Lessons from the Equator Initiative : common property perspectives for community-based conservation in Southern Africa and Namibia

Abstract

This paper examines community-based conservation in Southern Africa, with particular attention to Namibia’s community-based natural resource management(CBNRM) program and common property resource institutions called conservancies recently established in Namibia and growing exponentially since 1998. A premise of this research is that community-based conservation institutions might effectively complement or serve as alternatives to state established protected areas to conserve biodiversity... The purpose of this paper is to consider institutional arrangements for community-based conservation by local and indigenous communities in Southern Africa, particularly for Namibia, through the lens of common property principles. The robustness of Namibia’s conservancy model is important to assess in terms of the premise that such institutions can be positively linked and complement protected areas management for biodiversity conservation.