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Kenya's conservation areas consist of national parks and reserves, national forests, and private and community wildlife conservancies. The historically protected areas only account for 10% of Kenya's land mass (national parks, reserves, and protected forests). Conserving Kenya's biodiversity referred to as a "national heritage" is at the core of the country's conservation agenda. The success of Kenya's model of free-ranging wildlife is based on allowing as much unhindered movement and distribution of wildlife as possible. However, the human population increase, along with the expansion of agriculture into arid lands and the impacts of climate change, has affected the dynamics of pastoralism, where increased competition for natural resources has escalated in some areas. One of the identified measures to mitigate the current challenges is to increase the space for conservation and provide incentives for communities to conserve. The development and growth of the wildlife conservancy movement in Kenya have been a prominent response. As of 2023, there have been 230 wildlife conservancies in Kenya totaling 9.04 million ha and comprising 16% of Kenya's total land mass (with 195 being members of the Kenya Wildlife Conservancies Association). To contribute to the global target of protecting 30% of lands, freshwaters, and oceans by 2030, the Kenyan Government considers the expansion of the number and area of wildlife conservancies as an important mechanism to achieve these targets. Here, we discuss Kenya's wildlife conservancies from legal and policy perspectives, the factors that have enabled their growth, the challenges they face, and the opportunities ahead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document discusses the importance of privately protected areas (PPAs) in biodiversity conservation, specifically focusing on their growth and potential in Australia. It highlights the legal and governance arrangements that support the establishment and maintenance of PPAs, particularly in Victoria. The document emphasizes the significance of conservation covenants in maintaining and establishing new PPAs, as well as their potential to contribute to ecosystem restoration and climate adaptation. Challenges such as the need for public investment and better financial incentives for landowners are identified. The document concludes by emphasizing the importance of further research into PPAs and their contribution to biodiversity targets. [Extracted from the article]

Protection of nursery areas where newborn survival is successful is critical to recovery of endangered mammals. In Kenya, 2014 to 2022, we surveyed Endangered Masai giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi) on the Siria Plateau at Oloirien Group Ranch (OGR) and Oloisukut Conservancy (OC), and in the Rift Valley's Mara Triangle Conservancy (MTC). MTC and OC have high lion densities while OGR does not. Using counts and photographic mark‐recapture (PMR), we estimated percentages of newborn (<3 months) and juvenile giraffe calves (<1 year) per adult female and per total giraffes sampled. Cormack‐Jolly‐Seber models were used to estimate annual survival of giraffes at OGR. The mean percentage of newborn calves: adult female at OGR (~18%) was significantly higher than at OC (3.3%) and MTC (0%). The mean juvenile: adult female percentage at the Siria Plateau sites was 62 ± 12.8% versus 12% in MTC. Total juvenile calves averaged 22% on the plateau, four times higher than MTC (5.3%). At OGR, giraffe survival for all ages and sexes was 0.86, higher than protected areas with lions. Only one female giraffe in 229 used both plateau sites, suggesting independent matrilines. Human‐populated savannah next to reserves contributes to giraffe recovery, but nursery areas like OGR need robust protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kenya’s conservation areas consist of national parks and reserves, national forests, and private and community wildlife conservancies. The historically protected areas only account for 10% of Kenya’s land mass (national parks, reserves, and protected forests). Conserving Kenya’s biodiversity referred to as a “national heritage” is at the core of the country’s conservation agenda. The success of Kenya’s model of free-ranging wildlife is based on allowing as much unhindered movement and distribution of wildlife as possible. However, the human population increase, along with the expansion of agriculture into arid lands and the impacts of climate change, has affected the dynamics of pastoralism, where increased competition for natural resources has escalated in some areas. One of the identified measures to mitigate the current challenges is to increase the space for conservation and provide incentives for communities to conserve. The development and growth of the wildlife conservancy movement in Kenya have been a prominent response. As of 2023, there have been 230 wildlife conservancies in Kenya totaling 9.04 million ha and comprising 16% of Kenya’s total land mass (with 195 being members of the Kenya Wildlife Conservancies Association). To contribute to the global target of protecting 30% of lands, freshwaters, and oceans by 2030, the Kenyan Government considers the expansion of the number and area of wildlife conservancies as an important mechanism to achieve these targets. Here, we discuss Kenya’s wildlife conservancies from legal and policy perspectives, the factors that have enabled their growth, the challenges they face, and the opportunities ahead.

