 million) in income.

The Kyaramacan Association, which represents the residents of Bwabwata National Park, is officially recognised by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism as the legal entity representing all people living inside the Park. The Association later secures concessions for trophy hunting and tourism in the park, and obtains quotas to sell Devil’s claw (Harpagophytum procumbens), a plant sold internationally to reduce pain and fever.

IRDNC starts triple bottom line process with Himba conservancies to market one of their high value indigenous plants (Commiphora Wildii) internationally. Plant resources that previously were not used commercially are given commercial value and now contribute significantly to the income of rural women who otherwise do not have any chance to gain access to cash income.

The first of four Transboundary Natural Resource Management Community Forums is established around the Caprivi (now Zambezi) Region.

The ministers responsible for tourism in Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe meet in Katima Mulilo, Namibia and agree to promote a vision that will later evolve into the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA).

IRDNC begins rangelands activities in Kunene North. Later, IRDNC technical staff play a vital role in training the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry in Holistic Rangeland Management and help bring Community Based Rangeland Management into other regions of Namibia.

IRDNC staff assist the Polytechnic of Namibia to incorporate the teaching of community-based natural resource management into its National Diploma in Nature Conservation, institutionalizing CBNRM into a degree programme.

The Forest Act is amended, opening the door for community forests.

The Namibian Association of Community-Based Natural Resource Management Support Organizations (NACSO) is formed (first called the CBNRM Association of Namibia), with IRDNC as a founding member.

IRDNC begins to promote transboundary natural resource management collaboration between communities in the Caprivi (now Zambezi) Region and their neighbours.

Namibian legislation is amended to allow for the establishment of communal conservancies. Two years later the first four conservancies are registered.

Damaraland Camp opens in the emerging Torra Conservancy and becomes the first joint venture tourism partnership between a community and the private sector (Wilderness Safaris) in Namibia.

IRDNC’s two founding directors are honored with the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) Global 500 Award.

The Living in a Finite Environment (LIFE) programme brings in major donor support (USAID and WWF) and IRDNC takes its first steps towards a national programme.

IRDNC helps a community establish the country’s first resident’s trust – this later becomes the Torra Conservancy once enabling legislation gets passed.

IRDNC’s founding directors receive the Goldman Grassroots Environmental Prize for Africa, the first international recognition for IRDNC’s ground-breaking work.

The Okavango-Upper Zambezi International Tourism Initiative (OUZIT) project begins as part of the Strategic Development Initiative (SDI) supported by the Development Bank of Southern Africa – this is a precursor to KAZA (Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area). The plan is to make the Okavango and upper Zambezi more attractive to investors and to strengthen coordination between tourism projects.

Namibia’s newly independent government embraces a community-based approach to conservation. IRDNC is invited to start working in the Zambezi Region as well as its long-term Kunene Region programme.

The new Ministry of Environment and Tourism asks IRDNC to help with its community consultative process aimed at developing new conservation legislation for communal areas. WWF International and later WWF-UK provide IRDNC’s first international support.

WWF International becomes IRDNC’s first international donor.

IRDNC begins the Puros project, which is the first community enterprise in Namibia to earn income from wildlife through a bed night levy from tourism.

Illegal hunting has been halted and a local vision of wildlife being more valuable alive than in a cooking pot has been nurtured.

A small team of conservationists, some of whom went on to found IRDNC, forge a pioneering partnership with community leaders to stop poaching. Local leaders appoint the first community game guards. From the start they are accountable to their communities, not to the NGO, and their aim is to ‘stop’ poaching, not merely ‘catch’ poachers. These men go on to help solve more than 22 serious poaching cases.

Wildlife is property of the state; widespread illegal commercial and subsistence hunting reduces once rich wildlife numbers in Namibia’s northwest. Desert adapted elephants number less than 150 and black rhino are down to below 60 individuals. The worst drought in living memory grips the region, with more than 180,000 head of cattle dying of starvation. This, plus a voracious external market for ivory and rhino horn, increases local incentives to poach wildlife for both meat and money.