A
conservancy is an area on which landowners or land occupiers have pooled
their resources for the power of conservation. The
Swakoptal Conservancy was officially founded on 17th March
1999.
The Swakop
river has it’s origin in the Midgard mountains and flows
through the whole area, that’s why the whole area is called the
“upper Swakopvalley”.
Our
envisaged plan of integrating the Ovitoto Reserve as an integral part of
our Conservancy has partly failed. They must form their own communal
Conservancy and we could then have a joint management strategy.
The members of the Conservancy actively utilize the
wildlife resources, and are committed to long-term conservation, scientific
management, and sustainable use of the wildlife resources. The
environment is like a village we all use it, but few take care of it.
What is a Conservancy
The
word "Conservancy" has often been defined, and the following definition
has been formulated by the Conservancies Association of Namibia: "A
Conservancy is a legally protected area of a group of bona fide
land-occupiers practicing co-operative management based on:
(1) a sustainable utilization strategy,
(2) promoting conservation of natural resources and wildlife,
(3) striving to re-instate the original bio-diversity with the basic
goal of sharing resources amongst all members.
Conservancies ON FREEHOLD FARMLAND
The
oldest Conservancy on Commercial Farmland in Namibia is the "Ngarangombe"
Conservancy, which was established in 1991. Presently (2004) there are
no less than 25 conservancies in our country. These are all Voluntary
Associations, which came into existence through the concern and
dedication of certain communities, which are presently all situated in
commercial farm areas. Presently the only promulgated legislation on
conservancies in Namibia is an amendment of the Nature Conservation
Ordinance No 4 of 1975, in the form of a new Chapter XVII, which
pertains to conservancies in communal areas of which some 30 already
exist and more are still emerging. However, the Ordinance is presently
under review and we trust that the new Legislation to be promulgated in
close future will make provision for the formal registration of the
existing conservancies, situated on commercial farmland.