Soil habitat quality is an important indicator of environmental health. NewZealand soils are in critical condition because of various land-use practices, such as intensification of agriculture and urban growth, causing increased erosion and loss of fertile soil. Soil consists of organic (carbon-rich, microbe-laden detritus) and inorganic (weathered rock particles, minerals, water, air) components that are vital for sustaining flora and fauna, including humans. Soil in and of itself is alive with various forms of biota. Soil conservation takes an anthropocentric, utilitarian approach to policy and planning, whereas soil preservation takes an ecocentric or nature-centred approach. When the catchment boards of the earlier eras [governed by the Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Act 1941 (NZ)] were decommissioned to make way for regional councils around the time when the Resource Management Act 1991 (NZ) came into force, the soil scientific expertise was largely lost. At the same time, soil quality in New Zealand has been deteriorating ever since. In this paper, I argue for the establishment of community-based soil conservancies and conservancy officers and, ultimately, the legal endowment of personhood on soil in order for kaitiaki oneone (soil guardians) to be appointed. These measures will assist in the protection of soils, which will lead to better outcomes for the environment and generations to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Livestock depredation is a major conservation challenge globally, causing significant economic losses to pastoralists and threatening large carnivore species outside protected areas. Our study investigated the temporal and spatial distribution of livestock depredation incidences, carnivore species associated with livestock depredation, and assessed mitigation measures in Maasai Mara Conservancies in Southern Kenya. Using daily monitoring of livestock depredation cases, we made comparisons between livestock attacks occurring in predator-proof bomas and those with traditional kraals. A total of 305 livestock depredation incidents were recorded between January and December 2021, translating to a total tally of 1411 livestock maimed or killed. Most livestock depredation incidents occurred during the day (59%) as opposed to night (41%), but this difference was not significant. Livestock depredation incidents in the nighttime occurred mostly inside traditional kraals (34%) and occurred the least in predator-proof kraals (2%). Lions were responsible for more livestock attacks in the grazing fields compared with leopards, hyenas, and wild dogs. Hyenas were more daring and attacked livestock inside traditional bomas relative to lions and leopards. Our study concludes that predator-proof bomas are more effective in minimizing livestock depredation and can be embraced as a sound intervention for human–carnivore co-existence in communities’ wildlife conservation areas.

Are conservancies hotspots for communal violence and if so, do rainfall anomalies increase the likelihood of violence? The consensus from a rich number of case studies suggests that conservancies (e.g. national parks, game reserves) increase tensions between communities, which often lead to violent conflicts. Yet, these insights remain to be empirically tested using a large- N study. We examine this claim and explore if rainfall anomalies have an amplifying effect on violent conflicts. We contend that the spatial convergence between conservancies and rainfall variability can spark conflicts over access to resources in times of scarcity and create strategic opportunities to satisfy secondary goals in times of abundance. To test our expectations, we use sub-national data from East Africa between 1990 and 2018. Our results suggest that regions with conservancies are somewhat more prone to communal violence and find strong evidence that positive rainfall anomalies increase the likelihood of violent communal conflicts in regions with a conservancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Livestock depredation is a major conservation challenge globally, causing significant economic losses to pastoralists and threatening large carnivore species outside protected areas. Our study investigated the temporal and spatial distribution of livestock depredation incidences, carnivore species associated with livestock depredation, and assessed mitigation measures in Maasai Mara Conservancies in Southern Kenya. Using daily monitoring of livestock depredation cases, we made comparisons between livestock attacks occurring in predator-proof bomas and those with traditional kraals. A total of 305 livestock depredation incidents were recorded between January and December 2021, translating to a total tally of 1411 livestock maimed or killed. Most livestock depredation incidents occurred during the day (59%) as opposed to night (41%), but this difference was not significant. Livestock depredation incidents in the nighttime occurred mostly inside traditional kraals (34%) and occurred the least in predator-proof kraals (2%). Lions were responsible for more livestock attacks in the grazing fields compared with leopards, hyenas, and wild dogs. Hyenas were more daring and attacked livestock inside traditional bomas relative to lions and leopards. Our study concludes that predator-proof bomas are more effective in minimizing livestock depredation and can be embraced as a sound intervention for human–carnivore co-existence in communities' wildlife conservation areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dedication of land is a regulatory condition that cities can require to approve development projects. Land dedication, though, does not simply regulate development; it allows a city to preserve undeveloped land. City officials increasingly require developers to dedicate land for open space preservation. The present research focuses on land dedication due to its promise in extending human access to open space in developing cities. City officials nonetheless need regulatory capacity to compel developers to set aside lands. This research uses pooled municipal-level data to examine the likelihood of US cities requiring land dedication as a precondition of development approval. Dedication requirements differ considerably across cities. The analysis tests for the impact of income inequality, conservancy interests, the presence of easements, and a city's time from incorporation. Existing literature has yet to substantiate whether these mechanisms specifically affect the feasibility of land dedication. Depending on the model's specification, conservancy interests are partially or not significant. The presence of easements is partially significant on land dedication requirements. Income inequality is statistically significant in most models. A city's time of incorporation is generally significant across the specified models. The research theoretically connects social preferences for land use with organized interests in land conservation. • Land dedication is a regulatory tool by which cities extend human access to open spaces, a local public good. • Land dedication can be a critical tool for developing cities where undeveloped land may be unfeasible to protect otherwise. • To use dedication or public resources to acquire land is a choice concerning the social distribution of development costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the issue of attitudes of the Samburu ethnic group towards ’conservancies’ as the form of nature protection. The exploratory interviews (n = 12) were conducted among representatives of the Samburu community in northern Kenya. The aim of the research was to identify how Samburu perceive conservancies, considering current and expected consequences resulting from the development of this conservation form. The results show that the members of the Samburu community recognize the value of conservancies mainly through the economic benefits (gainful employment), as well as nature protection which is consistent with their religious values system (animism). However, the development of conservancies implying regulated access to natural resources (pasturelands) is seen as the real threat to their traditional pastoral culture. The attitudes of the local communities manifest a lack of trust in the management entities of the conservancies in the context of growing tensions between tribes over access to pasturelands. Consequently, prolonged droughts (climate change) may lead to a radical decrease in support for the idea of nature protection among members of the Samburu tribal elders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cooperative management of shared natural resources is one of the most urgent challenges the world is facing today. While there have been advances in understanding institutional design features that enable sustainable management, there are few field studies that provide theory-based insights into social psychological predictors of willingness to cooperate around shared resources. Here, we address this issue in the context of shared land management in pastoralist community conservancies in Kenya. In a large survey of individuals from different conservancies, we test a path model that links willingness to cooperate to how strongly respondents identified with their conservancy. This relationship is mediated by how efficient conservancies were perceived to be, and to what extent other people in the community were perceived to share cooperative norms. The results also point towards several parameters that may be conducive to developing stronger conservancy identification: transparency of purpose, motive alignment, sense of ownership, and demonstrating benefit. The findings provide insights into the social psychological processes that impact whether cooperative outcomes can be achieved in real-world shared resource settings, and offer practical implications for strengthening governance within pastoralist conservancies and related shared natural resource management contexts.

In addition to wildlife conservation, Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) programmes aim to foster regional development. To achieve this, communal areas couple to tourism Global Production Networks (GPN). In this paper, we conceptualise Namibian communal Conservancies as Social-Ecological Systems (SES) and combine the SES and GPN approaches to benefit from the SESF's explanatory power for ecological and social relationships at a local level as well as from the GPN grasp of global linkages. We analyse the impact of trophy hunting on three communal conservancies in Namibia: King Nehale, Nyae Nyae, and Ehi-Rovipuka. Although wildlife numbers in these conservancies have increased, positive economic impacts are often insufficient, unevenly distributed across regions, and parts of the population are excluded. At the same time, findings indicate that in some areas, where revenues are larger and population is smaller, benefits from hunting can be significant and can contribute to SES sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Destructive agricultural practices are some of the leading causes of environmental degradation. The adoption of voluntary landscape scale conservation initiatives, such as the South African conservancy model, offers a possible solution. This article uses the Grootvadersbosch Conservancy as an example of how the gap between agricultural productivity and landscape conservation can be bridged. The objectives were to: investigate the conservancy's historical context; discover the stakeholders' motivations for joining the conservancy; identify the successes of the conservancy's projects; and determine the effects of these on the landscape. Three methods were used: a literature study; semi-structured interviews with seven of the conservancy's management staff who were identified using the snowball sampling technique; and a questionnaire survey distributed to the 21 members of the conservancy, of which 16 replied. The results showed the study area has a long history of environmental exploitation, which led to the establishment of the conservancy. The main reason why conservancy members joined was because of their conservation values. Their four successful landscape scale projects delivered several environmental, social and economic outcomes that positively affected the landscape. It is therefore recommended that farmers create conservancies using a similar model to reconcile the environmental demands of agriculture with the need to improve affected environmental assets and natural resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integrity of Protected Areas depends on the surrounding communities and their land as they provide crucial ecological functions as wildlife corridors. Hence, the paper analyses the performance of Tanzanian Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) to better understand their relevance for safeguarding biodiversity outside of traditional protected areas, e.g. national parks. The article assesses the potential of WMAs, which have complex social and ecological processes and interactions, to achieve their environmental and socio-economic goals from a governance perspective. Therefore, a combination of two theoretical approaches – the Social-Ecological Systems Framework (SESF) and the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA) – was employed to provide a thorough and methodical evaluation of their system dynamics. This research mainly presents data gathered in 2017 in eight fully authorised WMAs of different ages, and which represent a tourist activity gradient from no nature-based to well-developed. Qualitative empirical research included focus group discussions, field observations and semi-structured interviews with key persons and representatives of different organisations. These include local managers and members of WMAs, regional District Councils officials from the areas where the WMAs have been established, and international stakeholders. The study shows that local governance of wildlife resources in most WMAs is still plagued by understaffing, inadequate funding, insufficient skills and knowledge, and investment issues. As a result, it takes time for the tourist industry to find confidence in the WMA concept, but recent figures show that WMA related tourism facilities which are increasingly sponsored by private investors, show higher revenues. Therefore, for WMAs to be sustainable, it is imperative to address the concerns mentioned above. Community-based conservation is part of development and the improvement of the overall wellbeing of people. However, in practice, everything is still only valued in terms of direct cash benefits. Where the analysed WMAs are failing it is mostly because unsustainable revenue sources cannot provide in their daily operational needs or adequately fund community development projects. Hence, because conservation is expensive, the key to the long-term sustainability of WMAs remains impeccable governance and financial stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We evaluate determinants of participation in conservancy land leases in the Maasai Mara and how they impact household wealth. • Land ownership primarily determines who can participate and benefit from conservancies and by how much. • Conservancy land leases reinforce unequal historical land distribution systems, limiting participation of women and the poor. • After matching households on their observed characteristics, conservancy participation has little impact on household wealth. Understanding the impact of conservation interventions on local communities is important in determining their effects on livelihoods and wellbeing. However, impacts are often not uniform and there are important equity dimensions when evaluating interventions. Therefore, in this paper, we investigate determinants of participation in conservation land leases in the Mara Conservancies in southern Kenya and its impact on household wealth. We find that land ownership determines who can participate in and benefit from conservancy land lease payments, and by how much. The design of the land lease payment scheme therefore has the potential to reinforce and, in cases, amplify existing inequities as it is built upon a legacy of unequal historical land distribution processes that limit the participation of women and poor landless households. We observed significantly higher incomes amongst participant households compared to non-participants, but these differences disappeared after propensity score matching. These results suggest that the differences were not caused by participation in conservancies. Our findings suggest that the design and outcomes of land-based conservation or payment for ecosystem services schemes should consider historic and existing land tenure systems if they are to reduce inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Pastoralists in the wildlife-rich East African rangelands use diversification into conservation and tourism as a strategy to supplement livestock-based livelihoods and to spread risk. Tourism incomes are an important alternative source during drought, when livestock incomes decline. However, tourism may also reduce access to rangeland resources, and an abundant wildlife may destroy crops and injure, kill or transmit disease to livestock or people. This paper investigates the ability of wildlife conservancies in the Mara, Kenya, to act as an alternative for pastoralists that mitigates risks and maintains resilience in a changing climate. It analyses data to examine how conservancies contribute to and integrate with pastoral livelihoods, and to understand how pastoralists are managing their livestock herds in response to conservancies. It finds conservancy payments can provide an important, reliable, all-year-round source of income and prevent households from selling their animals during stress and for cash needs. Conservancies also retain grass banks during the dry season and provide opportunities for pastoralists to access good-quality forage. However, they reduce access to large areas of former grazing land and impose restrictions on livestock mobility. This affects the ability of pastoralists to remain flexible and able to access seasonally variable resources. Conflicts between grazing and conservancies may also heighten during drought times. Furthermore, income from land leases is not more than the contribution of livestock, meaning conservancy land leases create trade-offs for livestock-based livelihoods. Also, income is based on land ownership, which has inequity implications: women and other marginalised groups are left out.

• 'Poaching' is analytically inadequate to understand local hunting. • Recorded data in Even Books are socially constructed and cannot be taken at face value. • Hunting manifests contestations of the distributional politics of conservancies. • Hunting hinges on an ontological foundation that contrasts with the predominant conservation discourse. The argument in this paper is not commonly made in the conservation literature. We argue that 'poaching' and 'illegal hunting' are inadequate concepts for understanding why local forms of hunting persist despite their being banned and criminalised. A 'poacher' 'poaches' because a set of institutionalised rules recognises and identifies him or her as such. Instead, we propose to use the concept 'local hunting' and 'local hunters'. We also argue that conservation policies and specifically the creation of environmental subjects, conservancy's distributional politics and a contrasting ontological foundation of community-based conservation play keys role in explaining the continuity of 'local hunting'. More space is needed to situate local hunters and their hunting practices and motivations in the broader conservation discourse and policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pastoralists in the wildlife-rich East African rangelands use diversification into conservation and tourism as a strategy to supplement livestock-based livelihoods and to spread risk. Tourism incomes are an important alternative source during drought, when livestock incomes decline. However, tourism may also reduce access to rangeland resources, and an abundant wildlife may destroy crops and injure, kill or transmit disease to livestock or people. This paper investigates the ability of wildlife conservancies in the Mara, Kenya, to act as an alternative for pastoralists that mitigates risks and maintains resilience in a changing climate. It analyses data to examine how conservancies contribute to and integrate with pastoral livelihoods, and to understand how pastoralists are managing their livestock herds in response to conservancies. It finds conservancy payments can provide an important, reliable, all-year-round source of income and prevent households from selling their animals during stress and for cash needs. Conservancies also retain grass banks during the dry season and provide opportunities for pastoralists to access good-quality forage. However, they reduce access to large areas of former grazing land and impose restrictions on livestock mobility. This affects the ability of pastoralists to remain flexible and able to access seasonally variable resources. Conflicts between grazing and conservancies may also heighten during drought times. Furthermore, income from land leases is not more than the contribution of livestock, meaning conservancy land leases create trade-offs for livestock-based livelihoods. Also, income is based on land ownership, which has inequity implications: women and other marginalised groups are left out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the past decades, the tourism sector has become an increasing important issue for governments and regional agencies searching for socio-economic development. Especially in the Global South the increasing tourism demand has been seen highly beneficial as evolving tourism can create direct and indirect income and employment effects to the host regions and previously marginalised communities, with potential to aid with the poverty reduction targets. This research note reviews the existing policy and planning frameworks in relation to tourism and rural development in Namibia. Especially the policy aims towards rural community development are overviewed with focus on Community-Based Tourism (CBT) initiatives. The research note involves a retrospective review of tourism policies and rural local development initiatives in Namibia where the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) initiated a community-based tourism policy. The policy emphasises structures and processes helping local communities to benefit from the tourism sector, and the active and coordinating involvement of communities, especially, is expected to ensure that the benefits of tourism trickle down to the local level where tourist activities take place. However, it is noted that in addition to public policy-makers also other tourism developers and private business environment in Namibia need to recognize the full potential of rural tourism development in order to meet the created politically driven promises at the policy level. In this respect, a national tourism policy could provide an enabling framework, integrating the tourism sector’s development aims to rural and community development needs in future. In addition, there is a need to coordinate a comprehensive vision of what type of rural tourism development or tourism in rural environments holds the most potential to benefit both local communities and the mainstream sector.

Namibia’s community-based natural resource management program (CBRNM) and communal conservancies have gained international acclaim for rural poverty alleviation and wildlife conservation on the commons. Community-based ecotourism enterprise development has played a central role in the generation of community revenues, employment and additional benefits. The place of community-based ecotourism enterprises in the evolution of Namibia’s conservancies is examined. A participatory rural appraisal (PRA) approach was conducted in Namibia as part of recent doctoral research in 2006 and 2007, featuring participant observation, semi-structured key informant interviews and structured communal villager interviews. Findings demonstrate some tangible successes of community-based ecotourism enterprise development, as well as emerging issues in related benefits distribution and power brokering. The case of the Torra Conservancy is profiled as a leading model for success in partnerships between conservancies, as community-based conservation institutions, and tourism enterprises. The experience of Ehi-rovipuka Conservancy is also detailed, to illuminate challenges and prospects for replicating the Torra model. Power relationships between and among private enterprise, community, and the state are elucidated. Ecotourism enterprise development can contribute successfully to community-based conservation. But, issues of power sharing, governance and competition necessitate the further evolution of commons institutions to capture future, sustainable benefits from community-based conservation premised on wildlife and related ecotourism development.

During the past decades, the tourism sector has become an increasing important issue for governments and regional agencies searching for socio-economic development. Especially in the Global South the increasing tourism demand has been seen highly beneficial as evolving tourism can create direct and indirect income and employment effects to the host regions and previously marginalised communities, with potential to aid with the poverty reduction targets. This research note reviews the existing policy and planning frameworks in relation to tourism and rural development in Namibia. Especially the policy aims towards rural community development are overviewed with focus on Community-Based Tourism (CBT) initiatives. The research note involves a retrospective review of tourism policies and rural local development initiatives in Namibia where the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) initiated a community-based tourism policy. The policy emphasises structures and processes helping local communities to benefit from the tourism sector, and the active and coordinating involvement of communities, especially, is expected to ensure that the benefits of tourism trickle down to the local level where tourist activities take place. However, it is noted that in addition to public policy-makers also other tourism developers and private business environment in Namibia need to recognize the full potential of rural tourism development in order to meet the created politically driven promises at the policy level. In this respect, a national tourism policy could provide an enabling framework, integrating the tourism sector's development aims to rural and community development needs in future. In addition, there is a need to coordinate a comprehensive vision of what type of rural tourism development or tourism in rural environments holds the most potential to benefit both local communities and the mainstream sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human-wildlife conflict (HWC) includes how people perceive risks associated with negative interactions with wildlife. Risk perceptions are important for conservationists to understand because perceptions can influence human behaviors in response to HWC, such as tolerance or poaching specific species. Our study site, the Zambezi region of Namibia, is renowned for diverse wildlife that come into conflict with humans and are vulnerable to poaching. Our study objectives were: (1) quantify local perceptions of risk associated with species-specific HWC and poaching, (2) examine the relationship between species-specific HWC and poaching risks, and (3) characterize economic costs, benefits and perceptions of the ecological values (e.g., disease vector) of the top four species implicated in HWCs and poaching. The species that were perceived to be at greatest risk from poaching were characterized as posing high ecological risks (e.g., disease vectors) and livelihood risks (e.g., crop damage) and were economically valuable for local subsistence and trade. Species perceived to pose high risk to livelihoods were moderately correlated with increasing perceived poaching vulnerability ( r = 0.53, p = 0.04, df = 14). All but one of the top four species most vulnerable generated greater average annual revenue from legal hunting than average annual damage to crops. However, a majority of participants stated that conservancy benefits were not equitably distributed. Quantifying and characterizing how stakeholders perceive poaching-related risks can complement risk assessment data and result in more robust conservation planning. These findings have implications for risk communication, distribution of wildlife-related risks and benefits and more nuanced management of the most vulnerable species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heptner's markhor Capra falconeri heptneri is an Endangered wild goat occurring in disjunct populations in southern Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Surveys to determine the total population in Tajikistan were conducted during February–April 2012. A total of 1,018 animals were observed. In most areas, which include state protected areas and family- and community-based conservancies, markhor populations are stable or increasing. Threats include illegal hunting, habitat degradation, competition with livestock and disease transmission. To motivate conservancies economically to protect markhor populations, trophy hunting should be permitted to accommodate the sustainable use of markhor, with revenues distributed in a transparent and equitably shared manner. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article analyses the new global aid regime’s championing of tourism as a solution to poverty as a continuum of colonial governmentalities. A key focus is an examination of tourism for development in Namibia, particularly the role of conservancies and the Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) programme in this promotion. We argue that this tourism promotion in Namibia is a vital example of tourism for development and part of an increasingly widespread promotion of tourism as a means of achieving broad advanced liberal development goals. We examine the growth of conservancies and suggest that they are a technology of colonial governmentality in Namibia’s tourism for development. They act to shape the physical environment, wildlife and livelihoods for the communities engaged in the conservancies in the name of tourism and advance liberal ideas of poverty reduction. The article concludes with consideration of the manner in which these conservancy programmes can be considered as extensions of colonial rule in the name of tourism for development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conservancies provide the opportunity for land-occupiers to manage natural resources in a collaborative, sustainable, and profitable manner. Human–wildlife conflict, however, has limited their success due to the financial loss of crops, livestock and game by certain wildlife species. Questionnaires (n = 147) were conducted in five conservancies and four resettled farms in Namibia to determine the attitudes toward predators and conservancy membership. Attitudes were significantly affected by perceived depredation and when respondents asked for help to reduce predation. Attitudes toward predators and conservancies were more positive when individuals perceived they received benefits from both. Improving livestock husbandry practices in conjunction with increasing tangible benefits of predators and conservancies may improve the attitudes of rural communities, leading to an increase in the viability of integrated carnivore conservation and rural development in sub-Saharan Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the potential for pastoral communities inhabiting Kenyan Masailand to adapt to climate change using conservancies and payments for ecosystem services. Design/methodology/approach – Multiple methods and data sources were used, comprising: a socio-economic survey of 295 households; informal interviews with pastoralists, conservancy managers, and tourism investors; focus group discussions; a stakeholder workshop. Monthly rainfall data was used to analyse drought frequency and intensity. A framework of the interactions between pastoralists' drought coping and risk mitigation strategies and the conservancy effects was developed, and used to qualitatively assess some interactions across the three study sites. Changes in household livestock holdings and sources of cash income are calculated in relation to the 2008-09 drought. Findings – The frequency and intensity of droughts are increasing but are localised across the three study sites. The proportion of households with per capita livestock holdings below the 4.5 TLU poverty vulnerability threshold increased by 34 per cent in Kitengela and 5 per cent in the Mara site, mainly due to the drought in 2008-2009. Payment for ecosystem services was found to buffer households from fluctuating livestock income, but also generates synergies and/or trade-offs depending on land use restrictions. Originality/value – The contribution of conservancies to drought coping and risk mitigation strategies of pastoralists is analyzed as a basis for evaluating the potential for ecosystem-based adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poaching can disrupt wildlife-management efforts in community-based natural resource management systems. Monitoring, estimating, and acquiring data on poaching is difficult. We used local-stakeholder knowledge and poaching records to rank and map the risk of poaching incidents in 2 areas where natural resources are managed by community members in Caprivi, Namibia. We mapped local stakeholder perceptions of the risk of poaching, risk of wildlife damage to livelihoods, and wildlife distribution and compared these maps with spatially explicit records of poaching events. Recorded poaching events and stakeholder perceptions of where poaching occurred were not spatially correlated. However, the locations of documented poaching events were spatially correlated with areas that stakeholders perceived wildlife as a threat to their livelihoods. This result suggests poaching occurred in response to wildlife damage occurred. Local stakeholders thought that wildlife populations were at high risk of being poached and that poaching occurred where there was abundant wildlife. These findings suggest stakeholders were concerned about wildlife resources in their community and indicate a need for integrated and continued monitoring of poaching activities and further interventions at the wildlife-agricultural interface. Involving stakeholders in the assessment of poaching risks promotes their participation in local conservation efforts, a central tenet of community-based management. We considered stakeholders poaching informants, rather than suspects, and our technique was spatially explicit. Different strategies to reduce poaching are likely needed in different areas. For example, interventions that reduce human-wildlife conflict may be required in residential areas, and increased and targeted patrolling may be required in more remote areas. Stakeholder-generated maps of human-wildlife interactions may be a valuable enforcement and intervention support tool. Riesgos de Cacería Furtiva en el Manejo de Recursos Naturales Basado en Comunidades [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A persistent theme in land and agrarian studies is the appropriation of land and natural resources by mostly Western foreigners and the inequitable division of land and natural resources between Indigenous people and white settlers. It was this overt racial inequality in land ownership and the accompanying structures of oppression that led to the rise of liberation movements in Africa, South America and Asia. Most, if not all, land and agrarian reform programmes in the former colonies take the racial inequality in land as their point of departure. The same applies to the process of changing the inequalities in the use and ownership of natural resources such as wildlife, fisheries and forests. Whereas critical scholarship and social movements vehemently opposed the racialized nature of land dispossession, less attention has been paid to the persistence of racialized tenure systems. The silence on the racial character of land and natural resource tenure is rather surprising given that colonial tenure systems were based on race and racist grounds. This paper draws on examples from nature conservancies and communal land reform in southern Africa to argue that the dual land and natural resource tenure inherent from colonialism and apartheid remains intact in contemporary southern Africa. It also suggests that the democratic governments in the region and critical scholarship have failed to challenge the racialized character of land tenure. Instead, they continued to reinvent orthodox views of society and culture. Race seems to matter most in property regimes in the region in as far as it relates to equity rather than its initial categorization of people. The consequences of the persistence of the racialized tenure systems are that the success or failure of land and resource use and management reproduces racial explanations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Namibia's community-based natural resource management program (CBRNM) and communal conservancies have gained international acclaim for rural poverty alleviation and wildlife conservation on the commons. Communitybased ecotourism enterprise development has played a central role in the generation of community revenues, employment and additional benefits. The place of community-based ecotourism enterprises in the evolution of Namibia's conservancies is examined. A participatory rural appraisal (PRA) approach was conducted in Namibia as part of recent doctoral research in 2006 and 2007, featuring participant observation, semi-structured key informant interviews and structured communal villager interviews. Findings demonstrate some tangible successes of community-based ecotourism enterprise development, as well as emerging issues in related benefits distribution and power brokering. The case of the Torra Conservancy is profiled as a leading model for success in partnerships between conservancies, as community-based conservation institutions, and tourism enterprises. The experience of Ehi-rovipuka Conservancy is also detailed, to illuminate challenges and prospects for replicating the Torra model. Power relationships between and among private enterprise, community, and the state are elucidated. Ecotourism enterprise development can contribute successfully to communitybased conservation. But, issues of power sharing, governance and competition necessitate the further evolution of commons institutions to capture future, sustainable benefits from community-based conservation premised on wildlife and related ecotourism development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In southern Africa, legislative changes that devolved wildlife management authority on private land to landowners and growth in the commercial value of wildlife resulted in a substantial increase in private land dedicated to wildlife. In addition, groups of landowners within the bounds of the Great Limpopo Conservation Area have incorporated their properties into private nature reserves, thereby expanding the management scale of common-pool wildlife resources. Secondary data and experience with the reserves form the basis of our exploration of the contribution of private landholdings to wildlife conservation and the extent to which three private nature reserves appear to exhibit characteristics that promote effective community-based natural resource management (CBNRM). The combined area of private land with wildlife-based enterprises in South Africa is more than double that of formal protected areas, and the three private nature reserves exhibit, to varying degrees, characteristics that enhance CBNRM and coordinated decision making for wildlife conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Herero communities in northern Namibia recently formed the Ehi-rovipuka Conservancy under a national Community-Based Natural Resource Management Programme (CBNRM) that has received international acclaim for wildlife conservation and poverty alleviation. Nearly a century ago ancestors of the Herero were ousted from Etosha National Park, contiguous to the Ehi-rovipuka Conservancy. The communities have been denied access ever since. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) methods were employed to elucidate relationships of the Herero and their communal conservancy with the Etosha National Park. Memory mapping and villager interviews revealed a profound sense of lost traditional territory inside Etosha and a strong desire to return to the Park, not to harvest wildlife but to restore cultural practices and reap certain benefits from the Park. We term the separation of the communities from their traditional territory as a ‘decoupling’ of people from their local environment. We further suggest that the potential benefits that villagers identify from the Park represent mechanisms for ‘recoupling’ local social–ecological systems, requiring the literal and figurative breakdown of the Park fence. We describe a model to illustrate decoupling and recoupling mechanisms, and argue that recoupled social–ecological systems are necessary for long-term conservation of biodiversity. We further suggest a collaborative landscape model for biodiversity conservation featuring institutional linkages and integration between community-conserved areas, integrated conservation corridors for connectivity, and dynamic, mobile reserves collaboratively integrated with national parks management. This model may have applicability in Namibia and similar regions elsewhere with low population densities, high species endemism and prevailing or emerging threats to biodiversity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article evaluates the benefits of community-based activities in wildlife conservancies in Namibia by asking three questions: Do community conservancies contribute to an increase in household welfare? Are such programmes pro-poor; that is, do they improve welfare more for poorer households than for the less poor? Does participation in conservancy increase household welfare more for participants than non-participants? This study bases the analyses on a 2002 survey covering seven conservancies and 1192 households. The results suggest that community conservancies have a positive impact on household welfare. The authors also conclude that this impact is poverty-neutral in some regions and pro-poor in others. Further, welfare benefits from conservancies appear to be fairly evenly distributed between participant and non-participant households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Conservancy NGOs take on state functions of security in northern Kenya and become involved in intercommunal disputes and violence. • White conservationists' interests converge with interests of the state to control and economically exploit the frontier in northern Kenya. • Conservancy NGOs are used as intermediates by state institutions, who are absolved of blame in cases of human rights violations and killings. During the last decades, the boundaries between humanitarian aid and development on the one side and security and physical force on the other side became increasingly permeable. Several Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) operating in the field of humanitarian aid and development established their own security measures and structures of force in order to fulfil their mandates. In this article, we deal with the particular question of why and how NGOs become involved in organizing force in nature conservation areas, and to what effect. This question is analysed using the example of the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT), which is the largest NGO governing conservancies in northern Kenya. During the last two decades, NRT emerged as a state within the state: its influence and control reach far beyond the realm of conservation. To understand the role NRT is playing, we apply the approach of Frontier Studies. We shed light on the reshuffling of the organization of force in northern Kenya – habitually considered to be the role of the state – as a consequence of the establishment of conservancies by NRT. NRT's security personnel have become a decisive force in northern Kenya, which is not only providing security, but is also drawn into intercommunal violent conflicts. We aim to explain why an environmental NGO could become such an outstanding player in the (re-)organization of force, and why the state at least tolerates the expansion of NRT. With this example, we would like to draw attention to the very fact that in frontier contexts NGOs resemble non-governmental agents of the state. They become exposed to public discourses, while the government can easily absolve itself of any blame. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pastoralists in the wildlife-rich East African rangelands use diversification into conservation and tourism as a strategy to supplement livestock-based livelihoods and to spread risk. Tourism incomes are an important alternative source during drought, when livestock incomes decline. However, tourism may also reduce access to rangeland resources, and an abundant wildlife may destroy crops and injure, kill or transmit disease to livestock or people. This paper investigates the ability of wildlife conservancies in the Mara, Kenya, to act as an alternative for pastoralists that mitigates risks and maintains resilience in a changing climate. It analyses data to examine how conservancies contribute to and integrate with pastoral livelihoods, and to understand how pastoralists are managing their livestock herds in response to conservancies. It finds conservancy payments can provide an important, reliable, all-year-round source of income and prevent households from selling their animals during stress and for cash needs. Conservancies also retain grass banks during the dry season and provide opportunities for pastoralists to access good-quality forage. However, they reduce access to large areas of former grazing land and impose restrictions on livestock mobility. This affects the ability of pastoralists to remain flexible and able to access seasonally variable resources. Conflicts between grazing and conservancies may also heighten during drought times. Furthermore, income from land leases is not more than the contribution of livestock, meaning conservancy land leases create trade-offs for livestock-based livelihoods. Also, income is based on land ownership, which has inequity implications: women and other marginalised groups are left out., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© The Author(s). 2017.)